These are pricey.....

Strat54

Struggling to see where the manufacturers get the prices from for these (£3799). I mean its more expensive than a Tom Anderson 'S'. A friend of mine collects the original 1980's Schecters and he paid a lot less for a similar guitar. Those pickups don't look anything like the original Anderson wound Monstertone pickups. Knopfler actually switched to SSL Seymours in the end. 

https://www.peachguitars.com/schecter-usa-custom-shop-sultan-3-tone-sunburst-w-brass-plate-2020.htm



The real deal....

axisus

Wouldn't interest me. You can get a hell of a strat for a lot less money

prlgmnr

Looks like you'd just be handing over money for nothing.

Grampa

prlgmnr said:

Looks like you'd just be handing over money for nothing.

Yes, but your chicks are free!

Philly_Q

It looks good, but it looks like a "Strat copy" whereas the original one has its own character somehow.

dindude

I had a new generation USA Custom Shop PT it was great, I paid about 1/3 of this price new. They couldn’t give them away and some of the HSS Strats were going for around a grand. Not sure how we got here! 

digitalkettle

Grampa said:

prlgmnr said:

Looks like you'd just be handing over money for nothing.

Yes, but your chicks are free!

Yeah...why worry?

Tex Mexico

There's a lot of brands with core fair-Eastern manufacture whose US custom shops seem to be putting out a lot of product at the moment, all at absolutely mad prices. What I find so jarring is that there's nothing inherently special about these guitars to warrant such a huge price tag, even assuming the quality is there.

I guess some brands still see having an American custom shop as giving them a bit of authenticity, but these prices are just...

richardhomer

Doubt they’ll sell many at that price. Give them a few months and they’ll be Southbound again.....

Jackobean

They've already sold one of the candy apple red sultans.
Unfortunately, the Fender Custom shop have normalised this kind of money for a strat.

Jimbro66

I paid Chandlers £425 in 1982 for a new Schecter Tele that was like the Pete Townshend model but with Schecter s/c pickups. A Schecter Strat at the time was a little dearer, I think about £475 - £500. Depending on which inflation rate calculator you use £500 would be about £1,750 - £1,850 in today's money. That's a long way from £3,799.

In 1982 the quality of Schecter guitars was far far better than Fender's guitars -  which is what prompted Fender to start the Custom Shop. Now the custom shop turns out really good guitars that have the all-important Fender logo on the headstock. Schecter no longer have the high ground in quality so they are going to struggle to sell at anything like that price except maybe to a relatively small number of diehard fanboys.

BTW I still have that '82 Schecter Tele. Best guitar I ever bought.

jeztone2

I was gonna say @jimbo66 I always thought these were parts guitars assembled. Hell I almost bought an original Schecter PT used in 1993 for £450.00. Wished I had now! 

guitars4you

Jimbro66 said:

I paid Chandlers £425 in 1982 for a new Schecter Tele that was like the Pete Townshend model but with Schecter s/c pickups. A Schecter Strat at the time was a little dearer, I think about £475 - £500. Depending on which inflation rate calculator you use £500 would be about £1,750 - £1,850 in today's money. That's a long way from £3,799.

In 1982 the quality of Schecter guitars was far far better than Fender's guitars -  which is what prompted Fender to start the Custom Shop. Now the custom shop turns out really good guitars that have the all-important Fender logo on the headstock. Schecter no longer have the high ground in quality so they are going to struggle to sell at anything like that price except maybe to a relatively small number of diehard fanboys.

BTW I still have that '82 Schecter Tele. Best guitar I ever bought.

1982 was effectively the last year of the California 'custom' Schecters - By 1983 they had been purchased by a company in Texas and guitars were then built with imported parts plus Schecter parts and more of  a production run with far less options - But recall all/most still had the 'Fender' headstock which they were authorised to do so, from the days when they were making 'parts' as per WD do today - But not legal as a 'completed instrument' and this was later stopped

Up to 1982 ish did Chandlers not custom build many of the models, sold in the UK, from their own workshop - ie not built in California, but built in the UK, as custom spec'd models, from appropriate parts - I recall Chandlers had the monopoly on Schecter in the UK

Jimbro66

jeztone2 said:

I was gonna say @jimbo66 I always thought these were parts guitars assembled. Hell I almost bought an original Schecter PT used in 1993 for £450.00. Wished I had now! 

I guess all Fender-style guitars are parts guitars assembled but I know what you mean. The original Schecters were built in David Schecter's Californian workshop. They were shipped part assembled to the fledgling Chandlers as their first UK outlet and Doug and Charlie did the final assembly in their shop. Up until then Chandlers had mainly been selling vintage Gibsons and Fenders that Doug picked up on his many trips to the States. The shop was a tiny two-up-two-down terraced house. They grew a bit from there

tomajoha

I had an early 90s custom shop schecter Strat with monster tone pups - lovely guitars and necks to die for. I agree that the pricing seems to be a casualty of CS prices of late which is shame as they are really vibey guitars. It’s also a shame they don’t have the original fender headstock shape like the original that MK played  - but the current one is at least prettier than a suhr?

Sassafras

That's a lot of money for gold coloured hardware.