# Schecter Quality going down??



## djpharoah (Oct 6, 2008)

After playing my Loomis for a while this weekend I noticed that the frets were not crowned and infact were only leveled. They are actually flat from the leveling and aren't nice and round. Call me picky but all those ibanez guitars with proper fretwork has spoiled me.

So I call up Schecter and talk to a cool guy on the phone. According to him Schecter doesn't crown any of their frets now. They just don't have the time for the amount of guitars that pass through the factory in Burbank. However seeing as the Loomis is a signature model, since 2008 they have been crowning the frets for it.

However if you have a 2007 model then you are out of luck since all they did was level the frets which according to the guy was more than enough for most people.

I love the guitar and just the fact that its not totally perfect is now bothering me - gotta find someone/somewhere to get it crowned.


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## leonardo7 (Oct 6, 2008)

Is it a South Korean model? I spoke with a guy from Schecter last week asking him about where C-7 Hellraisers are made and most are built in South Korea and now they are going to start having them built in Indonesia and China as well. Perhaps the same with the Loomis. South Korea is no Japan but its closer in quality to Japanese made then it is to Indonesian or Chinese made. I would definitely prefer to have a South Korean model than an Indonesian made or China made one. If Schecter or any company starts having guitars made in China and Indonesia, then you can gurantee quality will go down on those models which of course you know. Custom Schecters start at $2000 and theres close to a year wait right now.


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## Emperoff (Oct 6, 2008)

That's why I returned mine, I couldn't stand the flat frets. In addition to that, the E string went off the fretboard too easily. It just pissed me to play the guitar 



leonardo7 said:


> Is it a South Korean model? I spoke with a guy from Schecter last week asking him about where C-7 Hellraisers are made and most are built in South Korea and now they are going to start having them built in Indonesia and China as well. Perhaps the same with the Loomis. South Korea is no Japan but its closer in quality to Japanese made then it is to Indonesian or Chinese made. I would definitely prefer to have a South Korean model than an Indonesian made or China made one. If Schecter or any company starts having guitars made in China and Indonesia, then you can gurantee quality will go down on those models which of course you know. Custom Schecters start at $2000 and theres close to a year wait right now.



I really hope that's not true. I loved Schecter guitars 

That forces even more to grab a Loomis before they move production to another factory.


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## djpharoah (Oct 6, 2008)

Mine is a South Korea model. I guess I over reacted but I found a guy locally who will do a fret dress and crown for $50 bucks.


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## ILdÐÆMcº³ (Oct 7, 2008)

I don't think you over reacted, mine was the same except sharp and the frets were coming off the board so I sent it back and they sent me one that was crowned and perfect. It also had the issue with the string slipping of the fretboard, the high e. The one I have now is perfect.


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## MaxOfMetal (Oct 7, 2008)

leonardo7 said:


> Is it a South Korean model? I spoke with a guy from Schecter last week asking him about where C-7 Hellraisers are made and most are built in South Korea and now they are going to start having them built in Indonesia and China as well. Perhaps the same with the Loomis. South Korea is no Japan but its closer in quality to Japanese made then it is to Indonesian or Chinese made. I would definitely prefer to have a South Korean model than an Indonesian made or China made one. If Schecter or any company starts having guitars made in China and Indonesia, then you can gurantee quality will go down on those models which of course you know. Custom Schecters start at $2000 and theres close to a year wait right now.



Location has nothing to do with quality. The only factor in foreign instruments' quality is QC. One of the reason that many companies are going for the lower production costs of Indonesia and China is the rising prices of materials/resources. That's why the actual retail prices will not be falling.


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## Shawn (Oct 7, 2008)

Wow. You'd think they would crown their frets. 

All I know is that i've been extremely happy with Rich's work on my UVs. I have not yet found another guitar that plays as good as his guitars, well, the work he does on them.


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## DarkKnight369 (Oct 7, 2008)

It doesn't matter where Schecter makes their guitars, the QC and fret work is all done in the US.




I bought 2 Schecter's this year and I have not had a problem at all...

C-7 Blackjack ATX...









Loomis...


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## jacksonplayer (Oct 7, 2008)

I've also heard that the U.S. shop does all the fretwork, which is why they are usually better than LTDs and other guitars made in the same Asian factories. It's not that the Asians can't do good fretwork, but it is a time-consuming, hand-finished process which most of the high-volume companies don't bother to do well. I wonder if the U.S. shop is having trouble keeping up with the increased demand for the imports?


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## DarkKnight369 (Oct 7, 2008)

I have heard they are expected to do 20 a day in the US shop. How insane is that? I swear I have seen a video of the people at Schecter actually fretting the guitars too with the fret wire laying next to it. I thought it was in the video I posted, but I didn't see it.


Here is another vid so you get a sense of how small scale Schecter really is. Granted, this is from 2004, but still.




