SX STL50/62 Owners Club

[bowman]

I'm in. Mine is an STL with a P90 in the neck. Looks, sounds and plays great. I find myself not using the bridge pickup at all, just the P90.

[pchilson]

Originally Posted by bowman

I'm in. Mine is an STL with a P90 in the neck. Looks, sounds and plays great. I find myself not using the bridge pickup at all, just the P90.

Was yours a model that came with a p90 in the neck or did you add it in?
If added which p90 did you use?

[telelicious90]

The GFS P90s and mini firebird humbuckers sound great in a Tele to me at least. If your looking for a p90 just try GFS.

[tacodog]

My wife started learning guitar and picked up an acoustic beginners kit. It looked like fun so, instead of always fighting over the one acoustic, we ordered an STL Ash. Should be here on Monday. We're still mastering such opus' as Skip to My Lou and other 6 note wonders, but we're having a good time.

The telecaster will be so that we can practice at night on headphones without bothering pets or neighbors. Will this Telecaster save our marriage or, due to constant fighting over who can play with it next, destroy it? Stay tuned...

[telelicious90]

You should be on a reality show...

[T.M.]

Here are pics of my blue STL50 (first tele!) that I got a few days ago.



The lighting/blanket makes it look grayer than it looks in person.

Someone mentioned they had a hard time finding a picture of the jack so here's one.


I ordered a white pickguard and eventually I'd like to reshape the headstock. This is my first tele so I don't know how much it sounds like a "real" telecaster but it sounds good to my untrained ears.

[musicmatty]

Originally Posted by T.M.

Here are pics of my blue STL50 (first tele!) that I got a few days ago.



The lighting/blanket makes it look grayer than it looks in person.

Someone mentioned they had a hard time finding a picture of the jack so here's one.


I ordered a white pickguard and eventually I'd like to reshape the headstock. This is my first tele so I don't know how much it sounds like a "real" telecaster but it sounds good to my untrained ears.

I like the headstocks..they look great. Also, the Black guard looks sharp on that Blue. Just enjoy it and beat the hell out of it, they really are great players.

[Festofish]

I was looking into selling my Carvin Bunny 5string bass and buying an Sx bass and an Xaviere strat. Well I started doing my research and came across these posts again and you guys changed my mind. After reading all this and looking at all the beautiful pictures I just had to land on one of these. Then my wife said something that made me just about cry with happiness. She said...You love your bass...it's only a hundred bucks just get it already! :) My Candy Apple will be here Thursday and I can't wait. All the talk of Chunky necks and jumbo frets had my left hand twitchin'.

[Muddslide]

Originally Posted by Festofish

I was looking into selling my Carvin Bunny 5string bass and buying an Sx bass and an Xaviere strat. Well I started doing my research and came across these posts again and you guys changed my mind. After reading all this and looking at all the beautiful pictures I just had to land on one of these. Then my wife said something that made me just about cry with happiness. She said...You love your bass...it's only a hundred bucks just get it already! :) My Candy Apple will be here Thursday and I can't wait. All the talk of Chunky necks and jumbo frets had my left hand twitchin'.

I have an P-bass with maple neck. Absolutely love the thing. There's been talk elsewhere on the internet that the quality and QC of SX basses is even higher than their six-strings.

I haven't played enough of their guitars and basses to know if that's true, but every guitar and bass of theirs I HAVE played has been really well done.

I really think my SX bass and SX Tele are the best deals I ever got on a new guitar. By far.

[joebonilla]

Originally Posted by JMPRO

Here is mine. I refinished it, dressed the frets, changed the pups, pots, bridge and the pick guard. Oh ya I cut the headstock to a familiar shape. Otherwise its still a Rondo

This is beautiful.. you did the paint job yourself? and the headstock looks fantastic!!!

