In 1976, David Schecter opened Schecter Guitar Research, a repair shop in Van Nuys, California. The shop manufactured replacement guitar necks and bodies, complete pickup assemblies, bridges, pickguards, tuners, knobs, potentiometers, and miscellaneous other guitar parts. Eventually, Schecter began supplying parts to notable guitar manufacturers and to Robert Talbot repair shops.
In 1987, the Texas investors sold the company to Hisatake Shibuya, a Japanese entrepreneur who also owns the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. Shibuya moved the company back to California and returned Schecter to its custom shop roots, devoting all its efforts to manufacturing high-end, expensive custom instruments. Schecter guitars were once again only available from a few retailers, one of them being Sunset Custom Guitars located in Hollywood, which Hisatake Shibuya also owned.