Schecter Stiletto Studio 5-String Electric Bass

Feature:
The bass comes with elixer strings, which take some getting-used-to, because they feel slippery. Once you get your hands around them, you find they sound great. The hardware is top flight, the tuners -- terrific. I love the look of the bridge and remember, this is a neck-through bass -- again others makers want a lot more for this feature.

Quality:
This is an extremely well made bass, in my opinion. It's got a solid feel and is easy to handle.

Value:
I actually negotiated a price below the sticker in many of the ads I've seen for this bass, which adds to what I consider an already excellent value.

Desirability:
It's hard to get too excited about a natural finish. It looks great, but not sexy. Let's face it -- it sounds wonderful and if you're packing killer guns and have been doing your crunches, you'll get all the attention with this that you need.

Sound:
One important that sets this bass apart from so many others is the ability to boost or cut the mids. The one problem I had is that when I plug it into my SWR Super Redhead, I get a buzz when I boost the highs. I believe the fix is to shield the well that holds the components. Overall, it's an excellent instrument at a fraction of the price of ones with similar features and playability.

Support:
I found the people at Schecter to be quite responsive. They answered my e-mail question about the buzz promptly and suggested the shielding.

Overall:
This bass is tight -- no flop on the low B, great range of sounds -- I would not hesitate to recommend this instrument to another musician. (I'd also love to try this baby in a fretless. I'm sure that would be killer.)

Feature:
The finish and hardware on this rig is top-notch. beautiful craftsmanship. I really like the satin finish.

Quality:
While the overall quality of worksmanship, and hardware are excellent, I did have some issues. The neck felt a thick as a baseball bat. Plays very slow. Not like the one I tried at the store at all! My hand cramped trying to get around it, fingering at the first five frets was a chore. There was a thinner spot in the neck at fret 11 than at fret 5, so I sanded 4mm(!) off of the neck, to even it out along its length, and now it plays much faster and more accuratley. I do not reccomend surgery to one's brand new bass like this, but Schecter does not offer to customize this bass, and it was neccessary to the playibility for me. Now it feels like a fast, lean machine.

Value:
For the $600 I paid, it's alot of instrument. I just wish the QC had been higher on the neck issue.

Sound:
The overall tone of this Bass is great, but the active pickups can be a little thin, as i run the middle tone almost all the way up, to add warmth. A passive option pickup would fix this.

Ease of Use:
After 25 years of playing 4-string, this is my first 5. so it did feel strange at first, read further to see what I had to do to make it "mine". Simple, straight forward tone adjustment. If you can't dial a tone with this thing, you suck.

Support:
I waited 3 months to get this Bass, and had to call Schecter to find a distibutor with one in stock, the original order I placed in November still had not been fulfilled. I had to customize it myself, ' cause Schecter won't, so there goes my warrantee.

Overall:
Like my last, and only other bass, I intend to play this for decades. I will modify it to suit me, rather than search and spend to find the perfect rig. Fundamentally a good rig.