I couldn't resist...

[robb3566]

The siren song of those $79.99 sx strats from Rondo finally got me and I ordered one. In accordance with my wife's recently passed legislation concerning new guitars, I had to get rid of something, so I sold my Squier p-bass to a co-worker. It's CAR and should be here this week!

http://www.rondomusic.com/sstsecar.html

[Jerolin]

Jeeze man, you shouldn't have posted that. That's awful darn tempting...I don't really need to spend $80 right now!

[Parma_TeleMon]

I'll probably spend more than that on our aniversary dinner next weekend.

[robb3566]

Originally Posted by Parma_TeleMon

I'll probably spend more than that on our aniversary dinner next weekend.

Yeah, I've read a few of the reviews from people here who have Rondo guitars and the consensus seems to be they're not horrible for being so dirt cheap!

Geez, for $80 I figure even if the electronics are trash, Guitar Fetish sells a complete hand-wired drop-in Strat pickguard with all the good stuff for $135, so for around 200 clams I'd have a pretty respectable red Strat! I'll post pics when it gets here.

[PapaBeef]

A bunch of years ago, I saw an ad in GP for the $69.99 Kramer Focus.
Honestly could be the best thing I ever bought.
It's a great guitar for that price & of course it was so cheap I'dda been an idiot not to buy it.
But the real reason I say it was the best thing I ever bought is that it inspired me to get back into playing after a long layoff, which led to me running into an old bandmate who I hadn't seen in 20 + years.
It really changed my life for the better.

[robb3566]

Ok, the 80 buck-o-caster arrived yesterday, and here are some pics. The glossy finish on the neck and body is stunning. The true body color is a little hard to capture with the camera, as it reflects a lot of light, but suffice to say it's everything you'd want in a Candy Apple Red. The neck is very chunky, almost too chunky, but the fret ends are perfect, no sprout at all. They could probably stand a leveling. Tuners and nut will probably get swapped out. At first it wouldn't stay in tune at all, but rubbing a pencil in the nut slots and simply tightening the tuners helped tremendously.

Pickups are cheap ceramics, of course, and sound like...well, cheap ceramics. Harsh, trebly and brittle, although a little experimentation with p/u height has yielded passable clean tones through my Pathfinder 15r. With distortion it's pretty God-awful. That's what I expected though, and I have to say the pickups on this are better than I thought they would be on a $79. guitar. It's very playable as is. Hum isn't any worse than on my Casino, and positions 2+4 are totally noiseless.

I think the next time I have $135 to spare I'm going to get one of those GFS pre-wired drop-in pickguards. I have a feeling some good pickups, pots and switches will make this a keeper!

[Diceman]

Yikes! I may have to look at one of their teles.

How do they compare to Guitar Fetish / Xavier?

[Strat62]

I bought the same one for my daughter a while back. The neck and the overall finish was incredibly good. There were a couple of glitches with the electronics and the tuners, but that's to be expected at that price. They're a good deal.

[Diceman]

Nice. I figure I'll get a Tele, since there is less stuff to possibly "go wrong" w/ them! I beefed up a Squier recently and gig it all the time - one of these might be a fun project. I'd just need $45 worth of tuners and bridge plate from Guitar Fetish and possibly a pickup or two. Time to sell of some stuff from the parts drawer to fund it!

[robb3566]

Originally Posted by Diceman

Yikes! I may have to look at one of their teles.

How do they compare to Guitar Fetish / Xavier?

I've never tried the Xaviere guitars, so I can't say...the only other Strat I've owned was a 1984 American Standard, which was my first 'real' guitar. To be honest I never liked the pickups in that guitar either. Very flat, with no 'sparkle.' Fender made some real dogs in the early to mid 80s. It was heavy as hell too, for some reason.

The nicest Strat I ever played was several years ago. A used MIM 50's classic in Guitar Center that was just magical. I think they wanted $450 for it, and to my regret I didn't buy it. If the GFS alnicos I'm looking at sound anything like the ones Fender uses in the 50's Classic, I'd be very happy with this guitar, chunky neck and all. http://store.guitarfetish.com/gfsusacushha.html

[PapaBeef]

I've seen the reviews on HS for the Xavier Strats & Teles. And they're mixed.
But my daughter recently bought one of the XV-580s & it's pretty darn nice.
Unlike the strats & teles that were reviewed, the XV-58 came with a pretty nice fret job...level & clean, smooth ends.
I have a Kramer Focus I picked up for $69,99 a few years back.
They weren't available with a maple neck at the time. But the neck is really nice on that. And in spite of the nato plywood body, it sounds sweet, even with the cheap PUPs.
I recorded some tracks with it. But I don't know where the CD is now.
Naturally, I've heard they're not the same quality now.

[Diceman]

Thanks to this thread, I've got this on the way...



$127 shipped! Amazing! I'm anticipating a few mods - but nothing right off the bat. If it functions well, it'll probably stay stock.

[garytelecastor]

I haven't been around for awhile, so this might have been covered, but Squire just came out with a 50's and 60's Strat model that is just immaculate. Alnico pickups,.....well read for yourself.
I played one of these today up at LaVonnes Music in Mpls, and they are just gorgeous.

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/p...ar-?sku=519338

[robb3566]

Originally Posted by garytelecastor

I haven't been around for awhile, so this might have been covered, but Squire just came out with a 50's and 60's Strat model that is just immaculate. Alnico pickups,.....well read for yourself.
I played one of these today up at LaVonnes Music in Mpls, and they are just gorgeous.

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/p...ar-?sku=519338

The Classic Vibe series has been getting raves around here. I looked at one of the CV Jazz basses a few weeks ago, very nice!!