[mechanicdave]

I've got the vintage white STL50. Aside frome a personal taste setup and perhaps a trebel bleed cap its's good to go. I will be buying a thinline for a P90 or mini hum neck pup and another for an Esquire mod. For less than one MIM I can have 3 guitars that can deliver any tone I could ask for. Congratulations to all in the club! Dave

[Festofish]

Yeah I'de still like to try an Sx jazz or P bass sometime.

[bowman]

Was yours a model that came with a p90 in the neck or did you add it in?
If added which p90 did you use?

Mine has a stock SX P90, no idea who makes them, but it sounds surprisingly good. I have no plans to change it right now. Maybe if this was my main guitar I'd have to do that, but for part time use it's great.

[JMPRO]

Originally Posted by joebonilla

This is beautiful.. you did the paint job yourself? and the headstock looks fantastic!!!

Yep I did the finish myself. The first trans finish I have ever done and it took a few refinishes to get it right. Please don't look to closely or you will see the photo is better than than the finish in person.The head stock is fairly easy once you get a template. Just a quick trip through the bandsaw and the drum sander and some rattle can clear to finish it off.
Thanks for the complement.
JMPRO

[joebonilla]

That finish is nice either way. I'm considering a trans blue tele. Where would I get a template for the neck though? I have a spare sx neck from my thinline... Although I really like the inlays and binding on your fretboard... What to do?

[Festofish]

Well I finally have my own Stl50. I am very happy. I'd put it up against squires for sure and the vast majority mex's. The neck is nice and I love the color! I used to have a jimmy vaughn strat and I've loved a tinted neck ever since. Of course this is a bit more than that. heh heh. I like the pickups and the tuners on mine are fine. The vol/tone knobs are great. I hate it when they expect me to buy a guitar with crooked/loose knobs. That's the pits. These feel really good. I was planning on getting one of those Wilkinson compensated bridges but after reading about them not lining up I'll just switch saddles instead. I am not too mechanically inclined to get into potential issues over that. I can do saddles. :) I got the CAR and it's beautiful and really sparkly. The strings bend super easy because they send them with 9's I believe and the frets are jumbo. Oh and I actually like the neck pickup. I'll keep both of them for a while until I get adventurous. The bridge pup sounds great too. There are a few black spots in the finish but not on the front or back...just on either side of the neck and the rounds on either side are a little roughed up. Just a tad but not smooth. I guess you'd call that the shoulder area. Everywhere else is smooth and beautiful. Those two issues are nothing big but they're there so I thought I'd mention them. It's no American Standard but for the price it's Fantastic! Now...what's next?

[musicmatty]

Originally Posted by Festofish

Well I finally have my own Stl50. I am very happy. I'd put it up against squires for sure and the vast majority mex's. The neck is nice and I love the color! I used to have a jimmy vaughn strat and I've loved a tinted neck ever since. Of course this is a bit more than that. heh heh. I like the pickups and the tuners on mine are fine. The vol/tone knobs are great. I hate it when they expect me to buy a guitar with crooked/loose knobs. That's the pits. These feel really good. I was planning on getting one of those Wilkinson compensated bridges but after reading about them not lining up I'll just switch saddles instead. I am not too mechanically inclined to get into potential issues over that. I can do saddles. :) I got the CAR and it's beautiful and really sparkly. The strings bend super easy because they send them with 9's I believe and the frets are jumbo. Oh and I actually like the neck pickup. I'll keep both of them for a while until I get adventurous. The bridge pup sounds great too. There are a few black spots in the finish but not on the front or back...just on either side of the neck and the rounds on either side are a little roughed up. Just a tad but not smooth. I guess you'd call that the shoulder area. Everywhere else is smooth and beautiful. Those two issues are nothing big but they're there so I thought I'd mention them. It's no American Standard but for the price it's Fantastic! Now...what's next?

************************************************** ********
Here's a link if you didn't know this already. I switched mine to 6 vintage barrel type saddles thats on this link page, and they work great.

http://www.allparts.com/store/bridge...g,Category.asp

[Festofish]

Originally Posted by musicmatty

************************************************** ********
Here's a link if you didn't know this already. I switched mine to 6 vintage barrel type saddles thats on this link page, and they work great.

http://www.allparts.com/store/bridge...g,Category.asp

Thanks, yeah that's probably what I'll go with.
Decent price too.

