old late 70s early 80s schecter strats

[tovaldi]

I know this subject has been mentioned before but I have a few questions regarding those old schecter strats.
I love the tone of Mark Knopfler´s candy apple schecter strat, the one with the dotless birdseye maple neck and three mini toggle switches. I read somewhere that the body on that strat was made out of mahogany and I just couldn´t believe it. That guitar sounds very alive and bright, I always thought it had a swamp ash body, in fact I though that most of those old schecters (not the exotic wood models) were made out of ash bodies. I have owned two early 80s schecters but none had a maple neck but they did have a swamp ash body.
I wonder if any of you could give me any information regarding this issue. I don´t know if anybody is aware of that Knopfler schecter I´m refering to. I´d also like to know what was the main wood used for the body on those schecters strats. Maybe they used ash for the transparent finish and alder for the solid finish. Tom, I know you had some experience with those schecter strats so maybe you know the answers to some of the questions.
One last question, I think the late 70 schecter strats had serial numbers that started with an S followed by four numbers. I had two schecter strats that had a serial number that started with an A followed by four numbers. I always thought that S stands for Schecter and A for Anderson, but that´s just a guess or maybe it´s just a coincidence... I´ve also seen some schecter strats that had no serial number at all, where those the ones that were made out of parts but not assembled at the Schecter plant?
It´s really very difficult to get any information on those old schecter strats. Thanks.

[tom]

i had a hand in that guitar. it was indeed mahogany, and i remember it being so dark sounding that we thought he would hate it. his first schecter was made with a birch body and he loved it. it was stolen and the red one was the replacement. in those days we didn't do much with ash, and what we did with ash was heavy ash. remember that heavier is better myth? many of the solid colors were poplar, never any alder. when they started having bodies made in japan, around '83, they were alder. in the late 70's, there were lots of exotics like koa, teak, imbuya, and mahogany with fancy tops.

[tovaldi]

Tom thanks for the information.
Just out of curiosity, have you built any Classic with a solid mahogany body?
Thanks.

[tom]

maybe one or two. since it's not a "vintage " combo, not too many ask about it. we do a lot of drop tops these days with it.