Rondo SX teles;I just don't get it

[Double]

So I bought a Rhondo SX STL50 3TS and it is not quite what I expected.
The Bad: The bridge was set way too close to the nut so you cannot intonate the guitar. The low E and G strings were so bad that the guitar played out of tune everywhere. Because of the style of the bridge no Fender replacement bridge will work and who cares if it has string through body if the bridge sucks and won't intonate. The tuners will not hold tune even with just mild bending so replacing the tuners is a must. It has these tiny 500k pots, what where they thinking, with single coil pickups the pots should be 250k no matter what size they are. The pickups are uh junk, they sound thin with no depth.
The Good: The price (I guess for a guitar that plays out of tune and does not sound that good), the frets and fret job were decent and the finish was not too bad.
I would say to future buyers to stay away from the SX teles and save a few more dollars and headaches and buy the real thing, there is just too many things wrong even for $107.00. I am not sure what I am going to do with the thing (as I call it), I might be able to use the neck but the body will make for good target practice.

[dlxtele]

If it is bad and you bought it new ask Kurt at Rondo for a refund or exchange. Guaranteed return if the guitar is not right or is damaged in shipment. Give him a call and a chance to make it right.

dlxtele

[jwells393]

I find it a little hard to believe that the guitar won't intonate.

[serialsteve]

Originally Posted by jwells393

I find it a little hard to believe that the guitar won't intonate.

If the bridge is placed improperly, why?

[Daddydex]

Originally Posted by jwells393

I find it a little hard to believe that the guitar won't intonate.

This was my first thought as well. I will admit that I really had to roll up my sleeves and tweak my SX SST 57 but with a little TLC my guitar tunes up nice and stays in tune pretty well too.

Dan

[62_Inca_Esquire]

Originally Posted by Double

So I bought a Rhondo SX STL50 3TS and it is not quite what I expected.
The Bad: The bridge was set way too close to the nut so you cannot intonate the guitar. The low E and G strings were so bad that the guitar played out of tune everywhere. Because of the style of the bridge no Fender replacement bridge will work and who cares if it has string through body if the bridge sucks and won't intonate. The tuners will not hold tune even with just mild bending so replacing the tuners is a must. It has these tiny 500k pots, what where they thinking, with single coil pickups the pots should be 250k no matter what size they are. The pickups are uh junk, they sound thin with no depth.
The Good: The price (I guess for a guitar that plays out of tune and does not sound that good), the frets and fret job were decent and the finish was not too bad.
I would say to future buyers to stay away from the SX teles and save a few more dollars and headaches and buy the real thing, there is just too many things wrong even for $107.00. I am not sure what I am going to do with the thing (as I call it), I might be able to use the neck but the body will make for good target practice.

From just over a month ago....

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaste...ml#post1187681

Originally Posted by Double

I just got a SX STL50 3TS and I am very impressed. I replaced both pickups with Dimarzio Virtual T's then replaced the pots and switch with CTS brand. I also replaced the Saddles with some GraphTech's Tusq's and the tuners with a set of Pings. Not a lot invested and quite a nice sounding and playing guitar. These Guitars are a real deal.

[jwells393]

Originally Posted by serialsteve

If the bridge is placed improperly, why?

That's the point. I find it hard to believe that the bridge was placed improperly.

[62_Inca_Esquire]

Originally Posted by jwells393

That's the point. I find it hard to believe that the bridge was placed improperly.

A month ago when he "replaced the saddles, pickups, etc" it was fine.

[mikespe]

The is the FIRST complaint I have EVER read about the SX tele's...are they MIM's or American quality...not at all. I have the SX Ash Strat and it sounds VERY nice, innotated (took a bit but I got it), and it stays in tune PERFECTLY. And that's with a trem style bridge...a Tele bridge should innotate much easier (except from what i hear the 3 saddle bridge can be challenging).

[getbent]

sometimes not understanding can take some time and effort.... I'm lucky, when I don't understand it is pretty immediate.

[boris bubbanov]

Well, you know, when I first receive something I want it to be everything I'd hoped for. I'm liable to be willing to overlook some things at first, but over time, the truth will out. Focusing on some things more than others, etc.

C'mon, we've all had that honeymoon thing with new acquisitions, and we're under pressure to get feedback into the hands of our brothers here.

It takes guts to admit ya messed up and gave a guitar an undeserved rating. and maybe the critique now is on the heavy side; I have swings like that. And I have days when no guitar is quite right. And other days when basically any guitar is fine as it is.

I'm not saying you never ever get more than you paid for, but it is kinda understandable that a $ 107 might get you through the day but not likely through the year. I hear the same things about Hyundai Sonatas. Great around town, running errands. But exceedingly tiresome on a cross country road trip after 6 days.

[OaklandA]

Originally Posted by 62_Inca_Esquire

A month ago when he "replaced the saddles, pickups, etc" it was fine.

Funny how that works. The thing is, Rondo has a very liberal return and exchange policy if he's that unhappy. Of course if he's altered the guitar significantly they might not take it back. Which then begs the question of whether the guitar was bad to start or whether the mods were done improperly.

Who knows. They're $100 guitars for crying out loud. My son had an SX Strat to start out on years ago and it was a pretty decent guitar....at least as good as a Squier at twice the price.

I, like some of the others, don't get how it wouldn't intonate as described.

[bowlfreshener]

Originally Posted by jwells393

That's the point. I find it hard to believe that the bridge was placed improperly.

