SX 8 string lap steel from Rondo

[Jim Williams]

I just got an email from Rondo Music including a new 8 string lap steel guitar with legs. It looks really nice with a real steel type bridge, and nice string spacing. I don't have any affiliation with Rondo, but do own two of the SX six string steels, which are decent for the money.

[Steve Green]

Looks nice!

http://www.rondomusic.com/lap8na.html

[Dave Sky]

If you go to the Rondo 8 string lap page, check out the FAQ for 8 string tunings and explanations. Who would have thought Rondo would post tunings! Who is this Bob Quasar they list? lol
http://www.rondomusic.com/lap8na.html
They have 21 of these 8 stringers in stock.

[Jim Williams]

I have bought three guitars from Rondo, and been pleased with all of them considering the price. I have two of the 6 strings, one the basic lap model (no legs, standard pickup) and the other the Swamp Ash with legs and P90 pickup. Personally my main gripe with these is the adjustable wraparound bridge. Unnecessary and hard to change strings.

I also have a resonator guitar from them. It is a pretty decent guitar for $179 but doesn't have a lot of volume and the frets tend to tarnish / rust. I would love to try one of these 8 strings but it just isnt't in th budget right now.

[Dave Sky]

They now have 12 in stock.

[Brad Bechtel]

...Personally my main gripe with these is the adjustable wraparound bridge.,,

From the photos on the website, they've gone to a much easier bridge assembly in order to utilize eight strings.

[Tom Pettingill]

Cool that they have finally came out with an 8 string, but that 1" thick body might be getting a little too thin in my mind.

[George Piburn]

To my Eyes the Bridge is set incorrectly, - off to the high's side.

Strings do not go over straight across the Pickup Poles or the fretboard from what I can see in the Web site close up of the bridge area.

I am sure it will still play good enough for the price point.

Typical of low end imports.

If a person's interest is in Lowest Bang for the Buck, this is a great choice,
so long as it doesn't bother one to support the Oriental Trades Flooding of Low Quality Steel Guitars into the USA.

[Keith Glendinning]

George,
You hit the nail on the head, you get what you pay for.
Last year at the North East of England Steel Guitar Festival I heard a lap steel player on a 6 string SX and it sounded good, but I didn't get to see the build quality of the guitar. He'd had the guitar brought back from the US by a friend, he'd payed around £100 ($135?) for it and he was delighted with it. String alignment over the pole pieces is one of the biggest problems. This can effect tone and volume dramatically. I know, I've experienced it on home-builds!
A respected builder like yourself has the discerning eye to see minor faults and advise new players, or established players looking to buy these intruments, to point out where the pitfalls may be in buying them.
"Offshore" build instruments can never have the quality control of home build instruments. Mass build instruments are built to "go - no go" standards.
New companies find it cheaper to go offshore, sometimes to their cost.
There are exceptions to this and I think they are mostly documented on this Forum.
You can send Quality Control inspectors to the factory, but what happens when they leave?
Having said all of this, there are some bargains to be had by buying offshore when looking for parts for a home build.
Keith.

[Jim Williams]

My first SX 6 string had the string alignment problem. It sounded ok but was a slight bit light on the treble string. I replaced the pickup with a blade type pickup and it helped. Hate to hear that the 8 string may still have this problem. I notice string spacing is listed at 3/8", I believe that is a bit wider than my Remington 8 string. I do like the wider spacing. 1 inch is a bit thin, but being ash, it probably is rigid enough.

[Brad Bechtel]

If you go to the Rondo 8 string lap page, check out the FAQ for 8 string tunings and explanations. Who would have thought Rondo would post tunings! Who is this Bob Quasar they list? lol
http://www.rondomusic.com/lap8na.html
They have 21 of these 8 stringers in stock.

That list of tunings is borrowed directly from my web site. Formatting's not mine, but the information provided is. That's not a problem, just mentioning it.

I specifically say in my HTML code:
-- Welcome, HTML thief. Feel free to use whatever you wish. Brad --

[Tom Pettingill]

... I notice string spacing is listed at 3/8" ...

Looks like that is for the bridge. They list 1/4" at the nut under the Specifications tab ... "String spacing at the nut: 1/4" (2 1/16" overall)". Thats getting just a wee bit too tight for most and a deal breaker for many.

I don't inherently have a dislike for cheap imports, just the ones that are poorly designed. A cheap and decent playing instrument can be a positive introduction for a new player to the world of steel guitar. A badly designed one will kill the dream and is a waste of both money and opportunity.

[Chris Sattler]

I used to own their six string lap steel and was pleased with it, but I rarely find issues with guitars. I can tolerate most anything.