[redstringuitar]

An "almost too chunky" neck for £52.95 sells it to me, everything else sorted by twodding!

[podboy3]

Congrats on the purchase... This is one I have been digging but I fear buying it because of wife issues.

sst57

[B Valley]

Originally Posted by Diceman

Thanks to this thread, I've got this on the way...



$127 shipped! Amazing! I'm anticipating a few mods - but nothing right off the bat. If it functions well, it'll probably stay stock.

I have one in powder blue and one in sunburst. I think the necks are perfect and aside from tweeking the nut, I haven't done anything to them. I'm sure you'll be as impressed with the quality as I was.

[Diceman]

Thanks B - it'll be here Friday!

I went ahead and ordered a SJM as well - stop tail w/ rosewood board in triburst!

[robb3566]

Originally Posted by Diceman

Thanks B - it'll be here Friday!

I went ahead and ordered a SJM as well - stop tail w/ rosewood board in triburst!

And yet another TDPRI'er falls victim to an SX-ually transmitted case of GAS.

I just ordered a new Graphtech Tusq nut and some new tuners for the SST. I'm waiting for a commission check later this month so I can get the GFS pickups. For now I'd be very happy if I could get it to stay in tune!

[Moonrider]

Originally Posted by robb3566

The Classic Vibe series has been getting raves around here. I looked at one of the CV Jazz basses a few weeks ago, very nice!!

After I got my CV Tele, the bass player and the other guitar player went out and picked up a CV Jazz bass and CV Tele bass for themselves.

One thing we've all noticed is the CV series overall seems to have incredible tuning and action stability. Nothing seems to bother these axes, they just keep playing and sounding good.

[nashville sound]

I've got one of these www.rondomusic.com/stl622ts.html on the way. New headstock and all.

nashville sound
www.rayedenton.com

[rangercaster]

i love inexpensive (don't call them cheap !!!) guitars and they constitute 90% of my alarmingly large collection ... that CAR strat is beautiful and beats the crap out of my Squire Affinity...

[robb3566]

Ok, mod update #1: I installed the new tuners...Guitar Fetish sent me lefty ones by mistake, and I really didn't feel like sending them back and waiting, so I put them on. They work fine, just have to turn them in the opposite direction, no biggie.

Next I changed the nut to a ready-made Tusq from Graph Tech. I had a little trouble getting the old nut out, I tapped it a little too hard and a little piece of the headstock split off where it curves, on the low E side. I was able to glue that back with some good carpenter's glue, and it's fine now.

The size of the new nut was almost perfect, just a tiny bit low on the high E string, causing a nasty buzz. The radius on the nut was just a little smaller than the neck. So I made a little shim out of some thick paper and stuck that under it, problem solved. I didn't even put any glue on it, it's a nice tight fit. Took me a while to reset the action and intonation, but WOW. What a difference in tone! The guitar is much more resonant acoustically, and even plugged in it sounds better. I may even hold off on the pickup replacement and live with the stock ones a while. It stays in tune beautifully now too, even with the tremelo. I was playing the crap out of it last night, picked it up this morning and it was still perfectly in tune. I am really happy...two cheap mods...about $35. total, and I have a nice, inexpensive Strat.

I'll probably invest in the new pickups at some point, but for now I've found that backing off to 8 or 9 on the volume tames the harshness of the bridge position quite a bit.

[Roadsong66]

Originally Posted by robb3566

Ok, mod update #1: I installed the new tuners...Guitar Fetish sent me lefty ones by mistake, and I really didn't feel like sending them back and waiting, so I put them on. They work fine, just have to turn them in the opposite direction, no biggie.

Next I changed the nut to a ready-made Tusq from Graph Tech. I had a little trouble getting the old nut out, I tapped it a little too hard and a little piece of the headstock split off where it curves, on the low E side. I was able to glue that back with some good carpenter's glue, and it's fine now.

The size of the new nut was almost perfect, just a tiny bit low on the high E string, causing a nasty buzz. The radius on the nut was just a little smaller than the neck. So I made a little shim out of some thick paper and stuck that under it, problem solved. I didn't even put any glue on it, it's a nice tight fit. Took me a while to reset the action and intonation, but WOW. What a difference in tone! The guitar is much more resonant acoustically, and even plugged in it sounds better. I may even hold off on the pickup replacement and live with the stock ones a while. It stays in tune beautifully now too, even with the tremelo. I was playing the crap out of it last night, picked it up this morning and it was still perfectly in tune. I am really happy...two cheap mods...about $35. total, and I have a nice, inexpensive Strat.

I'll probably invest in the new pickups at some point, but for now I've found that backing off to 8 or 9 on the volume tames the harshness of the bridge position quite a bit.

The paint job on your SST SE is gorgeous from the pics!

Thanks for your advice in the other thread comparing the SX to the Affinity series............I also found your experience in this thread about changing the nut to be very informative. Good stuff, can't wait to get my hands on the SX, and yes, I will be ordering the SE.

[Mark Davis]

Originally Posted by Moonrider

After I got my CV Tele, the bass player and the other guitar player went out and picked up a CV Jazz bass and CV Tele bass for themselves.

One thing we've all noticed is the CV series overall seems to have incredible tuning and action stability. Nothing seems to bother these axes, they just keep playing and sounding good.

My CV is as stable and plays as good and sounds as good as any guitar Ive owned and its the least expensive guitar Ive owned.

I also bought an SX Bass for a girl who helps me clean my house do my laundry and stuff I cant see good enough to do and it was $109.95.

I was floored at how good it is she almost didnt get it away from me.

These Rondo Sx instruments like the CV's are way better than their price would indicate.