Even if the bridge placement was just 1/64" off of where it should be, it could affect the intonation. I have a Les Paul copy where the bridge is just maybe1/64"-1/32" off where it should be, just a fraction of an inch closer to the nut, so the wound strings are just a couple cents off from being able to be be properly intonated because there is no more room left on the screw or bridge to loosen the saddle to where it should be. Intonation is a game of fractions of inches, so something being just a small fraction of an inch out of place coud affect being able to achieve proper intonation.

[62_Inca_Esquire]

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

Well, you know, when I first receive something I want it to be everything I'd hoped for. I'm liable to be willing to overlook some things at first, but over time, the truth will out. Focusing on some things more than others, etc.

C'mon, we've all had that honeymoon thing with new acquisitions, and we're under pressure to get feedback into the hands of our brothers here.

It takes guts to admit ya messed up and gave a guitar an undeserved rating. and maybe the critique now is on the heavy side; I have swings like that. And I have days when no guitar is quite right. And other days when basically any guitar is fine as it is.

Sure, but the OP never said anything about his initial "glowing" review... he just said "this guitar sucks" and left it at that. He never mentioned all the changes he made to the guitar. Never mentioned that he changed all the things that he was complaining about in this thread. He had made those changes BEFORE and the guitar was GREAT. Now AFTER he made those changes, the guitar is "BAD"? I'm just not following how it can be great with the changes he made and suddenly terrible with the changes. It seems like
he would have known about the intonation issues in early April, when he changed the saddles. He said in this thread "The bridge was set way too close to the nut so you cannot intonate the guitar. The low E and G strings were so bad that the guitar played out of tune everywhere. Because of the style of the bridge no Fender replacement bridge will work and who cares if it has string through body if the bridge sucks and won't intonate. The tuners will not hold tune even with just mild bending so replacing the tuners is a must. It has these tiny 500k pots, what where they thinking, with single coil pickups the pots should be 250k no matter what size they are. The pickups are uh junk, they sound thin with no depth." He never mentioned that he changed that stuff well over a month ago and LOVED the guitar then. (obviously there were no intonation issues then) "I also replaced the Saddles with some GraphTech's Tusq's........Not a lot invested and quite a nice sounding and playing guitar. These Guitars are a real deal."


Listen, I understand the "honeymoon period". I've been there...we all have. But in no way did the OP "admit he messed up" as you said...so no "guts" there. He never mentioned the glowing review for early April. He never mentioned that he had made all these changes to the guitar. He just gave a poor review of a guitar without actually addressing that he had owned and "personalized" the guitar.

It really isn't a big deal...but people should be aware of the whole story, instead of just reading a crappy review.

[hamish5178]

Originally Posted by 62_Inca_Esquire

It really isn't a big deal...but people should be aware of the whole story, instead of just reading a crappy review.

Yep, besides, Rondo Tele's are awesome!

[redddog]

Yeah, I'd love for Double here to give us a timeline giving us the transition from "these are the real deal" and "a really nice player" to "these guitars are crap."

It's cool if you changed your mind. But how about you fill us in a bit on how and what happened.

[jwells393]

Originally Posted by bowlfreshener

I have a Les Paul copy where the bridge is just maybe1/64"-1/32" off where it should be, just a fraction of an inch closer to the nut, so the wound strings are just a couple cents off from being able to be be properly intonated because there is no more room left on the screw or bridge to loosen the saddle to where it should be.

We're not talking Les Paul copies with their limited range of intonation adjustment. Telecaster type bridges have a large range of adjustment. If you run out of adjustment you can put in a longer screw if you need to move closer to the neck. You can shorten or take out the spring if you need to move further from the neck.

[Chuck 909]

Mine was the same, the bridge was put on at a slightly funky angle, so I replaced it with an old-skool tele bridge. But I only paid 75 bux for it on fleabay, so I consider it worth it. Even at 109 bux retail you get a nice neck and a good piece of solid wood for the body, a nice platform to mod. Price a neck and body separatly out there for a project and then look at the SX tele`s, I think it`s a good deal even with the flaky stuff.

It`s the guitar in my avatar. I had the neck off and was fiddling around with it before I realized the bridge was put on goofy.

[redddog]

I think one of the knocks against this guitar is that you can't really replace the bridge that easily.

I have seen that there is a 3 barrell mod and others have replaced the bridge with much effort. But it doesn't seem like you can just sway the bridge out for something else easily.

The question I have is that the bridge on the SX looks FURTHER away than where a vintage bridge would sit. Is that just an illusion?

I'm with Chuck. If you just price out the body and neck, you'd be way over an SX. The entire reason I bought one was for the body and neck. I was disappointed that you can't swap the bridge out easily but as for all the other components quality? I planned on changing it out anyway.

I think that 90% of the people buuying these guitars have mods in mind. And you gotta admit, the body and neck is not bad at all. I'm impressed even though I had some issues with mine.

[Tele Fan]

I should get one tomorrow and I plan to mod the living daylights out of it.

[bowman]

I've got one of the new models, with the P90 in the neck, arriving today. I think it's called an STL50. It's a great looking guitar, and as has been said, to get a platform like that for just $110 is a really good deal. And who knows, it just might play and sound good right out of the box.

[Steve G]

I think I need to own one. Can anyone please confirm this?

[gtrwrks]

Originally Posted by bowman

I've got one of the new models, with the P90 in the neck, arriving today. I think it's called an STL50. It's a great looking guitar, and as has been said, to get a platform like that for just $110 is a really good deal. And who knows, it just might play and sound good right out of the box.

Let us know.