Strange USA made Schecter

[Pash]

Hi there!
My friend owns an old (I believe 91) Schecter guitar and asked me to find any information about this axe.
Here are some photos of it:
http://www.zaburuev.ru/schecter/1.jpg
http://www.zaburuev.ru/schecter/2.jpg
http://www.zaburuev.ru/schecter/3.jpg
http://www.zaburuev.ru/schecter/4.jpg
http://www.zaburuev.ru/schecter/5.jpg

It seems that there was Floyd Rose tremolo factory installed, but the previous owner changed it for the stratocaster-like 2-point tremolo and installed the locking tuners. There are also pickups changed to Seymour Duncans.

What the guitar it is and how much it worth in good condition?
Thanks!

[the.godfather]

It just looks like a USA Custom Shop made Schecter. Its definitely a custom shop job, judging by the quality of the finish. The USA Schecter stuff is mean't to be amazing. There are a few guys on here that own/have owned Schecter Custom Shop instruments. So they might be able to help you out slightly more.

As for value, I'm not sure. The guys from the US will be able to value it better, because these things dont really crop-up on the UK market. But I know one thing, they weren't cheap when they were first made.

It looks like a quality USA Schecter Custom Shop instrument to me though.
But I may be wrong.

[buddroyce]

It looks like a Japanese Schecter SD-II

Site ref: http://www.schecter.co.jp/amrican/sd2.html

Even though it's called the American series, it's still made in Japan.

[the.godfather]

Ah well, there you go. I thought I might be a way off, lol.
My Shecter knowledge isn't that great, especially when it comes to these sort of models. I am familiar with the current line of Blackjack, Tempest, and the likes.

I just saw this one and instantly thought it was USA. It reminded me of those 80's Schecters you see crop-up occasionally on e-bay.

But as you said, it looks like Schecter Japan have reissued that model. And it looks pretty nice too. They come in a great range of colour options.

[buddroyce]

I was actually REALLY temped to buy one myself. They list for 141,000 yen and sell for about 115,00-120,000 yen. So they're pretty darn cheap for what they are.

(Did I also mention that Schecter guitars in Japan is owned by ESP?? So it's on the same craftmanship level as the Edwards line of guitars, which is on par with any Ibanez Prestige out there).

[buddroyce]

Hhhhmmm.. doing more research into the SD-II-24 makes me want one sooo much more now.

24 fret
Basswood body w/4-5mm maple cap (just like the EBMM Axis models)
rosewood OR maple
OFR
AANJ
Made in Japan

I couldn't care less about the Schecter pickups, but at a cost of about $950 brand new how can you go wrong??

[Drew]

Originally Posted by buddroyce

(Did I also mention that Schecter guitars in Japan is owned by ESP?? So it's on the same craftmanship level as the Edwards line of guitars, which is on par with any Ibanez Prestige out there).

Schecter states most emphathetically on their website that they are NOT associated with ESP in any way, shape, or form.

It DOES look rather like a USA custom shop model. For what it's worth, Tom Anderson got his start building for Schecter, and the quality is supposed to be pretty even from his guitars to theirs.

With the replaced trem I'd say it isn't worth as much as a similar USA custom without such substantial modifications done to it, but it'd probably still command a decent price on the 'bay. However, with a trem replacement that was done that visibly, I suspect you'll scare off a lot of bidders. My advice? Keep the thing and play it, it's probably an amazing playing instrument.

[jim777]

The original Schecter company stopped making parts in the US around '83 or so, when they started buying all their parts from ESP. All the 'old school' Schecters of the Knopfler/Townshend era are pre-'83. Tom Anderson, Rudy Pensa, and John Suhr all came out of the old late 70's - early 80's Schecter.
I've owned both 80's and 85's, and thought the Japanese parts quality was way, way up there. Not as collectible, but certainly awesome to play and nearly identical as well (if it says Schecter on the neckplate, it's Japanese). The new stuff (the USA custom made and the Korean 7's) I haven't spent much time on. I don't think you'd have any problems with older US or Japanese made stuff, and the new Korean stuff always gets raves from the people who own them. I don't know when the 'new' US custom shop opened.

[John C]

Jim777,

I did a lot of research on Schecter and the companies that came out of that era a couple of years ago - unfortunately I lost half of it in a drive failure. Rudy Pensa and John Suhr weren't employees of Schecter, but they are part of the Schecter "family tree".

Tom Anderson was definitely a Schecter employee; he did a lot of R&D including pickup development, and was involved in building some of the guitars from their factory. Tom left circa 1984 after spending time in Japan with their partners, so he never made the move to Dallas where they were assembling the outsourced parts. Tom himself started just making parts (bodies, necks, eventually pickups) with the occasional assembled guitar in this era (circa 1984-1987). By 1988 Tom & company stopped the parts business and focused only on completed guitars.

John Suhr was working for Pensa's store, Rudy's Music Stop in NYC, as their guitar tech in the early 1980s. John started assembling guitars from various parts, including Schecter since Rudy's was a Schecter dealer. It seems most Schecter dealers had staff who assembled completed guitars as well as selling Schecter parts and factory guitars. Pensa and Suhr decided to make their own guitars under the "Pensa-Suhr" name and sought out their own parts suppliers. John got parts from Tom Anderson early on (including the body and neck for Knopfler's carved-top guitar - Anderson cut and glued up the body; Suhr hand-carved the top and had it finished). When Anderson got out of the parts buisness, according to posts John made on his website they used Warmoth parts.

John left Pensa in early 1991 to build amps in California with Bob Bradshaw/Custom Audio Electronics. Pensa of course still builds his own guitars. Suhr moved on to spend time in the Fender Custom Shop before starting his current company.

Some other folks who have Schecter connections are Valley Arts Guitars - Valley Arts Music used to also be a Schecter dealer and, like Pensa-Suhr, started their own line. Right before they were completely bought out by Samick the had hired a guy named Don Grosh to build necks. Of course, Don Grosh has moved on to his own company now as well. I'm not sure, but I think that James Tyler might have been involved with Schecter at some point as well.

[buddroyce]

[quote=Drew]Schecter states most emphathetically on their website that they are NOT associated with ESP in any way, shape, or form.
QUOTE]

Schecter in the USA has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with ESP in the USA. However in Japan it's a different story. Schecter & ESP here in the US are NOT the same business identities as they are in Japan and while it's true that Schecter is not associated with ESP in any way, shape or form, that fact is ONLY TRUE outside of Japan.

I should also mention that the brand SEYMOUR DUNCAN is also an ESP brand in Japan. (more specifically the Seymour Duncan brand of guitars is an ESP brand).

Some mighty strange things out in the land of the rising sun that doesn't quite make a lot of sense outside of it.