Are Schecters really worth it?

[soliloquy]

as others have mentioned before, I think Schecters are priced competitively for what they are*

all brands, ESP/LTD, Dean, BC Rich, Michael Kelly, etc are all more or less made here and are great.



*the Japanese market is different, with different specs and prices. chances are that a used FGN, or Ibanez, or Jackson that is MIJ maybe priced lower than a new Schecter. So long as you are not comparing Korean Schecters to Japensese guitars, you're fine.

Japanese seem to have some mojo going on with their guitars.

 

[Jbar0071]

My 2 cents. I've owned older MIJ Ibbys, a USA Custom, a couple Prestige, a few lower end Jackson's, and several Schecter 7s. I switched to only 7s in 2010ish. Since then I have developed hard preferences in designs. I hate dealing with Floyd's, I dispise in line 7 tuners, only like HH pickup arrangements, love stainless frets and ebony boards, prefer satin necks, and hate basswood bodies. Schecter usually has a model that I like. I picked up my new Sunset Extreme today. It passed my initial inspection for flaws. I like the Sunset/Pasadena pickups. The thin C neck works for me. No complaints thus far. I will probably swap the Schecter bridge for one of the brass Musiclily Hipshot clones. I think the key is to figuring out what you want/need/like/dislike.

Are Schecters "worth the money"?
Yes, if they make something you want.
Have you figured that out?

 

[Church2224]

You look at my Babies and tell me they are not worth it...

 

[Neon_Knight_]

My 2 cents. I've owned older MIJ Ibbys, a USA Custom, a couple Prestige, a few lower end Jackson's, and several Schecter 7s. I switched to only 7s in 2010ish. Since then I have developed hard preferences in designs. I hate dealing with Floyd's, I dispise in line 7 tuners, only like HH pickup arrangements, love stainless frets and ebony boards, prefer satin necks, and hate basswood bodies. Schecter usually has a model that I like. I picked up my new Sunset Extreme today. It passed my initial inspection for flaws. I like the Sunset/Pasadena pickups. The thin C neck works for me. No complaints thus far. I will probably swap the Schecter bridge for one of the brass Musiclily Hipshot clones. I think the key is to figuring out what you want/need/like/dislike.

Are Schecters "worth the money"?
Yes, if they make something you want.
Have you figured that out?

Is your dislike of inline tuners purely aesthetic? In terms of functionality, it's simply a better design than 3+3 imo.

 

[Jbar0071]

Anesthetic and function. To me in line 7s are ridiculously long headstocks (ibbys and in line Schecters) and/or have garbage string geomerty at the nut (Jackson/ESP). What is it about an inline that is better than a 3+4/4+3 design to you?

 

[Neon_Knight_]

Anesthetic and function. To me in line 7s are ridiculously long headstocks (ibbys and in line Schecters) and/or have garbage string geomerty at the nut (Jackson/ESP). What is it about an inline that is better than a 3+4/4+3 design to you?

My reason is in the name - the tuners are in line with the nut slots. This is optimal for tuning stability, as the strings run straight through the nut slots. With a 3+3 / 4+3 headstock, the strings are pulled at an angle towards one side of the slot, which inevitably causes additional (unwanted) friction. I know the significance of this is debated, but LPs have very much earned their reputation for poor tuning stability.

For the same reason, I would rather own this Jackson 3+3 headstock:



Than this (not) inline Jackson headstock:




In terms of aesthetics, I think the headstock shape needs to suit the body shape and overall guitar aesthetic. The Gibson 3+3 headstock just looks right on an LP, but would look out of place on an RG imo, while the opposite is true of the pointy Ibanez inline headstock.

 

[Jbar0071]

My reason is in the name - the tuners are in line with the nut slots. This is optimal for tuning stability, as the strings run straight through the nut slots. With a 3+3 / 4+3 headstock, the strings are pulled at an angle towards one side of the slot, which inevitably causes additional (unwanted) friction. I know the significance of this is debated, but LPs have very much earned their reputation for poor tuning stability.

For the same reason, I would rather own this Jackson 3+3 headstock:

View attachment 143502

Than this (not) inline Jackson headstock:

View attachment 143501


In terms of aesthetics, I think the headstock shape needs to suit the body shape and overall guitar aesthetic. The Gibson 3+3 headstock just looks right on an LP, but would look out of place on an RG imo, while the opposite is true of the pointy Ibanez inline headstock.

AH! We may have mixed up our terms. To me, inline tuners are all in the same row, like the lower jackson image you posted. In which case I prefer the top jackson design. To be more clear, I do not like 7 tuners in a row. As far as i am aware, the tuner manufacturers refer to the tuners being in the same row as inline. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

AH! We may have mixed up our terms. To me, inline tuners are all in the same row, like the lower jackson image you posted. In which case I prefer the top jackson design. To be more clear, I do not like 7 tuners in a row. As far as i am aware, the tuner manufacturers refer to the tuners being in the same row as inline. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

That dawned on me as I was midway through my last reply, which is why I added the photos and put referred to the Jackson "inline" headstock as "(not) inline".

Ibanez headstocks are my favourites though!

 

[JSKrev]

They're an especially good buy used if you can track one down.