Having said that, I do wonder about their REAL understanding of lap steel guitar because when I look at the recommended accessories on their website they suggest a bottleneck steel with which to play it.

[Jim Williams]

Yeah, thats a bit tight but basically 1/8 inch taper to the bridge. This doesn't bother me as much as if it were 1/4 inch at the bridge.

I agree, a decent instrument is important, (consider the $100 guitars that were available a couple of decades ago...hit or miss QC and some of them were outright unplayable without an adjustment), however after seeing a few of the cheap steels, Rogue's el cheapo and another one that was popular on Ebay for a while the name eludes me, the Rondo 6 strings I have I think would be adequate for a beginner. My worst complaint would be that the tuners don't hold the best in the world. You might have to touch them up before you play but they are generally ok then for a normal playing session. I'm not sure if this is the tuners or that bogus wrap around bridge.

[Frank McCutcheon]

First time post from new member: I've been following the Steel Guitar forum posts for about a year now after getting bitten by the pedal steel bug. As a beginner steel player (regular guitars and a bit of pseudo-dobro since the mid 60's), I figured I'd try to see what I could learn to do on one of the Rondo SX 6 strings before thinking of graduating to a better lap steel...and eventually a pedal steel. Plus the CFO...aka The Wife...thought that was a reasonable approach. Got one about 8 weeks ago and have been generally pleased for what it cost. First thing, though, was to replace the wrap-around guitar bridge with something with a flat radius and that would allow me to custom space the strings to align with the pickup poles (things I already knew I would want to do from reading various posts here).

Replaced the stock bridge with a simple 3/4" X 1/8" aluminum "L" piece from Lowes and converted to a through-body string system with ferrules from Stew-Mac. Creating the L piece bridge didn't take a lot of work was easily mounted using the original posts from the stock bridge.

I thought it was a pretty simple conversion to accomplish (though not quite perfectly executed...another reason to have one of these SX's to mess around with first) and so thought I'd share with any other new guys since it looks like you could do something similar with the new 8-string version to get the strings and pickup poles better aligned.

[Brent Marklin]

Wow Frank that looks really sweet. This one caught my eye as I think my wife is going to order one on these items this weekend for my B-Day. Initially at least, I doubt I will be brave enough to Mod the instrument to the degree that you have done. Looks Awesome.

I am currently using an older 6 string MLS-JM Morrell and have only replaced the nut. And I am constantly tuning the thing. I actually love this little guitar but was thinking that the SX will be a slight upgrade with some tweaks, even though the Morrell actually retails for more then the SX. I briefly considered the new 8-string but decided that I want to stay focused on the 6/c6.

Have you been generally happy with the SX?

[Frank McCutcheon]

I have no complaints with the SX now that the bridge has been modified. It certainly has been quite adequate to let me start to get a feel for where the music is with the C6 tuning and to start training my ears and hands. I've already got enough electric guitar gear (EQ pedal, etc.) that tweaking the sound to one that is pleasing enough to my ear wasn't a problem.

Already getting more interested in exploring an 8 string and one of the E based tunings, though. The new Rondo looks like another economic way to do that...and to serve as another platform to possibly try out some mods...before taking a big jump up to something of quality like one of the GeorgeBoards kits.

FWIW, the bridge mods were pretty easy. A hacksaw with a blade suited for metal to cut the L bar to length, a bit of sanding to round the edges and corners then measuring and drilling the holes. I did use the project as an excuse to find a table-top drill press on our local Craigslist so the through-body holes for the strings were straight, and also had to get a specific sized Forstner bit to countersink the holes for the ferrules in back. But the whole thing probably took an hour or less once the gear was all available.

[Alan Brookes]

When Rondo came out with the SX 6-string I thought it was a really good deal, especially with the hard fitted case, but it seemed to me at the time that they had economised by using 6-string regular guitar fittings, and I observed that an 8-string would be much more useful, especially for C6 tuning. Well now they've come out with an 8-string version which is very welcome, and a surprise, because it means that, for once, a manufacturer has been listening to the feedback from its customers.

[Jay Fagerlie]

I bought one of these lap steels and it arrived a few days ago.
All in all, not much to complain about, but a bunch to praise.

Cons first-
1. Putting on strings was a learning experience. I started like I always do, fat string first, carry on to the skinny string last. Next time, after the first four are on, I'll go right to the skinny and work backwards, that way I will not have to put the string under the last one I just installed. On a PITA scale from 1-10....I'd give it a 3...not a big deal, but I will change my technique next time.

That's it.

