# Why I buy Schecter USA



## yan12 (Feb 9, 2018)

Here is why I buy Schecter. Thinking people doing good solid work. Look at the way every single chance to carry black and stainless theme was executed. Tuning pegs and nuts, strap pegs, cover plates, switches,


pickups, trem, nut, input jack....all stainless and black. Some may not like the color scheme and I get that, but nobody can argue the execution is not flawless. The fretwork is unequalled by any builder. The inlay is so clean for a maple board (no filler) it is stupid. And this particular swirl is quite tasty to me. Most builders just slap black or chrome hardware on there and go...not Schecter.


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## Surveyor 777 (Feb 9, 2018)

Good lord that's gorgeous!


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## chuggalug (Feb 9, 2018)

I've never really been a fan of schecter but there is no denying their custom shop has some badass luthiers...beautiful guitar d00d!


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## possumkiller (Feb 9, 2018)

What is a good dealer to go through? I've been thinking about a USA sunset custom.


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## Lorcan Ward (Feb 9, 2018)

That stain looks even better in your pics. Schecter USA make amazing guitars. Happy NGD!


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## Zado (Feb 9, 2018)

So this is the man who got the NAMM swirled. Very very nice! I am super happy of my Traditional too


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## yan12 (Feb 9, 2018)

possumkiller said:


> What is a good dealer to go through? I've been thinking about a USA sunset custom.



Go through Jason at drumcityguitarland. Nobody has a better inside track than he does


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## yan12 (Feb 9, 2018)

Zado said:


> So this is the man who got the NAMM swirled. Very very nice! I am super happy of my Traditional too



Several other guys got swirls as well. The main difference is this guitar has direct-mount pickups, a different neck joint, 24 frets... I believe it is the first one to be made this way. It is a beast of an axe.


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## groverj3 (Feb 9, 2018)

Love that swirl!

I admit, I still associate them with mostly the budget stuff that used to show up in GC in the early 00s. Everything I've seen from their custom shop is top notch though!


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## Shoeless_jose (Feb 9, 2018)

Yeah I'm so tempted to drop big money on a USA Schecter, stunning stuff.


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## Zado (Feb 9, 2018)

yan12 said:


> Several other guys got swirls as well. The main difference is this guitar has direct-mount pickups, a different neck joint, 24 frets... I believe it is the first one to be made this way. It is a beast of an axe.


Looks very similar to the one at Schecter booth! Do you happen to have a California Elite by chance?


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## yan12 (Feb 9, 2018)

Yes. I am on the Schecter Forum as well but I go by old nicknames on some of these forums. My name is Scott.

The California Custom Elite is a sweet guitar as well. I mostly play hardtails but I wanted a swirl with a maple board and a Floyd. This fit the bill so nicely I made a move


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## yan12 (Feb 9, 2018)

I also have a sunset 2 7 string. All of the guitars I own from Schecter USA were NAMM Show specials.
There is a custom shop video from around 2015 that shows my blue 7-string and John G talking about it


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## Church2224 (Feb 9, 2018)

possumkiller said:


> What is a good dealer to go through? I've been thinking about a USA sunset custom.



I have bought all of mine from Nick at the Axe Palace and Jon from Killerburst. Awesome people.

Congrats man! My Next USA Schecter order will probably an HSH One in the same finish.


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## Element0s (Feb 9, 2018)

fuck me _running._ Incredible.


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## technomancer (Feb 9, 2018)

Thorn knocked the swirls on these out of the park, and Schecter USA does fantastic work. Amazing guitar


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## Shask (Feb 10, 2018)

Awesome! Love it! I always did love those old Ibanez Swirls, and since I like Schecter necks better, I am sure this is a great guitar!

What is the typical price of a custom Schecter?


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## yan12 (Feb 10, 2018)

They range in price...the main difference is the Masterworks vs. Production. Masterworks have ZERO cnc work...all done by hand. Productions like this swirl have some cnc on body and neck but still lots of hand work. USA production guitars are not a step down from Masterworks in my opinion and I have played both quite a bit. Masterworks has no limits, so if you need a particular number of frets, weird neck size, 5 pickups installed...then you go Masterworks. I just checked out that burl banshee at DCGL and it is unreal in person. That maple binding on the body is so well done it is hard to understand that a human did it.

