Both Duncan Designed active pickups seem to me to work well with distorted tones. If I was playing my own songs this would be perfect as I write a lot of music in the style of rock and metal. In my opinion, the bridge pickup sounds a bit weak on its own with clean tones but sounds great otherwise. My personal preference for clean playing is either to use the neck pickup or both at once. The neck pickup produces some warm bass tones and is ideal for playing deep atmospheric music.
I am currently using 11 gauge strings which makes a noticeable difference to the 10s I use on my other guitars. Although bending a note requires more effort from my left hand, the thicker strings also make rhythmic picking much easier. The strings catch the pick better and allow me to produce more diverse rhythms. They also produce a thicker sound appropriate for rock and metal songs.
When I bought the guitar, the action seemed to be near enough in an ideal position. It was low enough to play relatively quickly with minimal buzz on the frets. However since then, a couple of the frets near the higher end of the fretboard mute the top strings whilst a note is bent.
Rather than buying a Schecter Demon 6FR, which has a Floyd Rose locking tremolo, I chose to buy the one without. This is because I have songs written in standard tuning and songs written in drop D tuning. This is ideal for quickly tuning the bottom string down or up a step in between songs.
There are a few potential problems regarding live performance with my guitar however. If I found myself in a situation where I was regularly gigging across various areas, the weight of the guitar might become a small problem. This is the heaviest guitar I own and along with other equipment I may need to carry, may become difficult. However, this is just a minor inconvenience and probably wouldn't cause too much discomfort. Depending on who is using it, it may also become tiring whilst performing live compared to a lighter bodied guitar.
The jack input tends to come loose quite easily no matter how many times I fix it. This could lead to the sound cutting out mid-performance if I don't check it before a gig.
The frets right at the high end of the neck are difficult to reach. The body of the guitar blocks my hand if I attempt to play them. I don't usually tend to use those frets and none of my songs include them at the moment, however it seems like an unnecessary limitation if I wanted to use them.
Overall, I think this guitar suits my needs as a musician playing primarily rock music. It also works well with other styles as long as the right pickup is selected for an appropriate tone. If the guitar is maintained properly then I think it would suit any live performance setting.
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