Now the pros-

1. Cost. It was the cost that led me to this steel. I have been looking for a cheap 8 string lap steel, as mine are all multiple necks and I just don't like hauling them around (not to mention the youngest one is over 60 years old now.
$195.00 shipped to my door.

2. I put on a set of SIT A6 strings, no issues, came right up to pitch, no weird vibrations. I had no issues tuning it at all. The tuners are solid and feel smooth. The tuners do have screws at the ends, I don't know if it is a tension adjustment, but seeing the teflon washers in there, it just may be.

3. String spacing. I don't know what it is, but it's fine. I had no problems adapting to it, and as the majority of my playing these days are on a 6 string lap, I didn't notice the strings being too close together....at least not like my Dekley 12 string pedal, that has some close strings! I do not have a way to measure the spacing...I'll ask my kid if he has a tool for that.

4. Bridge and nut- Both are what appear to be stamped steel. The website originally said adjustable saddles, which was copied over from the 6 string page, and has since been removed.
They do a fine job of transferring the vibration to the swamp ash body, I have noticed no dead spots or wobbly notes due to the bridge being set at the wrong location. The strings line up with the pickup just fine. IMHO, the bridge and saddle are comparable to the Peavey Powerslide.
This brings me to a point I want to make about play-ability- It may just be me, but when I pick up a lap steel for the first time, there is a short learning curve for me to "find my spots" where I manage to play in tune, both up down for correct pitch and top to bottom, to make the notes ring out in tune. This usually takes me a few minutes, maybe a song or three to figure it all out. On this Rondo lap steel, the time it took was about as immediate as it has ever been, I had no issues whatsoever finding where I should go. Now comparing that to the Powerslide-...as much as I want to love that guitar, I have yet to get to where I think I can play it in tune enough to play out with it, I just can't get there. I don't know what it is, but over the two years or so that I've had it, it just hasn't 'clicked' yet...anybody else have issues with the Powerslide or is it just me?

5. Pickup. This thing has a P-90 that I would say is on the "medium" side of winding...not too weak, not to strong to make the mids muddy. I have not adjusted the pickup at all, which doesn't mean I will in the future, maybe I will, maybe I wont.
I will say I like the sound. This guitar is a bit bright, but rolling down the tone pot puts it in a nice warm place that still has a nice top without being muddy. Clean sounds are nice and pure with clear overtones. The sustain is actually surprising for a guitar of this price.
Adding some dirt is fun, the pickup stays nice and punchy, one of the many reasons that the P-90 style pickup is my favorite all around pickup for any type of guitar.
I have not had a chance to plug in the Wampler and explore the more extreme end of distorted bliss, but when I do I will report back here an my findings.

6. The gig bag. This thing is perfect for this guitar..they even have a graphic on how to store the legs! Top quality, heavy duty material, almost a canvas material. I think it will protect the guitar for many years.

well there it is, my opinions on this guitar.

Bottom line- All week all I ever thought about at work was coming home to play this thing, it's been a real long time since an instrument has caught my attention so much.

For me, that makes it an incredible deal

YMMV

[Alan Brookes]

...Putting on strings was a learning experience...

Do I understand you to say that the instrument is shipped without strings, or were you just putting on the strings that you prefer?

[Bill Hatcher]

the headstock design is very poor. one of the most important things on a lap steel is to keep all the energy in the string. all that wood cut away and the hole left at the headstock..worthless design.

[Alan Brookes]

Bill, that was my immediate thought with the original 6-string version, and is probably done for convenience in that the cutter can take it all out in one stroke instead of two. But a much stronger solution would be to just have a solid headstock with holes drilled into it. Yes, that would make the tuner knobs stick out at the side, rather than the top, but it's a small price to pay for better solidity. That headstock is an accident waiting to happen, especially with the increased tension of an extra two strings.

[Paul Honeycutt]

I could be wrong, but there seems to be a lack of decent quality new Lap Steels in the $500-$750 price point. Something that's an upgrade from the Rondo's and other beginner's instruments. It seems I see the low end and then instruments in the $1200 and up range.

Am I wrong?

[Jack Hanson]

I could be wrong, but there seems to be a lack of decent quality new Lap Steels in the $500-$750 price point. Something that's an upgrade from the Rondo's and other beginner's instruments. It seems I see the low end and then instruments in the $1200 and up range.

Am I wrong?

Forumite Ron Mielzynski builds wonderful lap steels for not much more than $750. To wit:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... am+guitars

[Alan Brookes]

Maybe I should start building some again. Lap steels are easy to build.

Naaaaw. I'll stay retired. It sounds too much like going back to work, and I would rather spend my time playing them.