You can find some used or NOS USA guitars for $2000 ish on up. Some of the last few years guitars are floating around for $1800 if you know where to look. This axe was $2900 and is slightly different than the regular swirls which are $2700 ish.

I figure if I went to Suhr or ESP directly and had them build this exact axe it would be at least $1500 more and quite frankly be no better. I really hate to sound like such a salesman but the last 10yrs of work has afforded me the ability to try some very expensive guitars and I am stunned at the quality of these USA Schecters for the price. And that is not knocking any of the other builders...they make great stuff as well. But most of all these "custom shops" or boutique builders have ties or lineage to the Schecter custom shop in a way. So I still feel I am going to the original source.

The fret work alone is worth every penny. Look at the hidden tangs and fret ends in my pics...absolute perfection.
Before I really got into these guitars I was a fan of EBMM and I still am...they make great guitars too, especially for the price. But these are better IMHO and cost about the same depending on model you choose. There are more options with Schecter as well.

If price is no object you can't really loose with any top tier brand. But I contend your dollar goes further with USA Schecter than anywhere else you can spend it...and I have tried plenty of places. 

In the Keith Merrow thread he basically says the same thing...can't find a better build anywhere.


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## Lemonbaby (Feb 10, 2018)

I'm happy if you're happy, but what's so special about that fretwork?


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## possumkiller (Feb 10, 2018)

Have you played on a custom shop ESP? That is my standard for comparison so I'm wondering how the fretwork, action and playability feel in comparison. I know Jason used to stock a lot of cool ESP stuff and that was actually where I was first blown away by the ESP custom shop "ungodly next level plays itself" playability.


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## cip 123 (Feb 10, 2018)

possumkiller said:


> Have you played on a custom shop ESP? That is my standard for comparison so I'm wondering how the fretwork, action and playability feel in comparison. I know Jason used to stock a lot of cool ESP stuff and that was actually where I was first blown away by the ESP custom shop "ungodly next level plays itself" playability.



john gaudesi from ESP now runs the Schecter custom shop, and I believe there are other ESP affiliations, not just the fact it's the same company that owns both brands. Schecter have some very established builders in house. The fretwork on mine is similar to this, can't state identical till I saw in person. But the tangs are hidden, ends are pretty much perfect, they're are absolutely no issues with fretwork.

I find it hard to put in to words my Schecter other than "Next level" I've played plenty of Schecters, and compared my USA to several Mayones in store. Mayones was very close, but the Schecter just seemed a cut above.


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## oversteve (Feb 10, 2018)

Can someone chime in if current ESP USA built by Schecter guys? I read it somewhere on forums or fb but don't know if it's true


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## cip 123 (Feb 10, 2018)

oversteve said:


> Can someone chime in if current ESP USA built by Schecter guys? I read it somewhere on forums or fb but don't know if it's true


Do ESP not have their own shop?
They are owned by the same parent company I know that much.


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## Zado (Feb 11, 2018)

oversteve said:


> Can someone chime in if current ESP USA built by Schecter guys? I read it somewhere on forums or fb but don't know if it's true


Hardly, Mike Ciravolo says that their is a small custom shop with limitednumner of guitars for year, I dont think they'd have time to build USA ESPs as well.


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## Curt (Feb 11, 2018)

Why I don't: Because i'm a poor fuck.


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## HighGain510 (Feb 11, 2018)

Having owned both ESP CS and Schecter Masterworks, I’d say they’re both close, but for some reason the Masterworks I have just plays great. The fretwork is indeed fantastic.


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## HighGain510 (Feb 11, 2018)

Also that being said, I also have one-off ESP USA custom M-III inbound so I’m happy to post back once I compare the two. The Masterworks 007 I have is a NAMM build so I don’t know if any extra attention was paid to it or not because of that, but it really is something special! 

If you’re like me and owned the production 006/007 Korean built Schecters, the neck-thru neck joint on the Masterworks is non-existent compared to the awful angular, blocky cut out neck joint the production models received! Yuck!


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## MatiasTolkki (Feb 11, 2018)

How much did yours run?