That Gregg dude is customer service and head of sales. If you call them and hit either option, they both go to the same dude.


I also remember hearing or reading that Schecter does something with the electronics in the US. You see a guy soldering in the video as well.



EDIT: Here is what they do....



> The next step was to implement a process where the basic instruments would be made in Korea, but would be sent to the U.S. for setup in Schecter&#8217;s shop. Where most companies spot-check an occasional instrument or give them a five-minute examination, Schecter does a full setup: dresses the frets, and sets the action and intonation&#8212;a process that takes over a half hour for each and every instrument. This system gives Schecter full quality control, and gives players guitars that really play straight out of the box. This attention to setup, combined with upscale hardware and features usually found on far more expensive guitars, is what separates Schecter guitars from the competition.



http://www.musiciansfriend.com/document/schecter/synyster_standard?doc_id=101223


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## darren (Oct 7, 2008)

DarkKnight369 said:


> It doesn't matter where Schecter makes their guitars, the QC and fret work is all done in the US.



Regardless of where the fretwork is done, skipping an important step like crowning is a pretty serious slip in quality.

I doubt they're actually installing the frets in the US shop. When they say the "fretwork" is being done over here, they probably mean the final fret dressing. They're probably being put in at the factory, and then the final level, (optional) crown and polish plus setup are done Stateside.


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## King_cactus (Oct 7, 2008)

Does anyone else think its retarded that they would build a guitar abroad and then import them back to finish minor details which they could train people for in the factory where they are produced? Plus imo Asians are better at building guitars than the US, unless you like originality (just gibson me thinks).


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## ibznorange (Oct 7, 2008)

fretwork isnt what id call a minor difference dude. a good setup and refret can make a shit guitar into something way nicer. wont turn a squier into a sherman no, but it can do fucking wonders on a guitar


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## DarkKnight369 (Oct 7, 2008)

darren said:


> Regardless of where the fretwork is done, skipping an important step like crowning is a pretty serious slip in quality.
> 
> I doubt they're actually installing the frets in the US shop. When they say the "fretwork" is being done over here, they probably mean the final fret dressing. They're probably being put in at the factory, and then the final level, (optional) crown and polish plus setup are done Stateside.



I agree, not crowning is bad. This is the second case of it I heard with Schecter. One was a Loomis from DCGL, and it was the only one like that out of all the guitars Jason had in stock I believe. I ordered my Loomis from him, and it was perfectly crowned. My ATX was the 4th production white one, and as you can see it was all nice and crowned.

What I don't get, is why are they telling people that? Every new Schecter I have seen has had properly crowned frets. I am wondering if they some how let one slip every once in a while and use that as an excuse. 


Also, if you look at the edit to my previous post, I quote what Schecter actually does in the shop from an article on the company that was in Musician's Friend some time ago.



ibznorange said:


> fretwork isnt what id call a minor difference dude. a good setup and refret can make a shit guitar into something way nicer. wont turn a squier into a sherman no, but it can do fucking wonders on a guitar



+1 I rather have someone spend a half hour in a shop doing the fretwork than someone on a line.


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## nick7anxiety (Oct 9, 2008)

Hey There

Well I have to agree that their quality is becoming inconsistent. In 2007 I bought a Blackjack awesome guitar with no problems. So being satisfied with Schecter I decided to purchase a Hellraiser.

4 weeks ago I got my hellraiser. On first sight great guitar, good sound, plays fine and looks good. But on closer inspection there are a lot of finshing flaws.

- Trussrod cover not centered (blackjack trussrod cover is centered)
- Neck binding sloppy (looks like the filed it very sloppy more towards the higher frets)
- 4th string isn't centered with the inlay, so not in the middle of the fretboard, but 2-3 mm off.
- Red stain colors on the black binding.
- One volume knob was molded badly from the inside, as a result it turns very crooked. Replacement on its way.

Well some of these problems are small, but when I compare it to my Blackjack, my Hellraiser feels like it is finished to fast and resulting in an unbalanced finish. Not that I regret this guitar, because it plays and sounds well. But nevertheless, I paid 840 euro for it and I expected better. Certainly because my blackjack is amazing in all departments. 

Greets Nick
ps the frets where btw okay.


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## guitarplayerone (Oct 9, 2008)

Here is another vid so you get a sense of how small scale Schecter really is. Granted, this is from 2004, but still.

2004 was almost five years ago, they had only been around for a short time after that. they have really flooded the market since...



King_cactus said:


> Does anyone else think its retarded that they would build a guitar abroad and then import them back to finish minor details which they could train people for in the factory where they are produced? Plus imo Asians are better at building guitars than the US, unless you like originality (just gibson me thinks).



its all about quality control... and I disagree. I didnt like the quality of the 7321 I tried at all, I believe that's indonesian made


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