1985 Schecter Genesis G6 Illusion Electric Guitar

The exact origin of this Illusion is shrouded a bit in mystery, despite the “transparent” nature of the design! So, everything I say here may be jumbled up and there are probably a lot of missing pieces, no pun intended. (Well, yes it was!) Here’s what seems to be the story.

Schecter. The genesis of Schecter guitars goes back to mid-1970s. In around 1976 or so Dave Schecter started Schecter Guitar Research. Could have been a little earlier. Schecter was into replacement pickups and pickguards, plus some other parts. This was at a time where dissatisfaction with CBS- quality control at Fender was a problem for fans of Stratocasters. A cottage industry sprang up in aftermarket upgrades and do-it-yourself parts. One of those was a shop run by Wayne Charvel, opened in ’74. He graduated to manufacturing in ’76 and shortly thereafter was hooked up with Schecter. Business problems separated Schecter and Charvel, the latter going on to selling out to Grover Jackson and becoming one of the big names of the ’80s. Schecter continued on as a partser until the mid-’80s, when it, too, began marketing guitars, some of them pretty fine.

1985 Schecter Genesis G6 Illusion Electric Guitar

Ok. Shift to Guild guitars. Begun in the early 1950s by Al Dronge out of the leftovers from the collapse of Epiphone, Guild had a long tradition of solidbody electrics dating to the early ’60s that always managed to remain on the fringes of professional acceptance. Like their dreads, really good but not a Gibson or Martin. By the ’80s Guild electrics had become really, really good, but less and less competitive with brands like Jackson, Charvel or Kramer.

In 1984 a guitar designer named Dave Andrews of David Andrews Guitar Research developed a Jazzmaster-shaped guitar that was basically an X-shaped structure with lots of the wood cut out. This had a glued-in neck. This got a lot of guitar press at the time. He licensed this design to Guild, which introduced the neat X-100 Bladerunner, of which only 95 were ever made through 1985.

1985 Schecter Genesis G6 Illusion Electric Guitar

In 1985 Schecter introduced its first guitar line with this bolt-neck Genesis model. It was supposedly based on a design by one Bill Reed and Chip Todd. Chip was the designer who worked with Hartley Peavey to develop the Peavey T-60 (T for Todd), the world’s first numerical carving machine guitar. Looks like a rip-off of the Guild to me, and there’s probably a lot more to this story.

Anyhow, this is a cool guitar, lightweight, and hot. While it only has one humbucker, the tone pot is a push-pull coil tap. A real solidbody version was also offered by Schecter. The Schecter Genesises were only offered for about a year. More conventional Schecters followed, as did some more unconventional ones, like the Schecter Yngwie Malmsteen! And whatever you think of the current offerings.

1985 Schecter Genesis G6 Illusion Electric Guitar

Once this guitar got to Boston, the show designers kind of fell out of love with the Genesis. It didn’t get featured in the main exhibition, but was minimalized, as it were, to a hanging in the cafeteria area. Still, how many guitars get featured anywhere in a world class art museum? Or represent the beginning of a guitar line with a strange pedigree like this one?!

How About a Twisted Sister? (1985 Schecter Genesis G6 Illusion Electric Guitar) from MyRareGuitars.com

A friend of mine was selling a cheap old 1970’s P-Bass knockoff called a Pan and another friend was selling a 1976 Peavey TNT 100 bass amp. Picked them both up for a whopping $85! I still have the amp to this day and I am proud to say that it sounds as bad today as it did the day that I got it! After a few years of playing in what ended up being a pretty good high school band and upgrading to a wonderful Fender P-Bass Special a few years later (that I still own), I turned out to be a bassist that people wanted to actually jam with! Did that for a few years and then did what many of us musicians do, get married, go to college, have kids and get a real job. The bass was retired to occasion playing at the house for the next 10 years.

I found myself on day missing playing with other musicians, kind of out of the blue. I started playing again with some folks and found that it was now kind boring playing bass. I wanted the real action (not to mention the spotlight) of playing guitar! And after all, I had the means to afford real gear this time around and guitar players have tons more gear than bassist! Well, the guitar came to me quickly, but the stuff I was writing used a lot of bass licks, my leads were like runs on a bass, and I wanted the deepest, darkest tone imaginable. On a business trip to Kansas City, I stopped a music store and was introduced to the dark side – a Schecter Celloblaster. A five-string guitar tuned in 5ths. It was a guitar/bass hybrid! I was instantly hooked. I was going to learn this strange instrument and change the world of heavy music!

There was one problem, by the time I decided to buy one a year later, Schecter had stopped selling them. I hunted around online and found a place that had two new old stock ones for retail price. Bought it and proceeded to learn this strange thing very quickly. I wrote a few songs and took it to band practice one day, all proud of my new instrument and the stuff I had written! I quickly found out that when in tuned in fifths and the rest of the guys aren’t, it’s almost impossible for them to translate what I had written to a regular guitar without a ton of tricky finger work. Turning the musical world upside down was not going to happen with this interesting instrument unfortunately. She was retired to the guitar rack in my home studio and now rarely feels the spark of my Marshall.

Gretsch Electromatic G5566 Jet Double Neck 6-string Lead & Baritone Guitar Combo

I was determined to find something that would allow for my inner bass player to come out – and then I discovered the wonderful world of baritone guitars. You know, those extended scale things with strings as thick as a bass that are an octave lower than a regular guitar. Yes, Nirvana was at hand! I only thought that groups from the 1960s used them and they only had limited use. After reading some reviews, I looked for a cheapo just in my experiment into ultimate heaviness failed again. The Schecter was not cheap and I couldn’t have the wife giving me another, “I told you so,” type of lecture! I picked up a Squier Sub-Sonic Showmaster on eBay for under $200. After receiving and discover the pickups sounded like, well cheap Squier pickups, I was now officially in love with a type of instrument. Not the actual instrument itself, but I found my calling! Don’t get me wrong, when played clean, the Squier is gorgeous. When played with gain, it sounds like nothing but muddy noise being played through my TNT 100. New pups would fix the issue, but I am now becoming a purist and not wanting to replace anything on my guitars. I’ve done enough Dr. Frankenstein type of work my other guitars to be able to rival the best of the soldering gun champs!

So I am an official baritone junkie. I still only have the Squier, but an Eastwood SideJack Baritone guitar is next on the list. Why you might ask? P-90s, cool vintage looks and Eastwood quality! Throw in those great reviews and what else can you ask for! Baritones have become pretty popular these days, but still most chain music stores don’t carry them. Almost all major manufactures are offering a model or two. I’ll let you look them up, but everybody from Gibson to Fender to Jerry Jones are offering a model up. You can spend a fortune on one or go cheap and get an OLP Music Man knockoff. Depends on your curiosity factor and wallet – just don’t be fooled by brand names and reputations established 30 years ago. Even the really poor Danelectro models from a few years ago are fetching double their original price on eBay. I tried them and was not impressed at all.

So for those of you with a serious guitar collection and are just looking for something different, guitarist seeking different tones or you bass players looking to expand your range, try out a baritone guitar. You won’t be disappointed. They are fun as hell to play, are one of the most expressive instruments around, and are good for everything from country to pop to heavy metal. Almost everybody I know that plays one gets the fever, they can be that addictive. And quality doesn’t have to be expensive either! Now back to grooving on those low tones that I’ve grown to love!

The Wonderful World of Baritone Guitars from MyRareGuitars.com