Schecter guitars................just how good are they?

[Elpelotero]

I recently went to GC to pick out a guitar for my cousin (14) and suffice to say I ended up picking out a Schecter. The price limit was $300, so I strummed every single $300 guitar in the store acoustically and the Schecter resonated the most by far. Plugged in, it was even better.

 

[RR]

 

[SixVeeSix]

30+ years of guitar repair and 40 years of playing speaking here. You do get what you pay for. The Schector guitars are very well designed from a functional standpoint. The quality of the woods is medium to fair (a piece of pretty veneer with a layer of glue underneath does NOT make the woods nice), the fretwire is that cheap, soft Asian crap, the trussrods are made of mush metal and you are totally screwed if you strip or break one.

The tuners work well but will not last, the electronics are truly cheap junk, you will be replacing them in about 2 years or less. Your switches will fail and your pots will become intermittent, to say nothing of the jack making popping noises every time you move. When you do replace the wiring harness, be sure to trash the cheap cabling. For what it will cost you (unless you do it yourself) you could have bought a real guitar.

There are too many great guitars selling low out there to bother with cheap, crappily made guitars. Spend a little more and get a Gibson Les Paul Studio or Special, an Explorer (saw one at GC last week with EMGs for $700), a G&L Legacy or ASAT (real ones, not a Tribute), a Godin, an older Guild or at least a Japanese made guitar.

Not here to coddle anyone, sorry. Flame away, when you know the difference you won't settle for a Schector.

 

[mikeymike]

30+ years of guitar repair and 40 years of playing speaking here. You do get what you pay for. The Schector guitars are very well designed from a functional standpoint. The quality of the woods is medium to fair (a piece of pretty veneer with a layer of glue underneath does NOT make the woods nice), the fretwire is that cheap, soft Asian crap, the trussrods are made of mush metal and you are totally screwed if you strip or break one.

The tuners work well but will not last, the electronics are truly cheap junk, you will be replacing them in about 2 years or less. Your switches will fail and your pots will become intermittent, to say nothing of the jack making popping noises every time you move. When you do replace the wiring harness, be sure to trash the cheap cabling. For what it will cost you (unless you do it yourself) you could have bought a real guitar.

There are too many great guitars selling low out there to bother with cheap, crappily made guitars. Spend a little more and get a Gibson Les Paul Studio or Special, an Explorer (saw one at GC last week with EMGs for $700), a G&L Legacy or ASAT (real ones, not a Tribute), a Godin, an older Guild or at least a Japanese made guitar.

Not here to coddle anyone, sorry. Flame away, when you know the difference you won't settle for a Schector.

You mean Schecter? There's even a picture 1 post above yours to show you how to spell it. I'm not a Schecter fanboy by any means but I will say that Gibsons are overpriced junk. My friend has a Gibson V and it plays like garbage and feels cheaply made. I hate how much they charge for their crap.

 

[SixVeeSix]

30+ years of guitar repair and 40 years of playing speaking here. You do get what you pay for. The Schector guitars are very well designed from a functional standpoint. The quality of the woods is medium to fair (a piece of pretty veneer with a layer of glue underneath does NOT make the woods nice), the fretwire is that cheap, soft Asian crap, the trussrods are made of mush metal and you are totally screwed if you strip or break one.

The tuners work well but will not last, the electronics are truly cheap junk, you will be replacing them in about 2 years or less. Your switches will fail and your pots will become intermittent, to say nothing of the jack making popping noises every time you move. When you do replace the wiring harness, be sure to trash the cheap cabling. For what it will cost you (unless you do it yourself) you could have bought a real guitar.

There are too many great guitars selling low out there to bother with cheap, crappily made guitars. Spend a little more and get a Gibson Les Paul Studio or Special, an Explorer (saw one at GC last week with EMGs for $700), a G&L Legacy or ASAT (real ones, not a Tribute), a Godin, an older Guild or at least a Japanese made guitar.

Not here to coddle anyone, sorry. Flame away, when you know the difference you won't settle for a Schector.

You mean Schecter? There's even a picture 1 post above yours to show you how to spell it. I'm not a Schecter fanboy by any means but I will say that Gibsons are overpriced junk. My friend has a Gibson V and it plays like garbage and feels cheaply made. I hate how much they charge for their crap.

Spelling noted (yawn). I am talking about used guitars, Gibson guitars from the 80s and 90s when they still used high quality components like Switchcraft in the wiring harness. I've seen Les Paul Studios on ebay lately in the $550-700 dollar range. I just sold an 84 burgundy Studio to a friend that played like a dream and was very well made. I would put it up against any Schecter and will guarantee you there will not be one 23 year old Asian-made Schecter guitar with original wiring or fret wire on the planet when the time comes. One Flying V that needs a setup does not make Gibson guitars "overpriced junk", it just means you have a very limited perspective and a tendency to make wild generalizations. Gibson has made far more great guitars than poor ones, we are still waiting for a single Asian made Schecter guitar to be considered great.

