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Topic: The Best Rondo You Can Be! |
Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2008 10:13 am |
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OK... everyone is going nuts over these $99 lap steels. From what I've gleaned the two biggest areas of weakness are the pickup and the bridge/saddle.
So what is the best/cheapest replacement pickup for this guitar. Same with the bridge.
Can someone list the specs of their ultimate Rondo/Frankenstein guitar? The pickup and bridge they used and the price/time/body modification involved in converting this guitar into a fairly decent player?
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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'
A UkeTone Recording Artist
CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Hawaiian Steel Guitar/Ukulele Website |
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Tom Pettingill
From:
California, USA (deceased)
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2008 11:31 am
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Gerald,
I think results will trickle in once mod's are made but here's where I'm at right now:
For one, the pickup on these things is very good, the only reason I plan to replace mine is because I don't like single coil hum. If it weren't for that I'd be happy with it. I actually have a second SG1/NA coming so I may leave the stock pickup in one and change out the other.
As for the bridge, Tom Pettingill had a good suggestion for a bridge replacement which is to try a Les Paul Jr model because it addresses two of the main problems, height and size. This bridge should be a direct replacement so I plan to try it and I hope the intonation is correct.
I honestly think that just replacing the bridge and strings will make this a decent player, replacing the pickup is purely a matter of taste.
On my second Rondo I plan to install a P90, or a noisless virtual type P90 pickup but don't know which one yet. If anyone has a suggestion for a good P90 pickup let me know.
I'll more than likely replace the pots and cap since it's a cheap upgrade and while I'm at it I'll shield the control cavity.
_________________
https://markmansueto.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/65dQ3EyZC2RaqawA8gPlRy?si=dOdqc5zxSKeJI9cISVVx_A |
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Bill Moore
From:
Manchester, Michigan
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Posted 7 Feb 2008 2:00 pm
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| The bridge is the problem area. It's usable, if lowered all the way, but really needs to be changed. It could be something as simple as aluminum angle, long enough to cover the holes where the current bridge is mounted. Or maybe change it to one like This one on Ebay Maybe a small plastic or metal "pickguard" to cover the other holes in the body? |
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2008 3:37 pm
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OK, I'll confess.
This is a totally selfish posting from me.
What I want is someone to give me the recipe to build the ultimate cheapo - excellent sounding lap steel using the Rondo as the base. I want a recipe that includes pickups, bridge, prices and time spent.
_________________
Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'
A UkeTone Recording Artist
CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Hawaiian Steel Guitar/Ukulele Website |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 7 Feb 2008 4:36 pm
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REMOVED
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"Wisdom does not always come with age. Many times age arrives alone."
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 28 Feb 2011 9:09 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2008 5:19 pm
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MLA.
Hey. I had one of those 175CC guitars. They were all stamped with a factory "2" on the back of the headstock. Decent instrument. Sold it on Ebay and made some good money on it.
I love that pickup! I have an original Late 30s Gibson ES150 with the CC pickup in it. Noisy as all get outs, but when you can dial it in and get in a situation where the noise is under control...there has never been a Gibson pickup that sounds as good. You can hit as big a string as you can put on the guitar as hard as you want and the pickup never distorts. The best bass and treble response.
I never was able to find out if the 175CC pickups had the same cobalt magnets as the originals. I doubt it for cost reasons. |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 7 Feb 2008 7:15 pm
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| Quote: |
| You can hit as big a string as you can put on the guitar as hard as you want and the pickup never distorts. |
How can a pick-up distort ? |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2008 8:46 pm
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| basilh wrote: |
| Quote: |
| You can hit as big a string as you can put on the guitar as hard as you want and the pickup never distorts. |
How can a pick-up distort ? |
There are factors in the construction of a guitar pickup that can introduce distortion. Eddy currents and magnetic transient distortion can cause a "muddy" sound, uneven frequency response etc.
Do a Google search for "Magnetic pickup transient distortion" or "magnetic distortion" or "Magnetic eddy currents" etc. and you will see some interesting articles on distortion in devices such as phono pickups, guitar pickups etc that use magnets and coils to create a signal to be amplified.
Some guitar pickups can introduce distortion even if you are amplifying with a clean preamp/amp set up.
We need old Bill Lawrence to explain all this. If you ever have the opportunity to talk to him, he can tell you every thing you could ever hope to know about guitar pickups. |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 7 Feb 2008 9:34 pm
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REMOVED
_________________
"Wisdom does not always come with age. Many times age arrives alone."
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 28 Feb 2011 9:10 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 7 Feb 2008 9:35 pm
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REMOVED
_________________
"Wisdom does not always come with age. Many times age arrives alone."
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 28 Feb 2011 9:11 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 7 Feb 2008 9:36 pm
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REMOVED
_________________
"Wisdom does not always come with age. Many times age arrives alone."
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 28 Feb 2011 9:12 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Bob Borzelleri
From:
California, USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2008 10:59 pm
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Put decent strings on it, nudge the bridge to the right/left (as needed to center over the pickup poles) and whack away at it.
I'm going to experiment with a GFS lipstick PU, but not because I particularly don't like the stock PU, but because I want to hear how the SX sounds with the lipstick and it is cheap. I think most CC pickups will require carving to fit. One possible exception woud be the Vintage Vibe version which costs about the same as the SX.
I don't have a problem with the bridge since it seems to keep the strings in tune and on pitch. I didn't find that the proximity of the bridge to the pickup inhibited string changes.
I know one could easily double the price of the SX on mods, but the only significant improvement I have really needed thus far was the string swap.
There is an Aussie vendor on ebay that has a "buy it now" price of around $269 US for the SX. From that standpoint, one could change all the hardware on the Rondo offering and still come in under the Aussie price.