BTW, anyone who is a schecter fan have any opinions on the Pasadena pickups? i'm from Pasadena, CA originally and have always wanted a set of Pasadenas just to have a little hometown pride kinda thing.


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## Lorcan Ward (Feb 11, 2018)

Lemonbaby said:


> I'm happy if you're happy, but what's so special about that fretwork?



There is a tiny gap between the fret end and fretboard where you can see the maple wood and the fret tangs are also hidden. The main reason for this is so that if you had humidity or temperature problems and the wood shrunk the fret ends won't stick out. It also means the frets are just a little bit back so when you're playing you won't feel the fret ends as much, can't really see in these pics but since its a Schecter USA then I'm sure the fret ends are slightly rolled over which further helps. Plus them being expertly levelled, dressed and polished. These guys know how to do fretwork right.


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## Zado (Feb 11, 2018)

MatiasTolkki said:


> How much did yours run?
> 
> BTW, anyone who is a schecter fan have any opinions on the Pasadena pickups? i'm from Pasadena, CA originally and have always wanted a set of Pasadenas just to have a little hometown pride kinda thing.


Depends on what you like in pickups matter. The regular pasadena classics are sort of articulate PAF sounding pups, with the bridge being not far from a classic 57. The Plus is an overwound version, quite hot I'd say, not Duncan Distortion hot tho. Nice for hard rock and heavy metal, not the best for super detuned djenty stuff.


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## yan12 (Feb 11, 2018)

oversteve said:


> Can someone chime in if current ESP USA built by Schecter guys? I read it somewhere on forums or fb but don't know if it's true


Think of the EII Esp guitars as their production series...then there is the custom shop. I do not know how much CNC work is on a true ESP Custom shop guitar OR if it is all hand built like the Schecter Masterworks.

Schecter has two main Japanese luthiers in the USA Custom shop, one for fretwork and one for guitar bodies. The frets on USA production and Masterworks are done by one man and one man only, and he is an absolute perfectionist. How anyone loves to do fret jobs like that is beyond me but that is what he does. Certainly he has many skill sets but fretwork is his thing.

I just played a true custom shop Lynch Kami III for $4500 in DCGL. Outstanding craftsmanship and I love the retro banana headstock. But that guitar is not $1500-1800 better than an EII in terms of playability IMHO. So how an individual justifies cost is an unknown. I know I have found Schecter to really hit it out of the park for dollar value and what I am willing to spend...

And Jason at DCGL is a wealth of information. Keep in mind DCGL was around for 30-40 years before most of the other newer shops. Guys like Nick at axe palace used to get guitars from Jason, at least that is what Nick told me a few years ago. Nick has always been a good source of information as well. Now he is obviously out on his own an doing great, but when it comes to inventory I find it hard to beat DCGL. They don't deal vintage gear but if you want to talk to someone about ordering any custom shop guitar talk to Jason. Even if he doesn't rep the brand you want, he probably did. Back in the day he had more custom shop Jackson guitars than you could imagine. He can answer your questions and set you in the right direction.


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## possumkiller (Feb 11, 2018)

yan12 said:


> Schecter has two main *Japanese* luthiers in the USA Custom shop, one for fretwork and one for guitar bodies. The frets on USA production and Masterworks are done by one man and one man only, and he is an absolute perfectionist. How anyone loves to do fret jobs like that is beyond me but that is what he does. Certainly he has many skill sets but fretwork is his thing.


Ok that's what I really needed to know to get me on board.


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## auxioluck (Feb 11, 2018)

Schecter USA has been on point for a long time. The only thing that has ever kept me from picking up anything Schecter is their neck profiles. Way too thick for my tastes. Though I've seen that their "ultra thin" necks might be getting close to what I prefer. 

Beautiful guitar!


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## oversteve (Feb 11, 2018)

yan12 said:


> Think of the EII Esp guitars as their production series...then there is the custom shop. I do not know how much CNC work is on a true ESP Custom shop guitar OR if it is all hand built like the Schecter Masterworks.
> 
> Schecter has two main Japanese luthiers in the USA Custom shop, one for fretwork and one for guitar bodies. The frets on USA production and Masterworks are done by one man and one man only, and he is an absolute perfectionist. How anyone loves to do fret jobs like that is beyond me but that is what he does. Certainly he has many skill sets but fretwork is his thing.
> 
> ...


