American EDM and heavy metal-blending guitarist Sullivan King has teamed up with Schecter for two blood-splatter-style signature guitars.
Available as six- and seven-string models, the Sullivan King Banshee FR-S pairs a swamp ash body with a three-piece, ultra-thin C-shaped maple neck and ebony fretboard.
The DJ-guitarist, who is set to tour with Avenged Sevenfold later this year, rose to fame through his electronic-infused metal playing. His latest studio album, Thrones of Blood landed in March last year.
Across a career that finds him dabbling in both metal and electronic circles, he has remixed songs by Asking Alexandria and Atreyu, and previously worked with Kayzo and Papa Roach.
The six- and seven-string models offer a 12-16" fretboard radius, as well as a Floyd Rose 1500 tremolo and locking system. King has done away with a tone knob, leaving a three-way pickup switch and volume control with coil tap on the guitar's bloodied body.
Meanwhile, the guitar’s neck-through construction, which hosts 24 X-jumbo stainless steel frets, is reinforced with a carbon fiber rod to prevent it from warping. In a notable change to the standard Banshee models, King’s features a reverse Schecter-style headstock.
A blood-red Sullivan King logo sits at the 12th fret, whilst the word ‘RAGE’, in an archaic scripture-like font, can be found across frets one to four.
Typically, Banshees are made from mahogany but have been built with nyatoh and swamp ash bodies before, with the Mach-6 sporting a swamp ash body and Evertune bridge.
The Banshee is one of Shecter’s flagship templates, so it’s no surprise to see plenty of permutations of the Stratocaster-like shape on the market. The King signature adds to that.
For its pickups, King has opted for an active Sustainiac in the neck and a passive Shecter USA Apocalypse in the bridge.
Shecter says the combination serves “limitless sustain and harmonic content” and “a metric ton of hard-hitting, high-output tone” via its respective pickups. Stylistically, the brand has set out to create a guitar capable of genre-bending à la its signature artist, whilst also priming it for low-tuned metal playing.
Its extra features are activated by two mini-switches found on the bottom of the guitar, beyond the Floyd Rose. The first switch turns its sustain-delivering superpowers on or off, whilst the second offers three different modes.
Of those, the first position delivers an EBow-like sustain of the fretted note with regular overtones. The center position feeds back the played note with a harmonic, whilst the third offers a high-pitched overtone.
The above specs result in two guitars that Schecter says are both “strikingly sleek and aggressive”.
“Sullivan King has drawn attention for his unusual blending of EDM and electric guitar-centered heavy metal performance,” says Schecter, “making his live shows one of the few places where kandi-coated ravers and metalheads mingle.”
King has been flaunting his signature build on stage for a while, including at performances at the Lost Lands and Electric Daisy Carnival festivals last summer.
This isn't the first signature model Schecter has released this year, either. There was, of course, the Machine Gun Kelly razorblade signature guitar, which many thought to be a Chibson stunt.
There was also a double whammy for Glassjaw’s Justin Beck, who was honored with signature guitar and bass models.
The new guitars cost $1,899 and $1,949 for the six- and seven-string models, respectively. They’re available to order now.
For more information, head to Schecter.
