https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Fri, 05 Jun 2026 03:38:15 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238220 Sun, 15 Apr 2007 06:59:52 +0000
He says at least 50% of the SX guitars he gets have pole pieces misaligned with the strings. He complains, but when the products are quickly selling out, it's hard to convince them they need to change.

I do think that's mainly a cosmetic issue that brings out the OCD in us, anyway, not something that really has much effect when the strings are considerably higher above the pole pieces than they're displaced laterally.]]> Slide and Alternate tunings Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238220 https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238195 Sun, 15 Apr 2007 01:35:26 +0000
I do think that when the word gets around about these, they're going to snatch up a huge share of the market for low cost lap steels. Sure is a bargain!

I do like the case this thing shipped in, BTW. That's a really nice touch, to include a good quality hard case at this price! I really don't see how they can do it. I'm not going to fuss about that piddly misalignment thing, which is likely startup "teething troubles." I passed along the requests a couple of guys here and on Big Road Blues made about routing one for a humbucker or P-90, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see that offered a few months down the road. I remember E-mailing Kurt several years ago and telling him that if he'd offer a semihollowbody with P-90s, I'd have a hard time not buying one. Not long after, I happened to browse back over Rondo's site and saw "Back By Request! AS-820 With P-90s!" I bought one, and it's my favorite electric guitar by far. (I didn't know they'd made them before.) At any rate, Rondo tries to give people what they want, and you just can't beat their service.
:D]]> Slide and Alternate tunings Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238195 https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238188 Sun, 15 Apr 2007 00:53:06 +0000 Slide and Alternate tunings Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238188 https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238182 Sat, 14 Apr 2007 23:18:31 +0000
Hey, you should email Kurt at rondo and let him know about the bridge/pickup thing. He's very open to suggestions and ideas about improvements.]]> Slide and Alternate tunings DemoEtc https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238182 https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238181 Sat, 14 Apr 2007 23:11:11 +0000 Slide and Alternate tunings Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238181 https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238076 Sat, 14 Apr 2007 04:12:58 +0000 Worth $170? Probably. Not many alternatives at that price anyway, you'll be pretty lucky to find a used lap steel in working condition on eBay for that these days. 3-4 years ago you could find 50s Valco made lap steels at around $150-200, but it's a long time since I last saw one at that price.
Sounds like it's a better choice than the Artisans and its various spin-offs, just the scale length alone is reason enough to pay the extra dollars IMO..

Steinar]]> Slide and Alternate tunings Steinar Gregertsen https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238076 https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238030 Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:42:47 +0000
Worth $170? Probably. I likely wouldn't've jumped and ordered it within a few minutes of finding out about it like I did at $113.26 shipped. I'd be pickier about things like finish and pickup placement at that price. But you're going to redo the pickup setup, sounds like.

Mine came FedEx.]]> Slide and Alternate tunings Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238030 https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238003 Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:31:12 +0000 2 questions
Is there room to rout for a humbucker?
Is it worth US$170? That's customs and shipping to Canada.
I wish he would use USPS instead of UPS. :(]]> Slide and Alternate tunings Primeta https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/paged/2/#post-238003 https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/#post-237958 Fri, 13 Apr 2007 06:37:47 +0000
The guitar is made of a solid "mahogany" wood, satin finished in a reddish brown varnish, likely polyurethane. The pores could have been better filled, but that's not something I'd quibble with on a $100 guitar. Looks like the finish on my Johnson ukelele. The wood is perfectly shaped, probably on a CNC machine. The headstock with the large open cutout is very sturdy. The tuners are good quality sealed Grover type ones. Far better than the ultra cheap classic guitar tuners on the Artisan. They're mounted with the knobs turned up, and all of them tighten the strings by turning counterclockwise. The nut is a piece of steel angle iron, notched for the strings and chrome plated, bright and slick. Way better than the walnut Artisan nut, another of its weak points. I'm really impressed with the fretboard, which has actual "frets" of thin rectangular wire or sheet inset into the "rosewood," with white marker dots for the cardinal positions all the way up to the 36th fret. (The dots scale down in size as they go up the scale, and the fret spacing is pretty close near the 36th fret!) The bridge is a Gibson type one of the Les Paul Junior sort with the wraparound hooks that fit over the locating pegs, adjustable individual saddles (all of which are properly adjusted in a straight line here), with the strings anchored in the bridge rather than a separate stop tailpiece. It's covered with a nice looking big chrome ashtray that's a handy handrest. Not a cheap looking stamping, it's well made. The pickup is a Strat type single coil, screwed into a routed cavity in the wood. This is the only obvious flaw, the pickup being mislocated about 1/8" to the side so that the strings don't pass over the pole pieces but just off to the side. As high above the pickup as the strings are, it likely makes little difference in the pickup's response, but it looks sloppy. The knurled, chrome plated die cast knobs look and feel nice. The jack is on the off side of the guitar body for a right handed player. It has strap buttons on the tail end and on the bottom under the headstock. Other than the misplaced pickup and cheap finish, everything gives an appearance of quality.

My playing's been limited so far, but it does sound nice. I've been playing it through my Pignose G40V with the gain and volume down so it's Fendery clean. The output from the pickup is low, and the tone is full of bright harmonics with the tone knob all the way up. It has a lovely bass, too. I'm playing it in Open D. The string gauges appear to be .014-.056".

I've still got the boxes and I suppose if I wanted to be nitpicky I could send it back for the off center pickup, but I'm happy with how it sounds and doubt it would affect that if it were moved. I could fairly easily move it over a skosh myself, as there's a bit of room on the side it needs to go in the cavity. Just needs the screwholes filled and new ones drilled to do the job. I expect I'll hang onto it.

It really is a good value for the price, and is definitely a nicer instrument than the Artisan. (Both are nicer than the student model Morrell, IMO.) I do recommend it.

I'll get around to recording something before long, but I need to get to bed soon. Anyway, it's hard to judge instrument quality by posted clips. So much depends on the players' ability, whether it's properly tuned, the amp it's played through, the recording setup, the room, recording settings, what you're playing it back through... But I can tell you it does sound mighty nice to my ears.

:D :D]]> Slide and Alternate tunings Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/#post-237958 https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/#post-237942 Fri, 13 Apr 2007 03:44:12 +0000 Slide and Alternate tunings Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/slide-and-alternate-tunings/new-sx-lap-steel/#post-237942