The story behind John Browne’s wild new signature Schecter

The Zenith has bold looks and a fine attention to detail   

John Browne’s latest Schecter signature guitar, the Zenith, is a “straight to the point” riff machine that pulls away from signature aesthetics for a more universal instrument.

Arriving in a stunning faded crackle finish and an ultra-streamlined design that pays tribute to his earliest guitar heroes, the guitar is his first USA-made signature, with the Tao having been built in Korea. That factory switch also prompted a change in the ethos with which Browne approached the instrument, which is available in six- and seven-string formats.  

“The main reason we changed the shape was when I received the Tao originally, I was just blown away by how good they were in terms of quality and how they sounded, how they played,2 Browne beams. “Even though Made in the USA is this prestigious thing, I couldn't see how they could have made that guitar really any better than it already was. So I wanted to change the shape and make this guitar its own thing.”

That led the guitarist to making some key changes to the guitar to make it a beast unto itself. And that, it most certainly is.

A link to the past

A key thing with this build was ensuring it really differentiated itself from Browne’s previous signature, the Tao. As such, an alder body usurps the swamp ash with a flame maple top of its predecessor. For Browne, this harkens back to his very earliest guitar playing days.

“My first proper guitar as a kid was made of alder and I remember really enjoying the tonal qualities of that guitar,” Browne reminisces. “So we decided to try that instead of the swamp ash, and it doesn’t have any real contours.

“I wanted an ‘80s-style guitar. That was the thing that I wanted a lot when I was a kid, which was just the thing that made me fall in love with the guitar was, with all these ‘80s bands playing really cool super Strats.”  

Elsewhere, the neck is now purely maple, as opposed to the wenge/maple/purpleheart multi-ply construction of the Tao. Ebony remains in place for its fretboard, which serves up 24 Jescaro Stainless Steel frets free of inlays for a cleaner look.

Straight-talking electronics

Another major difference here is it’s stripped down electronics. The neck pickup and tone knob have been cast aside as Browne chased “a really cool straight to the point machine.” In fact, it would have been even more streamlined if he’d had everything his way.

“I never use the neck pickup unless I'm playing in the studio, so I thought, ‘Let's just remove everything that I don't use regularly,’” Browne develops. “I said, 'I don't want a volume control or a pickup switch on it, I want the humbucker wired directly to the output jack.' But Schecter's response was, 'Do you want to sell any of these?'

“So we kept the controls very, very minimal. We have a volume control and a coil tap switch, and that's all you have. For me, most of the time I use the volume on 100% , but I know there's some of you out there that do like to play around with the volume control, so that's there for you.”

Dethroning a legendary pickup

However, one thing Browne wasn’t for changing was the pickup that remained. Here, the Schecter-made Colossus, which was first introduced in the Tao models, returns. And with good reason.

“It's funny, Schecter developed this when we were making the Tao, and it's actually the prototype number one, which I'm as impressed with as you probably are in the pickup itself. It's the fact that Schechter managed to dethrone a pickup that I had used for over 15 years [Bare Knuckle Nailbombs] and never managed to beat, in the first attempt.

“They just came along and said, ‘Yeah, fuck that pickup. Have this.’ And they fucking nailed it. That speaks volumes of Schecter’s attention to detail and quality.”

Tonally, he says, the pickup, which uses rough cast Alnico V magnets, is a monster. And a versatile one at that.

“It sounds so articulate; it's super tight, not overly gain-y, or so low gain that it’s difficult to play if you don’t hit hard,” he says. “You can hear every single note of a chord. The best part is that it doesn't just work for the style of music I play. It works for everything; it sounds great for leads, sounds great for rhythm, and cleans. I think this pickup can do anything.”

The crème de la djent

Other notable specs include a Hipshot Ibby HM fixed bridge and “absolutely fantastic” Schecter Hipshot staggered and open gear locking tuners.

“It's wider and flatter, and something a little bit different,” Browne says of the bridge. “You don't really feel it against your hand, which is one of the main gripes for me with a bridge. I don't want to feel that bridge there when I'm constantly hitting down from doing palm mutes.”

Its name, Browne feels, is the finishing touch.

“The inspiration for Zenith came from the name of the protagonist in one of my recent most favorite games [Zenith: The Last City],” he reveals. “But the meaning of zenith is ‘the pinnacle.’ And I believe that this guitar is the pinnacle of everything that I've done up until this date.”

The Schecter John Browne Zenith USA Signature is available now for $3,199. Head to Schecter to oggle and order yours.

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