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Help Confirming a USA Schecter Bass

bassphreak

bassphreak

Feb 13, 2007
2,589
78
Lehigh Valley Area, PA
www.facebook.com
#1
Help me figure out what I bought.

I rolled the dice and picked up a nice Schecter PJ bass. I'm trying to figure out what exactly it is. It's a Fender P clone with the older Schecter/Fender headstock. All hardware is stamped Schecter, and it has the old simple Schecter logo on the headstock. Serial is A-79XX stamped on the neck plate. I haven't disassembled.

It's very light, seems lighter than Alter but I can't tell. I know some of the older Fenders I've touched are light. Neck feels and plays great - as good as any USA Fender I've touched. Nice rounded P bass neck. Board seems darker than rosewood by has some very nice grain. Fret work is great.

The EMGs seem to be aftermarket and put on later in life. The routing is too big and the wiring doesn't seem like factory or CS wiring. That didn't bother since I wanted to try EMGs.

I've seen similar basses on TB (can't find any posts now). But this seems like a 79 or very early 80s USA Schecter. When they first started making complete guitars/basses. I do have a question out to Schecter to see if they can confirm it's lineage.

Any help from my fellow TBers will be greatly appreciated.

See pics.
 

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#5
Based on this CL posting it seems I may have a 79 Schecter USA bass.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Same exact hardware, stamp and log. Same neck (it appears). Same pot configuration.

Seems this one was sold here on TB a while ago:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f126/fs-80s-usa-schecter-pj-bass-477174/

Identical to the one I have except for the finish and aftermarket EMG pups.


More to come.....
 
#8
I've owned a lot of US Schecter stuff and the ones like yours are really hard to tell. I passed on a bunch just like it because of that. Older Schecter stuff, late 70's early 80's, were mostly sold as parts, not full guitars. All early Schecter stuff that I've owned has Schecter burned into the neck either on the heel or on the back of the headstock. These parts were of the highest quality and they feel like you have a product from Sadowsky or U.S. Lakland in your hand. I've often seen the necks paired with Boogie Bodies bodies.


The monstertone pick-ups were from when Schecter re-opened as a U.S. custom shop and started to produce all kinds of full guitars and basses. This stuff is also TOP quality. These basses will have "Schecter- The Original California Custom" on the neck plate.


During the 80's there was a ton of fake Schecters coming into the country. I believe they were made by Samick.


This is all IIRC and FME.


Edit: The bridge looks like a Schaller, which you wouldn't see stamped with Schecter on a fake. My rule of thumb is, if it feels like a an import, 80's MIJ or MIK, then it's a fake. If it feels like a Fender, only much better, then it's a real Schecter. I've seen very little from Fender that I would put up there with the U.S. Schecter stuff.



Michael
 
#9
Thanks Michael. Yeah it's hard to tell. There is very little information on the early Schecters. SN classification are tough with early models. I'm not even sure that Schecter will be able to help. It's consistent with the other model I posted.

I know Schecter started out as a high quality parts shop. It's either a Schecter parts bass or the one of the first run of the Schecter basses. I'll pull the neck off when I restring which should help confirm.

To me it feels like an old Fender. It feels like quality. That's what counts.
 
#10
Nice bass, but there's a lot of misinformation in the craigslist ad and in the linked thread.

The sunburst bass is absolutely not from 1979.
It is from the same era as your bass, which is known as the "Dallas Era" (after Schecter's financial backers raided their Van Nuys workshop in the dead of night -taking everything in it- and trucking it to Dallas, TX, which became Schecter's new headquarters). Real cloak-and-dagger stuff, all well documented.

Your bass is from 1984, or so. The "A" serial number easily places it in that period. Another obvious sign is the lack of a skunk stripe. All the Van Nuys-made Schecters are one-piece necks, and have skunk stripes.

No bodies or necks were produced in Texas. They used parts that were imported from both Japan and Canada. Still very good quality, though. As far as authentic Fender vintage-type quality, just consider what ESP, Tokai, and Fernandes were doing at that time - Schecter's Japanese components were probably maufactured in the same factories as those brands.

Schecter's current owner simply purchased the name. They have zero connection to that once-great company, and -if they have any information- they've probably just amassed it while answering the frequent inquiries from owners of older Schecters.
 

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