 

[RJ2213]

i'm with sixveesix on this one. initially guitars like schecter seem good, but they dont hold up over time like the higher quality guitars. a good guitar isnt just one that is easy to play, it needs hardware that will last and not made out of soft metal, it needs solid electronics to keep the signal glitches from driving you crazy. i've worked on a wide variety of guitars that are under $2k and i must say that the difference between a $300 guitar and a $1700 guitar usually isnt easy to spot at first, but once you try to give them a full maintanance check up you will see the difference. the main differences i've noticed are fretwear, durability of switches and jacks, stability of the bridge(especially on FR's), and the usefulness of the trussrod.

what i'm surprised about is the fact that nobody has mentioned much about ESP LTD's since theyre the same company as schecters and mostly made in the same factory.

 

[moltar]

There is something inherently different about the way ESP's play involving the fret hand. I'm not sure what it is, but I don't like it. Some do though.

I'm right on board with the buy quality argument. My squier has soaked up parts, effort, and money to the point where it is tonally better than a Schec but functionally inferior. I fully relate with parts failing, poor bridges, soft frets, all that and will surely upgrade to a professional level instrument when the time comes.

I think a better way to question Schecter would be to ask if it is worth the extra money for a beginner to buy an intermediate level Schecter/ESP/etc over a low end Squier/Epiphone/etc. Granted life spans are similar, but tone and playability are there.

 

[mikeymike]

30+ years of guitar repair and 40 years of playing speaking here. You do get what you pay for. The Schector guitars are very well designed from a functional standpoint. The quality of the woods is medium to fair (a piece of pretty veneer with a layer of glue underneath does NOT make the woods nice), the fretwire is that cheap, soft Asian crap, the trussrods are made of mush metal and you are totally screwed if you strip or break one.

The tuners work well but will not last, the electronics are truly cheap junk, you will be replacing them in about 2 years or less. Your switches will fail and your pots will become intermittent, to say nothing of the jack making popping noises every time you move. When you do replace the wiring harness, be sure to trash the cheap cabling. For what it will cost you (unless you do it yourself) you could have bought a real guitar.

There are too many great guitars selling low out there to bother with cheap, crappily made guitars. Spend a little more and get a Gibson Les Paul Studio or Special, an Explorer (saw one at GC last week with EMGs for $700), a G&L Legacy or ASAT (real ones, not a Tribute), a Godin, an older Guild or at least a Japanese made guitar.

Not here to coddle anyone, sorry. Flame away, when you know the difference you won't settle for a Schector.

You mean Schecter? There's even a picture 1 post above yours to show you how to spell it. I'm not a Schecter fanboy by any means but I will say that Gibsons are overpriced junk. My friend has a Gibson V and it plays like garbage and feels cheaply made. I hate how much they charge for their crap.

Spelling noted (yawn). I am talking about used guitars, Gibson guitars from the 80s and 90s when they still used high quality components like Switchcraft in the wiring harness. I've seen Les Paul Studios on ebay lately in the $550-700 dollar range. I just sold an 84 burgundy Studio to a friend that played like a dream and was very well made. I would put it up against any Schecter and will guarantee you there will not be one 23 year old Asian-made Schecter guitar with original wiring or fret wire on the planet when the time comes. One Flying V that needs a setup does not make Gibson guitars "overpriced junk", it just means you have a very limited perspective and a tendency to make wild generalizations. Gibson has made far more great guitars than poor ones, we are still waiting for a single Asian made Schecter guitar to be considered great.

They're not worth the money they ask for them. Why don't they come set up properly from the factory for the price they charge? Even Korean made ibanez's come setup fairly well... I'm sure the fretwire and jack and wiring are not up to par nor are the pots... but even after replacing that you're not even close to the price of a stock les paul.. and everyone tosses those pickups anyway...

 

[moltar]

Swapping pickups alone will push a Schecter towards the cost of a faded studio lp. Re-fretting a guitar is not cheap, nor something I would consider doing myself.

 

[mikeymike]

Swapping pickups alone will push a Schecter towards the cost of a faded studio lp. Re-fretting a guitar is not cheap, nor something I would consider doing myself.

I agree you can't make up for the frets. But, the guitar will sound fine with the frets that are on it if you get them levelled. You can do that yourself. They might not last as long as a les paul's but theyre not 100% trash like some chinese guitar...