It's not about Japanese EII and it's not about Japanese ESP CS, it's about US made ESPs, also it's not about the quality since all of them are great. It's just someone mentioned somewhere that US ESP's are built by Schecter US but, maybe that person thought so because the both are located in California, idk.


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## possumkiller (Feb 11, 2018)

No I think it was when ESP USA first started up again and showed pics of the shop someone mentioned Schecter USA guitars seen in the same shop.


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## Zado (Feb 11, 2018)

auxioluck said:


> Schecter USA has been on point for a long time. The only thing that has ever kept me from picking up anything Schecter is their neck profiles. Way too thick for my tastes. Though I've seen that their "ultra thin" necks might be getting close to what I prefer.
> 
> Beautiful guitar!


Been a very long while since last time I saw a thick Schecter neck honestly. Their USA Solo special is supposed to be like that, which makes me want to try one even more.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Feb 11, 2018)

possumkiller said:


> No I think it was when ESP USA first started up again and showed pics of the shop someone mentioned Schecter USA guitars seen in the same shop.



They're VERY close, I think. Schecter is in Sun Valley, ESP USA is in North Hollywood.


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## yan12 (Feb 11, 2018)

some folks think the ESP USA custom shop were the best guitars to have the ESP name...especially late 90's to early 2000's. if you are one of those folks then you will love Schecter USA because the man that built all those famous ESP USA guitars is John Gaudesi....the very man that oversees all USA production and Masterworks guitars at Schecter. He is an amazing guitar builder in his own right and to be surrounded with what he has now...look out.


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## PBGas (Feb 11, 2018)

Stunning guitar in every shape and form! Many congrats and may it bring you years of joy!


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## MatiasTolkki (Feb 11, 2018)

Zado said:


> Depends on what you like in pickups matter. The regular pasadena classics are sort of articulate PAF sounding pups, with the bridge being not far from a classic 57. The Plus is an overwound version, quite hot I'd say, not Duncan Distortion hot tho. Nice for hard rock and heavy metal, not the best for super detuned djenty stuff.



wooooo, i hate djent and tune down only to Eb, those sound like they might work for me


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## Lemonbaby (Feb 12, 2018)

Lorcan Ward said:


> There is a tiny gap between the fret end and fretboard where you can see the maple wood and the fret tangs are also hidden.


Hidden fret slots are actually getting quite common on custom guitars these days. The fret ends also don't seem to be really rounded. E.g. I played an Ibanez RG6PCMLTD in a store last year that had brilliant fretwork and comes at 1300 bucks. Still surprised how they achieved that quality in their Indonesian factory...


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## Fred the Shred (Feb 12, 2018)

Dude, what a stunning guitar!


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## Zado (Feb 12, 2018)

MatiasTolkki said:


> wooooo, i hate djent and tune down only to Eb, those sound like they might work for me


COnsider they're not super tight like nowadays trend would demand


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## MatiasTolkki (Feb 12, 2018)

Zado said:


> COnsider they're not super tight like nowadays trend would demand



Well, my favorite pups are:

Dimarzio
Evolution bridge/neck
AT1 bridge

Ibanez
V1/V2
V7/V8 (in my 550RF)
V6F
Quantam (MIJ ones from the 90s)

Carvin
M22SD/V

You can tell maybe only the evos are tight, the rest aren't nearly as tight. Lots of warmth overall (outside of maybe the evo and V6F). I think the Pasadena Plus might work for me.


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## Zado (Feb 12, 2018)

MatiasTolkki said:


> Well, my favorite pups are:
> 
> Dimarzio
> Evolution bridge/neck
> ...


Honestly I'm no fan of DiMarzios and Ibanez Pickups, and I've never played Carvin's so I can't really compare those to the Pasas. That said, if you like harmonically rich pickups with a nice singing tone and sort of a retro vibe (without being vintage oriented pickups tho), you may like these ones.