[thegiftofyears]

New to the forum so I'm just getting in on this thread this morning.

I've owned 2 SX STL guitars. I used to own the three pickup model (STL sss) with which I foolishly parted.

However, I made bought an STL 50 vintage white a few months ago and had a good time modding it. None of these are necessary - just personal choice. All the parts are from GFS:

• new bridge
• new pots and cap
• new switch
• fatbody pickups in neck and bridge

I also had the frets sanded down - I just didn't like the jumbos. The tech installed a new bone nut at the time he did the frets.

The end result is a guitar that's a keeper and been fun to mod.

[GiddyHitch]

Originally Posted by Muddslide

There's been talk elsewhere on the internet that the quality and QC of SX basses is even higher than their six-strings.

As good as my STL50 is for the money, it has its flaws (mostly cosmetic), while my SX P-bass was just about perfect. Wish I still had it.

I'm in the middle of reshaping and rebuilding my STL and it's turning out to be a fantastic platform to hone my modding skills. I've done some setup and soldering work in the past, but I'll be going much deeper on this one. I pulled off the neck this morning and stripped all of the hardware off. Also busted my first nut out (that doesn't sound right). Hopefully stripping off the tinted top coat and reshaping the headstock goes just as well this afternoon.

[JDRNoPro]

Originally Posted by T.M.

Here are pics of my blue STL50 (first tele!) that I got a few days ago.



The lighting/blanket makes it look grayer than it looks in person.

Someone mentioned they had a hard time finding a picture of the jack so here's one.


I ordered a white pickguard and eventually I'd like to reshape the headstock. This is my first tele so I don't know how much it sounds like a "real" telecaster but it sounds good to my untrained ears.

Very nice qualty pix of your powder blue STL50.........one of my "SXquires is powder blue but it's a 62 with RW. My PB SST is maple - love that thing!

[littlewing6283]

Goldtop Tele ??????????

Ive been wondering to do this for awhile. My birthday is tommorrow so I wanted to gets started on this last night. I figured I would do it to my STL 50 since my little brother already dropped it and took a big chip off the paint. also at the price of the stl 50 if I screw it up too bad I can buy another one. Also i didnt want to spend 7392730 days stripping the stock poly finish

here we go

the before shot



disassembled



body repairs using wood filler, it looks ugly right now but it will be sanded



frt sanded, 400 grit

[littlewing6283]

rear sanded, 400 grit



body primed w/ white primer. I then sanded the primer once dry to 600 grit



frt 1st of 3 basecoats



rear base coat

[littlewing6283]

on a whim i decided to paint the headstock frt gold as well



headstock primed



headstock basecoat




now im gonna clear it pretty soon

[musicmatty]

Looks like that is gonna be stunning for sure...lots of pics to follow I hope.

[littlewing6283]

wow another trip to home depot. im using more clear than I thought I was going to use.

headstock was done. sanded down w/ 1000 grit and used rubbing compound to polish.





heres the body after the 4th coat of clear

[JDRNoPro]

Well, Littlewing that STL is certainly undergoing quite a transformation! Is it staying an Esquire or back to Tele config? Closeup of the headstock looks good. Is that a Vox Pathfinder in the background?

[littlewing6283]

Originally Posted by JDRNoPro

Well, Littlewing that STL is certainly undergoing quite a transformation! Is it staying an Esquire or back to Tele config? Closeup of the headstock looks good. Is that a Vox Pathfinder in the background?

its staying an esquire. i wanted to reinstall the pickups anyways. i like using tubing versus springs.

it is a vox pathfinder. i just got it.

[Micawber]

do the neck pockets on these accept a standard fender neck?