 

[moltar]

Agreed. That brings you back to the 'tone wood' argument.

 

[Vigo1999]

yeah, im yet to see Asian made (or "import" as some other says) guitars reaching a high level status, although some Cort and Crafter acoustic guitars are very good.

Just helped the guitar buddy on the band buying a Gib LP mahogany vintage and for 799usd he cant ask for anything better. well made and great hardware.

when it cames to quality on some things ill stay with this:

car = Germans
Musical Instruments = USA
women = Brazilian

:wink:

 

[visualrocker69]

 

[tobytheplatypus]

i swear by my schecters, and around here, ppl sell them dirt cheap

Omen 6
C1
'03 C1-E/A


i need a Jeff Loomis and a C1-FR to round out the set

 

[RJ2213]

yeah, im yet to see Asian made (or "import" as some other says) guitars reaching a high level status, although some Cort and Crafter acoustic guitars are very good.

ill put the build quality of my Caparison Horus SE up against your gibsons any day. heck, i'll even bet my japanese(fujigen factory) RG3120 against your gibson.

 

[SixVeeSix]

Having built over a dozen guitars both acoustic and electric from raw lumber, assembled from parts another 50 or so hot rod Strat clones, bought and sold well over 300 guitars, and done repairs and modifications on a few thousand, I now repeat my previous statement that the current crop of Chinese and Korean made guitars fail in almost every way to meet the level of quality available from some current and many older American made guitars.

Most Japanese made guitars have some short-comings by comparison as well and are overpriced, especially Ibanez. A Steve Vai "Monkey Grip" Strat clone has the same cheap switches, pots and jacks as most $400-500 dollar guitars and they want $2k for one? I have replaced the entire harness in several of them, it is pretty sad to see such cheap components in there.

The woods are not as good.
The metals are not as good.
The electronics are not as good.

Yes, the good stuff may cost you more money in the short term. Big "wah"! Work the second shift at your dishwashing job at Denny's for 6 months and get what you deserve. I cannot believe people on a MESA forum whining about the cost of good equipment! If you buy well they will always be worth at least what you paid for them and in many cases will go up in value. As somebody just pointed out, used Schecters go very cheap - that is THEIR TRUE VALUE.

None for me thanks, I will just keep gigging my 16 year old Gibson ES-335 Studio and 20 year old parts Tele with Warmoth neck. Bring your Schecters by when they have that much time on them and we will see what is left of them.

OK, you guys can go back to bragging about your $400 Chinese guitars being better than any Gibson now. Sorry I had to piss in your cornflakes, you don't have to eat them. If I inspired even one of you to seek out the fine quality your music deserves then it will be worth the flaming this post will no doubt stir up. Rock out and have fun!!
:roll: :evil: :lol:

 

[RJ2213]

and the other part of the argument......


if i'm gonna pay $3k for an american guitar it will be a Tom Anderson, Suhr, or Brian Moore. theyre QC is by far superior to the larger manufacturers that charge just as much.

 

[crestwood1972]

Once upon a time I had a Schecter Gryphon. I was shocked at the quality of workmanship on that $399 guitar. It was setup perfectly at the factory too.

Only problem was the tone. There's a reason Gibson, ESP, et al put maple tops on a mahogany guitar. Without a maple top to brighten the tone you get a real dense almost muffled sound coming out of it.

With EMGs tho it doesn't sound too bad. Especially for the price.

 

[SixVeeSix]

and the other part of the argument......


if i'm gonna pay $3k for an american guitar it will be a Tom Anderson, Suhr, or Brian Moore. theyre QC is by far superior to the larger manufacturers that charge just as much.

Those are all solid choices if you want to spend the money. Other quality options in the $400-$1k range include:

Gibson Les Paul Studio - hold out for one with an ebony fingerboard, mid 90's or earlier. Going too cheap right now on ebay, no essential difference between a good one of these and a Les Paul Custom - just gingerbread.

Gibson Les Paul Special - both single cut and double cut. Gibson SG - some models. G&L Legacy or ASAT, Ovation Viper (solid body) or Preacher, Godin guitars (one sold in the local Craigslist yesterday for $175, a STEAL), older Guilds, Hoyers, Framus Les Paul or SG, Warmoth kit guitars people give up on, Fender Lead I, II, and III, Gibson Explorer, S1 or Marauder, etc, all these guitars will deliver the goods for just a bit more than a new Schecter.

 

[crestwood1972]

I'm not sure that a Paul Studio compares all that favorably to a Standard or a Custom.

Once again, you have that all mahogany tone which is not all that great to my ears anyway.