 

[nightsprinter]

For as much as I poke fun at Schecters, they really are awesome. One thing I appreciate is it seems like the Diamond Series line is one of the last holdouts of very good quality, still-sort-of-affordable, professional-enough grade guitars where you can buy several models under $1000 (or slightly over) and have a rock solid item with more often than not.... very good build quality that doesn't need serious re-work to play clean at mfgs spec.

I strongly believe they budget to give the WMI workers the longest time per guitar over the other household name brands that have instruments produced there.

Frankly, they + PRS are probably neck and neck with time per guitar @ the Indonesia factories too.

I just bought another Korean 7 string today. I'm sure it will be solid.

My only complaint about the schecters is many times I've received them with nut slots a little too low which is a bummer. But it's worlds better than some of the whackadoo stuff I've seen on the LTDs over the past handful of years @ similar price points.

 

[LunatiqueRob]

Schecters for me can be hit or miss, because they veer into the cheesy cringe territory with the aesthetics sometimes, but when they nail it, they really nail it. Those of you who have seen my collection know that I have more Schecters than any other brand, and it's not because I'm a Schecter fan boy. I simply find the guitars that have the features and aesthetics and tones I want, and they just happen to end up being Schecters. And after having bought and sold so many over the years, Schecters is definitely one of the best in terms of bang-for-the-buck and punch above their price tier.

 

[ToneLab]

I have owned a number of MIK Schecters and they have all been really good. My favorite guitar is a Schecter Banshee that is worth a fraction of many of my other guitars. Great value.

 

[Zado]

Schecters for me can be hit or miss, because they veer into the cheesy cringe territory with the aesthetics sometimes,

Sadly this is getting more and more true these days. I thought we were over this bad bad habit

 

[Choop]

I like Schecter -- all of the MiK ones that I've ever played and/or owned have been solid guitars. They do have some cringey designs/aesthetics on several of the models lol, but there are some genuinely good ones.

 

[Wiltonauer]

I’ve often found Schecter’s cheaper bolt-on guitars lacking in vibe for me. IMO they start to get good when they go set-neck or neck-through.

My Schecter is a recent Hellraiser made in Indonesia. It checks a particular set of boxes for me, and I took some time settling on it. The only thing I would have picked over it (for the purpose) would have been a more expensive Schecter. There’s just no looking back; it doesn’t lack in a single area for what I bought it for.

 

[CleansingCarnage]

I'm typically an Ibanez fan boy but imo Schecter is the value for money brand at the moment, at least in the US. In other markets certain other brands might be more compelling. At the end of the day a vast amount of the import guitars from different brands in the same price brackets are going to be manufactured in the same exact places so there aren't a whole lot of differences aside from QC and specs but Schecter is pretty solid in those areas when compared dollar to dollar to other import guitars.

 

[Shask]

I’ve often found Schecter’s cheaper bolt-on guitars lacking in vibe for me. IMO they start to get good when they go set-neck or neck-through.

My Schecter is a recent Hellraiser made in Indonesia. It checks a particular set of boxes for me, and I took some time settling on it. The only thing I would have picked over it (for the purpose) would have been a more expensive Schecter. There’s just no looking back; it doesn’t lack in a single area for what I bought it for.

That is funny, because I almost always think my cheap bolt on Schecters sound better than my more expensive set neck Schecters. Maybe I just prefer the bolt on tone, but I almost always like the pure sound of my cheapies better, even though my better ones like my 3 Hellraisers, are much better guitars.

 

[SilentStrummer]

I love my MIK Schecter. Quality, playability, fit finish, etc. I’d say is equal to my Am Pro II strat. So yes, it’s worth it.

 

[Wiltonauer]

That is funny, because I almost always think my cheap bolt on Schecters sound better than my more expensive set neck Schecters. Maybe I just prefer the bolt on tone, but I almost always like the pure sound of my cheapies better, even though my better ones like my 3 Hellraisers, are much better guitars.

You might just like the bolt-on tone. Nothing wrong with that; if you like it, why fight it? I don’t think neck-throughs a set-necks are objectively better — just different. There’s often something about them that I find myself really liking, that usually doesn’t seem to happen for me with bolt-ons. But then hand me a high-end Ibanez, or a really great Fender, let me play it for a while, then ask me why bolt-ons suck and there’s no point in owning them. I would probably begin my reply with something like, “Now let’s not be too hasty…”

 

[Shask]

You might just like the bolt-on tone. Nothing wrong with that; if you like it, why fight it? I don’t think neck-throughs a set-necks are objectively better — just different. There’s often something about them that I find myself really liking, that usually doesn’t seem to happen for me with bolt-ons. But then hand me a high-end Ibanez, or a really great Fender, let me play it for a while, then ask me why bolt-ons suck and there’s no point in owning them. I would probably begin my reply with something like, “Now let’s not be too hasty…”

That is what annoys me about Schecter. All of their higher end bolt-ons all get the super thin neck, and only their cheapies get the thicker necks. That is one reason I like the Hellraisers... because of the thicker neck.

Yeah, it seems like I always prefer the bolt-on tones. They have they snappier, clearer attack to them. I like the set necks also. I think neck-through is always my least favorite. They never sound as good to me.