Schecter Bass Guitars

Schecter Guitar Research made its splash in the music world when it began making custom guitars for famous bands such as The Who and Dire Straits in the '70s. They have been a highly in-demand custom shop and manufacturer ever since. When their boutique shop-styled bass guitar designs arrived, it was clear their bass models were just as good as their guitars. Schecter maintains a large and active roster of bass guitars of superb quality.

The Simon Gallup signature model, besides having a wonderfully unique gloss yellow paint job with a lion and rose for custom graphics, features a powerful EMG TBHZ pickup, chrome hardware, a Tune-O-Matic, and a 22-fret maple/walnut neck. It retails new for about $1,100.

The Damien-5 Halloween is one of Schecter's more festive 5-string basses with black pearloid inlays in the shape of Halloween bats on its neck and a shade of orange that would make any jack-o'-lantern proud. It has a mahogany body, a maple neck with carbon fiber reinforcement rods, rumbling EMG 40HZ pickups, an arched top contour, and an overall look you can take with you when you go trick-or-treating. It costs about $840.

Schecter's Dug Pinnick Baron-H Bass is a picture of elegance. It's also a replica of the bass that "dUg" (as he is known) from the band King's X plays. What really sets the look of dUg's signature bass apart from others is its semi-hollow body with the charming little music notation curl etched into the wood and the Creme 1-ply binding (the thin cream-white line that borders the edges of the guitar body). It's a gorgeous instrument, and as this reviewer notes, its superb tone sounds as if dUg himself is standing in your room playing through your bass amp. It costs about $900 new.

The Diamond-J 5 Plus is a vintage-styled 5-string bass from Schecter that delivers what Chorder describes as an "epic" sound. It has a strong, plucky, clearly defined tone that punches every one of its notes through the band's mix like a vintage typewriter hammering out fresh copy in a news room. It comes with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound J SJ5-3 pickups, a "phase switch" push-pull pot for the master volume that lets you do some intriguing things with the pickups, a Seymour Duncan 2-Band Active EQ with 18v system that lets you shape the low end, and a vintage-styled aged natural color on a swamp ash body. It comes in at about $800.

The CV-4 catches the eye with a three-tone sunburst, ash body, metal nnurled knobs, bright chrome hardware (which look great against the dark sunburst body), and Diamond J-Bucker pickups that capture a beautiful full-range bass tone. It has a flat top contour, maple neck and fretboard, a thin 'C' neck shape, and 22 narrow X-Jumbo frets. It costs about $570.

The Stiletto Studio-5 FF is another classy 5-string bass from Schecter (though the model series also come in 4-string or 6-string versions as well). This model has an irresistible honey satin color on a flat top contour and mahogany body with satin gold tuners and EMG 40HZ pickups. It costs about $980.

If you've ever wanted an instrument shaped like a casket, you're in luck. Female bassist Sean Yseult, known for her monster bass riffs in the bands White Zombie and Star & Dagger, worked with Schecter to produce this ominous beast of a bass. Besides its unique body (which is made of mahogany wood with a gloss black finish), it has powerful EMG 35P4 pickups, an ebony fretboard, sculptured edges, and chrome hardware. It costs about $750 to play the same monster model that Sean Yseult uses.

The Model-T Session has a chic, antique-inspired look with stylish side block inlays made of ebony, Grover Vintage tuners shaped a little like black three-leaf clovers, and a pickguard shape that paves half of the aged natural satin wood of its swamp ash body with a clean black. It has an EMG J bridge pickup and an EMG P neck pickup, and this understated but very stylish bass costs about $670.

The Stiletto Extreme-4 is one of Schecter's finest looking basses, and one of its cheapest. It features eye candy such as the vector-shaped inlays, creme binding, a figured maple top in either see-thru black or a stunning black cherry color, and humbucker pickups that have their own EQ, which lets you hone in on a perfect sound. It has a maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, and 24 jumbo frets. It costs about $450, one of Schecter's most affordable and head-turning bass guitars.

The Michael Anthony Bass, created by Van Halen's very own bassist Michael Anthony, has a unique carbon black color for the alder wood body, a maple/walnut multi-ply material for the neck, an attractive creme binding that highlights the clean shape of the guitar, creme dot accents on the neck, and Schecter USA MonsterTone-J™ (and P) pickups. It costs about $900.

Another gorgeous, head-turning design from Schecter, the Stiletto Custom-4 looks amazing with its natural satin color on a flamed maple and walnut top, and satin gold hardware with rounded wood edges, like a melting piece of golden butterscotch sculpted into the shape of a bass guitar. It has EMG 35HZ with powerful low-end and a tone you can fine-tune with a 2-Band EMG Active E/Q. If you'd like something a little less golden and a little more hardcore, you can also get it in a Vampyre Red Satin color. It costs about $630.

Schecter loves its 5-string basses. Besides having five strings, the walnut satin-colored Omen-5 features an arched top contour, rosewood fretboard, black 1-ply binding to basswood body, a nice definition, a maple neck, Schecter's custom pearloid semi-goth inlays, and Schecter Diamond Bass pickups. Another affordable Schecter model, the Omen-5 costs about $460.

If you have always been on the look-out for ornamental neck inlays that have gold bone crosses and an official deathbat on the 12th fret, then this bass is your dream come true. Schecter's Johnny Christ Signature, made for bassist Johnny Christ of Avenged Sevenfold, not only features gold bone crosses and deathbats, it has a black ash body, maple neck, 21 narrow X-Jumbo frets and monster EMG 81 and EMG MMCS pickups to give you that heavy Avenged Sevenfold sound. It costs about $1,050.

When it comes to making bass guitars, Schecter does nothing half-way. Their artful, beautiful sounding bass creations are some of the finest in the world.