[littlewing6283]

whew, 24 hrs later. i started this approx 9pm last night.

just finished wetsanding it. its ready to be buffed now



in the process of getting put back together



done 1, i will take proper photos next week maybe. these came out ugly w/ weird reflections. it looks like it has spots



done 2

[joebonilla]

Oh man... :o.
First gold esquire I've seen...and I like it...

[given2flym]

Thank you for posting these pics. I'm currently in the process of doing my first refinishing. I'm painting a powder blue lefty STL50 dark metallic green (automotive acrylic lacquer). I don't think I'd ever touched a can of spray paint before even. These shots really put me at ease. Having never painted a guitar before, it was nice to see that my spray job looks a lot like yours. And your finished product looks damn good.

Thanks again for sharing and great job.

[littlewing6283]

Originally Posted by joebonilla

Oh man... :o.
First gold esquire I've seen...and I like it...

thanks, im really happy w/ it.

Originally Posted by given2flym

Thank you for posting these pics. I'm currently in the process of doing my first refinishing. I'm painting a powder blue lefty STL50 dark metallic green (automotive acrylic lacquer). I don't think I'd ever touched a can of spray paint before even. These shots really put me at ease. Having never painted a guitar before, it was nice to see that my spray job looks a lot like yours. And your finished product looks damn good.

Thanks again for sharing and great job.

you have any pictures of yours ? what grit sandpapers did you use ?

[rxtech]

How would you say that these compare to the GFS teles (Xaviere brand), solid and hollow body? They seem to have nice parts, the Xavier's that is.

[JDRNoPro]

That looks really great, Chris! Wasn't sure how the gold would look with the heavy SX neck tint, but with that white PG, it's striking. Good call on the painted headstock, too. That first mod project sure gave you confidence - and inspiration, too! Geez, lookin' at your pix makes me want to tackle another STL lol.

Those Pathfinders are a really great little amps......and sound a lot better once the speaker's well broken in. Amazing how good a rig one can get for a mere $250 these days - an SX with a few simple hardware mods and a Pathfinder 15R.

And yes, I'd like to see some pix of given2flym's too.

[given2flym]

Originally Posted by littlewing6283

thanks, im really happy w/ it.



you have any pictures of yours ? what grit sandpapers did you use ?

From what I've read, I thought you weren't supposed to sand metallic paints. Uh oh. Did you sand the color coats? If so, with what grit? Wouldn't it mess with the metallic finish? I haven't gotten to the clear coat yet.

Here's a pretty flatter picture of what it looks like as of now. At certain angles it looks very uniform, at others it looks like there a some darker patches, etc. Any ideas or tips would be appreciated.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3585/...65f5f5c9_b.jpg

[Kebmel]

I put in Tonerider pups and upgraded the machine heads.

They now both sound like the real thing and I'm well pleased.

[littlewing6283]

Originally Posted by JDRNoPro

That looks really great, Chris! Wasn't sure how the gold would look with the heavy SX neck tint, but with that white PG, it's striking. Good call on the painted headstock, too. That first mod project sure gave you confidence - and inspiration, too! Geez, lookin' at your pix makes me want to tackle another STL lol.

Those Pathfinders are a really great little amps......and sound a lot better once the speaker's well broken in. Amazing how good a rig one can get for a mere $250 these days - an SX with a few simple hardware mods and a Pathfinder 15R.

And yes, I'd like to see some pix of given2flym's too.

thanks jim. actually that first project (with all your help ) came out ok but it taught me how to do everything. this time around the wiring is better and the pickup is installed properly. overall guitar setup is great. I was thinking about doing another STL project but i'm not that happy w/ theyre necks. they are a little bigger than what I would like. its a great rhythm guitar though and I can play some leads sort of ok. im alot more comfortable with a slimmer neck. the guitar plays way better now though, mainly b/c I wasnt fumbling through putting it together.

the pathfinder 15r is awesome. Ive only had it for less than a week so the speaker is not broken in yet but it is awesome for my purposes. mainly for my apartment and small jams. anything more I use the delta blues or valve junior. I also love my marshall avt20 to death but its a bit loud for my apartment. i might sell it.

it is amazing what you can get for 250 bucks total though. this stl50 esquire and the pathfinder is actually a good combo with a lot of tonal variety.

