Schecter Elite 4 Neck Thru

For several months I became an expert on cheap basses.

I looked at cheap luthier made basses, and music store Asian wonders. Top of the list were Yamaha, Carvin, Schecter. They all make well made instruments with good finishes, NC machine precision, Passive or Active electronics, and classic or usable neck profiles.

I ended up with a Schecter.

The most avid player I know came over last week, picked it up, played it for 5 minutes, put it down and said, “I want one.” I was curious – was he kidding? This guy made a guitar for a rock star last month.

He had brought with him a ’63 Jazz Bass. He plugged it in. He said “That thing kicks this thing’s ass”.

Could this Schecter be the deal of the millennium?

Even at its list price of 900 or so it’s a deal. Quilt, nice inlays, killer finish, tuners that work like a Ferrari, and humble little passive emg’s that sound good. Not great. So drop in pickups you like. At the ebay second hand price of around 300 it’s a deal. No compromise construction, perfect precision and stability, for 300 bucks.

My budget was $300. I had to buy a case separately, so $375. The Carvin’s in ebay are still expensive – they hold their value better maybe. But their neck thru’s are great. It was just too expensive. The Yamaha’s are solid as could be. Admirable detail and build quality for the money. But the neck thru wasn’t on ebay. They were bolt-on city, and sterile.

Is now the time to start talking about Korean Manufacturing? Its getting better. Fast... even NC machines mess up, but this guitar was about perfect. It will last 100 years and sound good the whole time. OK I’m overstating it. This is the best made guitar for the money as far as I know if you are buying it on ebay and your budget is 300 dollars.

Tedrank *****.