Sonic Les
Strat-Talker
Interesting guitar , Looks to have Seymour quarter pound type pickups ,and 2 knob controls ,sounds superb but what would not in Knoplers hands .
2 Knob Stratocaster
- Thread starter Sonic Les
- Start date
Seems like there was a thread a while back with someone trying to replicate (?? or ID) this guitar.
Anyone else remember that thread??? Or was I drunk?
@Sonic Les maybe try a thread title search
Looks like it may be just a stock Schecter S-type...
strat-talk.com
Anyone else remember that thread??? Or was I drunk?
@Sonic Les maybe try a thread title search
Looks like it may be just a stock Schecter S-type...
Schecter Strat
Hello everybody, I was hoping to get some help with dating this guitar and also with finding out how much it could be worth. It should be from around 1990, feels like a high quality build, sounds bright with a chime and is in new like condition. Thanks in advance!
strat-talk.com
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stratman323
Dr. Stratster
Yeah I was gonna say that he was known for playing Schecters for quite a long while. Not that you'd realise that from what Fender tell you....
somebodyelseuk
Senior Stratmaster
Yeah, Schecters, pretty much from the second album to after Brothers In Arms. The pickups were crazy overwound Schecter pickups - I knew a guy who he gave one of his Teles to.
knh555
Most Honored Senior Member
That’s a Schecter Dream Machine with F500T pickups.
Here’s my AV59 Fender version with a mk-guitar loaded guard meant to replicate those Schecters. Three way switching on each pickup allows independent control for full coil, tapped, or off. The volume also has a treble bleed. I really like this setup.
Here’s my AV59 Fender version with a mk-guitar loaded guard meant to replicate those Schecters. Three way switching on each pickup allows independent control for full coil, tapped, or off. The volume also has a treble bleed. I really like this setup.
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Wrighty
Dr. Stratster
That headstock sure looks Fender though. I also noticed he’s strumming a bit like Johnny Cash, right up by the neck.
Yep; that was one of his many Schecters - pretty guitar with the brass pickguard.
Remember Schecter started out as a parts company so they were using the Fender headstock shapes - not sure if it was officially licensed or if they simply were using them before Fender got their current active trademark on the shape.
But since they were primarily a replacement parts company who assembled some guitars in their small factory in Van Nuys (or had their dealers assemble guitars from their parts on a small scale - some of Knopfler's Schecters were assembled by John Suhr during his days as the tech at Rudy Pensa's Music Stop in New York City) Fender kind of ignored the use of the headstocks until Schecter pivoted from primarily selling parts and assembling some of those "Dream Machines" to being an assembled guitar company who sold a few parts. This happened when Schecter moved to Dallas TX in mid-late 1984; at some point during the Dallas era Fender did hit them up with a cease & desist on the headstock shapes so they went to the generic shape they use today.
Remember Schecter started out as a parts company so they were using the Fender headstock shapes - not sure if it was officially licensed or if they simply were using them before Fender got their current active trademark on the shape.
But since they were primarily a replacement parts company who assembled some guitars in their small factory in Van Nuys (or had their dealers assemble guitars from their parts on a small scale - some of Knopfler's Schecters were assembled by John Suhr during his days as the tech at Rudy Pensa's Music Stop in New York City) Fender kind of ignored the use of the headstocks until Schecter pivoted from primarily selling parts and assembling some of those "Dream Machines" to being an assembled guitar company who sold a few parts. This happened when Schecter moved to Dallas TX in mid-late 1984; at some point during the Dallas era Fender did hit them up with a cease & desist on the headstock shapes so they went to the generic shape they use today.
knh555
Most Honored Senior Member
That's because Schecter began as the original Warmoth-like place to get upgrades for your Strats such as using exotic woods and whatnot.
If I had the motivation I'd change my Strats to just one volume and one tone.
davidKOS
not posting these days
I had long assumed that a "real" Strat needed 3 control knobs.
But my almost-Strat Variax Standard, housed in a Yamaha SSS Pacifica guitar, had 4 knobs - 2 to control the Variax, and a master tone and volume.
What I learned was that a S-type guitar could work perfectly well with only 2 controls.
Just saying...
Wrighty
Dr. Stratster
Interesting stuff, appreciate your taking the time to inform me
Dik Ellis
Strat-Talker
My 74 Strat with 1 master volume and o
ne master tone.
ne master tone.
StratUp
Dr. Stratster
With three pickups, I'm a master vol / tone advocate with a Strat. That bridge tone control seems extraneous to me. If you could figure out how to have one volume on each active pickup when you're using two, that would be cool. Some switching needed I'd guess unless someone has some creative 5 position wiring.
On my two pickup guitars with volume on each pickup I can do a lot by blending the pickups in any proportion I want. But master tone covers it.
I suppose if you do a lot of switching from, for example, the neck to the bridge and you want different tone setting for each, there's a reason for the separate bridge tone control.
Another cool option is three concentric pots on a Strat - volume and tone on each.
On my two pickup guitars with volume on each pickup I can do a lot by blending the pickups in any proportion I want. But master tone covers it.
I suppose if you do a lot of switching from, for example, the neck to the bridge and you want different tone setting for each, there's a reason for the separate bridge tone control.
Another cool option is three concentric pots on a Strat - volume and tone on each.
MK had at least one Schecter, custom-built if I’m not mistaken, with a Fender decal on a Fender-shaped headstock…the white one with the tortoise guard.
stratman323
Dr. Stratster
I agree, two tone controls is an added complication, just one master tone is fine for me.
Wrighty
Dr. Stratster
Clearly a member of the 'tone is all in the fingers' fraternity!
stratman323
Dr. Stratster
Clearly a member of the 'tone is all in the fingers' fraternity!
Not if you mean my fingers, no! One vol, one tone, that's my favourite set up. I see no advantage to any further complication,
That doesn't mean that I want to dispense with the angled jack socket, which is a work of art. Sticking it on the scratchplate is just cost cutting taken two steps too far.
Will Lefeurve
Most Honored Senior Member
Jeez.. thanks for that. I hadn't heard or seen it for yonks, and seeing it again brought a tear to my eye. Just the sheer brilliance of the musicianship and performance. From Mark sure, but also the whole band who are absolutely ace, and the joyful - exuberant audience who were definitely being royally entertained.. WOW!
John Suhr has talked about that one - he built it, but I for some reason I want to say he used Warmoth parts for it instead of Schecter. I don't think it was in an interview; I think it was mentioned either on the old Suhr forum or on The Gear Page. I could be mis-remembering it.
For what it's worth when he and Rudy had the Pensa-Suhr brand in the 1980s they didn't have a full wood shop; they bought blanks/roughs from other suppliers but then hand carved/sanded them in their shop in NYC. They originally sourced body and neck blanks from Tom Anderson - John knew Tom from Tom's time at Shecter, so when Tom went out on his own in 1984 (Tom didn't want to relocate to Dallas when the company was sold) and was making bodies, necks and pickups John sent Tom the specs he wanted and Tom cut them for him. Once Tom made the switch from bodies and necks to building compete/finished instruments in 1989 Pensa-Suhr switched to using Warmoth body and neck blanks.
Knopfler's carved-top Pensa-Suhr was made of parts sourced from Anderson; Suhr had hand-carved the top and really was building it for himself, but Knopfler spotted it, played it and had to have it.