This morning, I brought the SX to my lesson with Pete Grant and after he played it, he said, "That's the best $99 I've seen spent on a lap steel" or words to that effect. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2008 12:18 pm
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| Gerald Ross wrote: |
OK, I'll confess.
This is a totally selfish posting from me.
What I want is someone to give me the recipe to build the ultimate cheapo - excellent sounding lap steel using the Rondo as the base. I want a recipe that includes pickups, bridge, prices and time spent.
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The question is, why? You already have a bunch of great lap steels. Why would you want a Chinese POS? |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2008 12:22 pm
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Get an American made Dynalap, from SGFer Mark Vinbury.
I'd heavily suggest getting it custom made with extra wood after the nut to extend that area, ala the JB Fender, to avoid hitting the tuner when at the 1st fret.
For some cool reason, these simple designed steels have the most killer tone, via the Wallace TrueTone, are priced decent, lightweight, good looking, and are totally USA 'home made'.
Being a very satisfied owner of an 8 str. DL, I'd say you be much happier with a custom Dynalap, but I too am itching for one of these lil cheapos to mod up.
Last edited by Ron Whitfield on 9 Feb 2008 12:40 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2008 12:25 pm
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Cabin fever. It's been cloudy for a month here. Tomorrow the temperatrue is not going to rise above 8 degrees with a 15 below wind chill.
Many of us are not as fortunate to live within walking distance of the Pacific Ocean Bill.  Did you go for morning stroll on the beach today while I was shoveling my driveway for the sixth time in three weeks? 
The cure for cabin fever is:
1. Exercise
2. Alcohol
3. Spend money
1 is too much work, 2 is too dangerous and fattening which forces you to do number 1... leaving 3 as the solution.
_________________
Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'
A UkeTone Recording Artist
CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Hawaiian Steel Guitar/Ukulele Website |
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2008 1:10 pm
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Nope, haven't made it down to the beach yet today, but we will 
Current conditions: About 70 degrees Fahrenheit, blue skies.
Isn't the real cure for cabin fever s-e-x?  |
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Bob Borzelleri
From:
California, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2008 10:30 am
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| Mark Mansueto wrote: |
[quote="Bill Leff
The question is, why? You already have a bunch of great lap steels. Why would you want a Chinese POS? |
I think I can speak for at least a few of us when I say that what we're actually buying is really nice case that just so happens to come with a guitar  [/quote]
Perhaps a more pointed reply is that "Chinese POS" isn't necessarily a given term of art. I don't care where this guitar was manufactured and, notwithstanding the obvious fact that much of what is imported into the US from China today is of subpar quality, the SX is well worth the asking price (as evidenced by the fact that tons of folks here and elsewhere have chosen to purchase them and continue to report satisfaction with the instrument). |
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 11 Feb 2008 7:04 am
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[quote="Bob BorzelleriPerhaps a more pointed reply is that "Chinese POS" isn't necessarily a given term of art. I don't care where this guitar was manufactured and, notwithstanding the obvious fact that much of what is imported into the US from China today is of subpar quality, the SX is well worth the asking price (as evidenced by the fact that tons of folks here and elsewhere have chosen to purchase them and continue to report satisfaction with the instrument).[/quote]
I definitely agree with you. Even though my comment was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, it really was what I was thinking when I ordered the Rondo... the case is as nice as my Gibson Custom Shop! I may have considered buying the case alone and then built a guitar to fit inside for the price. FYI, I was impressed enough with the guitar that the first thing I did after I got it was to order a second one.
_________________
https://markmansueto.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/65dQ3EyZC2RaqawA8gPlRy?si=dOdqc5zxSKeJI9cISVVx_A |
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Peter Jacobs
From:
Northern Virginia
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Posted 11 Feb 2008 8:06 am
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I have a single blade, Strat-size Vintage Vibe pickup (that Bob Borzerelli mentioned) in my Melobar steel -- the sound is amazing. Very wide range, both in terms of frequency response and dynamics. Pete underwound it a shade, so it has a very open sound, but it can still get loud as need. It sounds great with overdrive!
If you have a specfic sound in mind for your SX, I heartily recommend e-mailing Pete Biltoft.
_________________
Peter
---------
www.splinterville.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@splinterville6278/videos |
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A. J. Martinez
From:
Ca.
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Posted 11 Feb 2008 9:38 pm
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| today while putting on new strings ,I noticed the bridge had a radius on it.I filed the bridge so that all strings were at the same level. first with a hack saw then with some old strings (the closest guage to the string to be used)then I used a magnifying glass and checked for burrs...the string filing left it pretty clean. moved the bridge over for better pole string alignment...tuned up (leavitt) ...the best $99 guitar A.J. |
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Dave Sky
From:
Columbus, Ohio, USA
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Posted 12 Feb 2008 1:40 pm Pignose Sx
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Here is my new stage "rig."
I put a pignose logo on the Sx and a rail pickup.
I will redo the bridge once I know what to do.
Has anyone installed the LP Junior bridge?
Dave
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Dave Bader
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 12 Feb 2008 8:09 pm
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Did anyone else's come with strap hangers? Mine did. One at the rear and one under the headstock by the neck. I could only get it to hang like a regular guitar though. Strange!
I'm pretty happy with the construction of mine by the way and I definitely wouldn't call it a POS. For $100.00 bucks it's totally worth it. Changed the strings, adjusted the bridge and pickup and it's a keeper. I was thinking of changing the bridge and pickup but it not really necessary. I'm leaving it the way it is for now. If I where to change them I think I'd go with this http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar,_non-trem_bridges/Schaller_Bridge_Tailpiece.html for ease of string changes and route the top for a humbucker. |
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