Schecter

January 2011 Guitarist 91
SCHECTER PT & PT FASTBACK £599 EACH
ELECTRICS
Two different guitars built on the same basic chassis – one
traditional, the other pimped out by Ed Mitchell
E
xperimentation was the
name of the game in the
seventies, and we’re not
just talking hairstyles and
naughty substances. The era
saw an explosion in tonal
tweaking and guitar
modification. While Eddie Van
Halen was busy terrorising
innocent Fender Stratocasters,
and one unfortunate Gibson
ES-335, Schecter Guitar
Research was producing high-
quality guitar parts. It would
eventually make enough parts
to assemble entire guitars.
In 1979, one of these
assembled guitars found its way
into the hands of Pete
Townshend of The Who. Pete
was in the process of retiring
his ‘numbered’ Gibson Les Paul
Deluxe guitars when his tech
Alan Rogan found a Schecter in
Manny’s Music in New York.
Pete fell in love with the guitar
and subsequently had UK
luthier Roger Giffin, and later
Schecter, build him more
examples featuring his
favoured set-up of a Fender
Tele-style body loaded with a
pair of high-output
humbuckers. Pete played his
Schecter guitars onstage with
The Who from 1979 to 1988.
While originally offered to
the public as the Saturn model,
the production version of the
Townshend-esque Schecter is
now known as the PT. Oh, and it
now has a brother in the shape
of the more traditionally styled
PT Fastback.
PT
The subtle hint of its model
name aside, the new Schecter
PT is not a Pete Townshend
signature model. The pimped
PT is inspired by Pete’s guitars,
but the specifications do differ.
For example, Pete’s guitars had
mahogany and poplar bodies;
the new PT is made of alder.
The PT is essentially a
Frankenstein’s monster. But
before you light your torches
and head for the castle, know
that the gene-splicing has paid
off big time. Schecter has taken
the original fifties design and
injected some nitro in the form
of a pair of Super Rock II
Loud and proud: Schecter Super Rock II humbuckers
The Rivals
PT
For Telecasters with attitude
check out the new Fender
Blacktop Telecaster
(£539.99), which features
twin Hot Vintage Alnico
humbuckers. Maggots and
metalheads may prefer the
Fender Jim Root Telecaster
(£839.99). The Slipknot
guitarist’s main squeeze
features two active EMG
humbuckers (an 81 at the
bridge and a 60 in the neck
position). It’s evil.
Schecter PT &
PT Fastback
£599 each
The great thing about the Super Rock
II humbuckers is that the pursuit of
power hasn’t produced any tonal
harshness. They sound fantastic clean
humbuckers studded with
stonking great polepieces. The
other standout feature is a neck
that feels pleasantly chunky
and comfortably slim all at once
– a tough balancing act for sure.
The addition of a 356mm (14-
inch) fingerboard radius and 22
well-dressed jumbo frets makes
playing the PT a dream.
Bending strings above the 12th
fret is effortless and choke-free.
Although the PT has been
stripped down to its basics (one
volume, one tone, etc) at 5.1kg
it’s a chunky old beast that feels
reassuringly solid when it’s
hanging from your shoulders.
PT Fastback
The PT Fastback obviously
‘pays tribute’ to the seventies
GIT337.rev_schecter 91 12/3/10 10:56:55 AM