SX basses

[PhilT]

They're not common this side of the pond, but one came up - Black precision body with maple neck and the older less ugly headstock. I wanted a cheap bass to muck about with and I've seen so many reports of them being great value.

So, it arrived and the neck is orange, like it had been stained with celebrity fake tan and then varnished. That put me right off to start. Tuned it back to pitch and the D string broke, as I discovered it was solidly wedged in the string tree. Pickups are loud, but very bright, I guess due to cheap 500K pots and a tiny green cap.

The body's ok, at least it is wood and they managed to spray the black pretty well. I've had one other bass I hated straight out of the packing, which was a 1970s Eko Manta. It's not that bad - nothing could be - but I don't think I can be bothered tarting it up.

Don't say "pics or it didn't happen", I wish it didn't.

I suppose they're not all like this.

[dadagoboi]

I've bought at least a dozen SX Precisions, they cost $110 US.  Except for needing a setup, no problem with any of them, the necks stay straight unlike many Squiers.  They sound no worse use basically the same electronics and are a full 1 3/4" inch thick.  IMHO you get way more than you pay for when you buy one in the US, especially with Kurt's customer service.  Take some steel wool to the orange neck, it will tone down the tan...the new ones are better as far as the color.  That old headstock can easily be recut to Fender shape, that's one of the reasons they had to change it.

My local music store sold these for me for around $600.  No misrepresentation and no complaints.  I got an email from a guy who told me this was the best playing of his 30 basses.

[godofthunder]

 I have a SJB75 that I use for a practice beater bass in the shop. for the 159 it cost I'd say it was well worth it. The only change I made was I put a Dimarzio J pup in the neck. Plays better than any 70's Fender I have ever owned.

[exiledarchangel]

You americans are so lucky, some of the stuff rondo sells are irresistable. They even got a LP shorty in white.

[Daniel_J]

We have those SX here in Brazil. But it is a seasonal thing.

There are times that the stores are flooded with this instruments. But they are so cheap, they quickly desappear off the shelves. Then you just cant find them anywhere, and after a while they start to pop up on the local evilbay, but of course, a little bit more expensive than what they were really selling for.
Then after a while more, they are back on the stores.

They are really well built, but I feel the finish gets damaged way to easy. Much softer than finishes on other (a bit more expensives) asian builds.

[PhilT]

I was probably a bit hard on it, on reflection. I'd seen photos of it taken by 2 different people, one of whom wasn't trying to sell it, and neither showed up the orange neck. That and the string breaking. Steel wool has at least taken the stickiness off the varnish and, with a decent setup and recutting the brass nut someone put on it, the action is very good.

There's no one in the UK selling SX commercially, a few got imported when the exchange rate was $2 to the pound, which compensated for the shipping cost. A few places sell a Jim Deacon brand which is reputedly from the same source. There's someone on Basschat.co.uk selling a Deacon PJ very cheap.

Definitely some good looking basses in this thread.

[dadagoboi]

Glad it's working out, that orange stain is typical of the way Chinese perceive is a good color.  I can imagine the shock if you weren't expecting it!  Rondo got them to get it right, unfortunately they then changed the headstocks.  I don't think the new one is bad, sort of resembles a Lull and a lot of others, you just can't turn them into a Fender clone...unless you want to do a Tele style.

[godofthunder]

I've bought at least a dozen SX Precisions, they cost $110 US.  Except for needing a setup, no problem with any of them, the necks stay straight unlike many Squiers.  They sound no worse use basically the same electronics and are a full 1 3/4" inch thick.  IMHO you get way more than you pay for when you buy one in the US, especially with Kurt's customer service.  Take some steel wool to the orange neck, it will tone down the tan...the new ones are better as far as the color.  That old headstock can easily be recut to Fender shape, that's one of the reasons they had to change it.

My local music store sold these for me for around $600.  No misrepresentation and no complaints.  I got an email from a guy who told me this was the best playing of his 30 basses.

That looks fantastic !

[nofi]

there is a huge sx thread over a tb. a lot of those guys use citristrip for getting rid of 'orange neck'.

[dadagoboi]

Any paint remover will work on the back of the neck, the real pain is the front of the headstock, it's quicker to carefully belt sand it than using successive applications of stripper on each layer.  I had 4 of these, the first one I used stripper (paint remover).  Messy and time consuming.

Who would have thought those Chinese were so thorough in their finishing technique?

6 layers including clear, decals, sparklies, paint, primer and sealer.


5 minutes with sander

[nofi]

i meant to add/say that citristrip works well on those orange maple fretboards. or so i've read.

[dadagoboi]

i meant to add/say that citristrip works well on those orange maple fretboards. or so i've read.

Probably better than the belt sander

[Freuds_Cat]

Phil its just my observation but here in Oz we seem to get two different quality levels of SX instruments. There are the individual normal ones which are of the standard that you read about here and on other forums. But the packaged ones that come for the same price but with a strap and little amp seem (IMO) to be a much lower quality. I would guess that you have one of these. The one's I've played from the packages to be honest I thought were crap. The one I bought second hand is a much better bass all round. Finish/Fit/quality of manufacture etc.

The guys in the states have the benefit of buying these things through Rondo who seem to weed out the bad ones and do a basic setup from what I hear.

[dadagoboi]

SX quality is of one standard across the board in the US IMHO.  Including guitars I've bought about 2 dozen.  They all came with a loose trussrod and strings way off the neck.  They could only be considered 'set up' by very inexperienced players but all adjusted easily.  Of the 2 dozen, one tele needed a fret filed.  Rondo doesn't do any work in house.

[PhilT]

i meant to add/say that citristrip works well on those orange maple fretboards. or so i've read.

We have something call Nitromors. Gel paint stripper. One of the things I tried, before seeing it mentioned here. It got the orange off, but seems to have opened up the grain in patches. So the light stain I applied has gone on darker in places, either looks screwed or roadworn, depending on your point of view. I assume it's the paint stripper that did that. I tried sanding a bit more, which didn't help, don't want to sand more in case the neck ends up like a roller coaster.

I did know about the SX starter packs. This one says Vintage Series, Custom Handmade on the headstock. I'm undecided about sanding the headstock, whether it's better to have a fake fender or a real SX.

To add insult to injury, I've just seen a picture of a genuine vintage (70s) fender where the face of the headstock has gone the exact orange of the SX. Something to do with aging nitro finish, according to what I read. So it's authentic.