[littlewing6283]

Originally Posted by given2flym

From what I've read, I thought you weren't supposed to sand metallic paints. Uh oh. Did you sand the color coats? If so, with what grit? Wouldn't it mess with the metallic finish? I haven't gotten to the clear coat yet.

Here's a pretty flatter picture of what it looks like as of now. At certain angles it looks very uniform, at others it looks like there a some darker patches, etc. Any ideas or tips would be appreciated.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3585/...65f5f5c9_b.jpg

no i did not sand the base coat. i just put enough base coats to give nice even coverage. i sanded a spot in the back because a bug flew in while it was flashing. i just sanded the spot w/ 600 grit and sprayed an entire coat again so it would be even.

what i was sanding was the clear coat. if you decide to sand the clear coat make sure you have enough clear coat on. rattle can clear coat is not like automotive clear coat so its a bit thinner. its alot easier to break through. also if you decide to sand the clear coat make sure you WET SAND it. make sure there is water while you are sanding. The sandpaper I used was 1000grit wet sanding paper. also make sure to pay specific attention to dirt nibs (dirt or dust that goes on to the clear coat as its flashing. it takes a little more time for clear coat to flash so dirt nibs are inevitable even in a booth) also make sure to sand lightly b/c if you break through the clear coat you will have to spray clear again or even worse sand off all the clear. spray another base coat and clear again.

as far as some parts being darker and some spots lighter unfortunately is inevitable w/ a spray can unless you are really good w/ a spray can. im decent w/ a spray gun but have trouble w/ the cans. if this is old information sorry but heres some tips when laying paint down.

- always spray in a well ventilated area but also isolated. you dont want it to be super windy or in an area where a lot of dirt and dust is kicked up. spray in the cleanest well ventilated environment available
- when spraying make sure to use even movement and work your way top to bottom.
- keep the pressure even. this is where it gets extremely difficult because the flow of the spray cans is not that great. theres also little room for error unless you have a lot of spray can experience. so try to keep the pressure when your pressing the spray can even. this is how there are some dark spots and light spots because depending on the pressure your fingers are exerting more or less paint will come out
- keep the distance to the object and spray can even. changing the distance mid spray or in the middle of a panel can result in inconsistencies of the paint being laid down. some spots will have more and some less.
- make sure the paint flashes off before applying another coat.

any experienced refinishers if any of my advice is wrong please feel free to correct me.

[given2flym]

Originally Posted by littlewing6283

no i did not sand the base coat. i just put enough base coats to give nice even coverage. i sanded a spot in the back because a bug flew in while it was flashing. i just sanded the spot w/ 600 grit and sprayed an entire coat again so it would be even.

Thanks for the info. I went into this and used a bunch of posts here and the Reranch info as guides. My main focus was no runs or sags and I only had one small one on the bottom edge of the guitar. I sanded it with like 400 and resprayed over just that area and I can't even tell where it was now. So that's good.

I definitely plan on sanding and polishing the clear. Want a nice shine. Now that I know it's difficult to get a really even color with a can, I may just try to touch up a few spots and move on to the clear coating when I get back into town.

I don't really have an area to paint in, so I've been doing it outside and, yeah, the wind sucks. :) But with the green being so dark (which I wanted) you can't really notice any of the dust. The clear coat will be a different story. Hopefully not too big of a pain.

I plan on spraying quite a few extra coats of the clear lacquer to give me a little protection from sand throughs (and being very careful on the edges). Two questions: 1. do you sand and of the coats or only sand at the end to get the high gloss? 2. did you only sand the top coat with 1000grit wet or did you work your way up to that?

Thanks again for all the info. Very very helpful.