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## MaxOfMetal (Feb 12, 2018)

Lemonbaby said:


> Hidden fret slots are actually getting quite common on custom guitars these days. The fret ends also don't seem to be really rounded. E.g. I played an Ibanez RG6PCMLTD in a store last year that had brilliant fretwork and comes at 1300 bucks. Still surprised how they achieved that quality in their Indonesian factory...



Hey, even a blind cat catches a mouse every now and then.


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## yan12 (Feb 12, 2018)

My favorite pickup for that 80's vibe are Schecter superrocks....if you need to pair it with a single coil or two, then monstertones.
Awesome combo with extreme versatility.


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## Zado (Feb 12, 2018)

yan12 said:


> My favorite pickup for that 80's vibe are Schecter superrocks....if you need to pair it with a single coil or two, then monstertones.
> Awesome combo with extreme versatility.


Current production ones or vintage you say?


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## MatthewK (Feb 12, 2018)

Because they mix two hardware colors on a $4,000 guitar?


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## zimbloth (Feb 15, 2018)

Schecter custom shop is indeed amazing. Here are couple we shipped out to one of our Axe Palace customers recently:






MatthewK said:


> Because they mix two hardware colors on a $4,000 guitar?



FWIW these are closer to $2500.


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## yan12 (Feb 19, 2018)

And for $2500ish tell me who can blow these out of the water? The point of this thread is I don't think many folks realize just how much guitar you get from Schecter USA for your money. There are awesome brands out there for sure, but I think everyone that gets into this price range should hunt some down to try out...


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## jephjacques (Feb 19, 2018)

I've played a couple USA Schecters and they were both super nice. Definitely underrated, although I think that's starting to change.


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## _MonSTeR_ (Feb 19, 2018)

That swirled Tele is incredible!!!


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## PatientMental76 (Mar 4, 2018)

Schecter is the highest quality out there for the money no doubt


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## JG Here (Apr 28, 2018)

MatiasTolkki said:


> How much did yours run?
> 
> BTW, anyone who is a schecter fan have any opinions on the Pasadena pickups? i'm from Pasadena, CA originally and have always wanted a set of Pasadenas just to have a little hometown pride kinda thing.



Hey Brother, this is John Gaudesi,
I run the Schecter USA custom shop under
Michael Ciravolo, I designed the line of pickups we manufacture and am also from Pasadena area. Give me a shout this week and I will get you into a Pasadena to try out.

All the best, John


MatiasTolkki said:


> How much did yours run?
> 
> BTW, anyone who is a schecter fan have any opinions on the Pasadena pickups? i'm from Pasadena, CA originally and have always wanted a set of Pasadenas just to have a little hometown pride kinda thing.


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## Zado (Apr 29, 2018)

Hi John, glad to see you here, welcome to the community.


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## MatiasTolkki (Apr 29, 2018)

JG Here said:


> Hey Brother, this is John Gaudesi,
> I run the Schecter USA custom shop under
> Michael Ciravolo, I designed the line of pickups we manufacture and am also from Pasadena area. Give me a shout this week and I will get you into a Pasadena to try out.
> 
> All the best, John



PMed you John, we'll talk there


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## Darkscience (May 1, 2018)

This is amazing work. I think my next guitar will be a Schecter! Time to start saving...


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## yan12 (May 3, 2018)

You can't go wrong with a USA Schecter. These are my main three axes now and they are sublime. I have some other cool guitars but these are such a joy to play...And the fretwork has a lot to do with it. Really fantastic work all the way around. The pickups are all Schecter USA....Superrock and Monstertones in my Lynch style Elite, Supercharger Mach 7's in the Sunset Custom II-7, and Apocalypse in the Swirl...all sound different, useable, and unique.


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## Flappydoodle (May 7, 2018)

It looks super nice.

My impression of Schecter has always been quite low. I played a couple of their cheap junk import guitars back maybe 10 years ago. Huge necks. Cheap hardware. Floyds that were hopeless at staying in tune. And the problem was that they all said "Schecter" on the headstock and all had the same body shape, so I just assumed they were a budget brand.

I'll definitely take a closer look at the USA lines from now on.


