I put a toaster in my Schecter Hellcat VI...

[pacealot]

...in the bass pickup position, and, man, I should have done it when I first bought the thing! I should have known it would sound better, but I didn't think it would be that huge a difference at the time. Whereas the stock pickups used to be boxy and hard to get a decent "real bass" sound out of, the toaster makes it sound legit. Top and bottom and balance for days. Now people who mock me for bringing a "baritone guitar" (not!!) to gigs will have a hard time arguing. Also, it fit exactly in the pickguard and route.

Now I have to save my scratch and search for two more scatterwounds to fill the thing up with! I actually have been playing "musical toasters"for a while now - the Hellcat toaster came from the treble position of my '97 360V64 (which I unwound down to the 7K area when I got it in '97), which was replaced by a higher output toaster from the neck position of my 4001V63, which in turn was replaced by the original '60s short-magnet toaster I've been toting around since I was a wee sprite (when I removed it, with permission, from my mother's 4005 OS from where my father added it as a superfluous middle pickup). Aaaggh!

[longhouse]

Let's have a picture.

[pacealot]

Why sure!

I did the crude 3-way switch cutouts myself. Someday I'll get a plate made for that. But it works, which is the main thing. And now it even sounds good!

It's a good instrument for comping in power trios - I can do rhythm guitar and bass parts together if I work at it....

[sloop_john_b]

Too cool! Was the toaster a direct drop-in?

[pacealot]

It fit perfectly. Obviously they looked super close in size and shape (and aesthetics!), but I was expecting the shape to be slightly off, or the holes not to line up right, or the toaster to not quite fit in the route in some dimension. In the actual event, it worked like a charm. The bridge pickup could be tough, though, because there's a considerably bigger distance between the strings and the body at that point. At full "protrusion," I think the middle position would get close enough to be even in volume. Maybe the bridge toaster would need to be mounted on top of the pickguard.

I guess I'll have to try it and see!

[johnallg]

I don't think you'll have a problem with the bridge position and a toaster as there are 6 poles close together and they act as a wide aperture pickup.

[pacealot]

Sorry, I meant the distance from the strings to the pickup, not the width of the strings. There's a noticeable taper, like on Les Pauls and similar, so the pickups need to protrude farther to be set evenly under the strings as they get closer to the bridge. That's what I meant. As long as I can get it close enough to the strings, it'll cover just fine.

[johnallg]

I see, yup, I missed your intent. If you put the toaster on the top, you'd want a guitar one as the hole is not threaded and you could use a mounting screw to the pickguard. That would buy you about an extra 1/4" in height - if you used a foam pad like on a guitar you'd get even more. But the look of two pups under the guard and one above might be aesthetically unpleasant.

[firstbassman]

Paul,

Everyone who writes online about the Schecter Hellcat VI seem to be bass players using it as a bass.
I've been thinking forever about getting a baritone guitar. But one of the things that has me worried is trying to learn a new tuning.
I like the fact that the Hellcat is tuned E-e (just like a guitar).
Have you or anyone else you know played it as a baritone guitar?
Thanks.