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## Zado (May 7, 2018)

Flappydoodle said:


> It looks super nice.
> 
> My impression of Schecter has always been quite low. I played a couple of their cheap junk import guitars back maybe 10 years ago. Huge necks. Cheap hardware. Floyds that were hopeless at staying in tune. And the problem was that they all said "Schecter" on the headstock and all had the same body shape, so I just assumed they were a budget brand.
> 
> I'll definitely take a closer look at the USA lines from now on.


Their import line is different and worth of attention as well nowadays


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## MatiasTolkki (May 7, 2018)

Zado said:


> Their import line is different and worth of attention as well nowadays



Arnold plays guitar Youtube channel reviewed a Sunset (Korean made). I'd trust his opinion on something like this because he can be REALLY brutal (Floyd rose got really pissed at him when he completely destroyed the image of their kill switch on the floyd rose arm). He gave that Sunset guitar a GLOWING review.


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## Zado (May 7, 2018)

MatiasTolkki said:


> Arnold plays guitar Youtube channel reviewed a Sunset (Korean made). I'd trust his opinion on something like this because he can be REALLY brutal (Floyd rose got really pissed at him when he completely destroyed the image of their kill switch on the floyd rose arm). He gave that Sunset guitar a GLOWING review.




I'm not really into youtube demos by pseudo-famous reviewer guys, you never know what's behind what they say. That said, I'm really into that shreddy lil foker, the one I played was lovely, even for the price (it costs around 750€ here).


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## MatiasTolkki (May 7, 2018)

Zado said:


> I'm not really into youtube demos by pseudo-famous reviewer guys, you never know what's behind what they say. That said, I'm really into that shreddy lil foker, the one I played was lovely, even for the price (it costs around 750€ here).



He's not really super famous, and he lays into makers HARD if they screw something up. He went after Ibanez like crazy for their premium line, as he reviewed the Indonesian Green dot UV, and took the piss out of their fretwork. He also laid into Kiesel over the lithium pickups, said the exact same thing I do: they are unusable ice picks. He also liked the M22 pups in an X220 he had in grabber blue.

I dont like a lot of his demos as they typically are geared more towards extreme metal and crap but he does his due diligence when it comes to overall QC. He raved over the Sunset, which tells me that the guitar is a great deal.


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## MaxOfMetal (May 7, 2018)

Single example reviews of guitars like these are just about pointless.

One of the first things that suffers when reducing the cost of a production guitar, and pretty much any consumer product, is consistency of quality.

Speaking about reviews of the Indonesian and South Korean stuff. 

The USA stuff is great. It doesn't quite speak to me, but I'd be more than happy to buy one if I find one that does.


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## groverj3 (May 7, 2018)

I have to admit, my perception of Schecter is a product of what they were doing when I started playing guitar in the early 00s. I really hated most of their product line at the time. Thick necks, black bound rosewood fretboards, excessive fake abalone everywhere, ugly inlays, etc...

However, I recently scrolled through their website, and combined with what people have been buying here recently it looks like they've really stepped up their game in recent years. Their custom shop prices look pretty reasonable from what you've said in this thread. I do wonder what the build time is though if it's as small of an operation as it seems. It doesn't take much for the number of orders to make the backlog insane.

I'm also not the biggest fan of that headstock they're putting on the SVSSs and some of their custom shop stuff, but otherwise it looks like they're doing good things.


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## cip 123 (May 7, 2018)

groverj3 said:


> I have to admit, my perception of Schecter is a product of what they were doing when I started playing guitar in the early 00s. I really hated most of their product line at the time. Thick necks, black bound rosewood fretboards, excessive fake abalone everywhere, ugly inlays, etc...
> 
> However, I recently scrolled through their website, and combined with what people have been buying here recently it looks like they've really stepped up their game in recent years. Their custom shop prices look pretty reasonable from what you've said in this thread. I do wonder what the build time is though if it's as small of an operation as it seems. It doesn't take much for the number of orders to make the backlog insane.
> 
> I'm also not the biggest fan of that headstock they're putting on the SVSSs and some of their custom shop stuff, but otherwise it looks like they're doing good things.




They do some production runs of their USA lines, but I don't think they're build time is too long. Church, on here just got 2 built. They're lucky in that although they're a big company not many go the custom shop route, which helps build times.

Usual thing, call up a dealer see if there are any USA's available, or browse DrumCityGuitarland, they have loads.


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