SX STL 50 vs Squire '51

[Big K]

Gassing for a new economy model to mod.... any suggestions on these or others

[newswede]

Wow, I thought this thread would be full! I bought a SX STL 50 in September, but haven't really played it. I have to say that I was not too happy with the quality but it could have been worse. I'm thinking it is going to be a good winter project guitar for me though. Right away I noticed the nut was cracked in half (I have a bone replacement but haven't cut the notches yet - hence no playing), then when opening it I noticed it wasn't grounded. After that I kind of set it aside. All fixable things. I started to "relic" it a bit and will dress the frets. Huge frets on the STL50. Huge.

I also noticed that the Fender bridge won't fit on it without plugging the holes and drilling new ones. The tuners are also like the kind on a toy guitar.

I've said a lot of bad things about it, but in reality there's a lot to work with. A decent beginner guitar but with potential for a decent gigging guitar. I mean the tuners will last a little while, then replace the switch, knobs, maybe the pickups (a lot of people like 'em) etc...
For $100 though, there's no beating it. I thought it would be cool to fix it up a bit and have a decent guitar to take out or hand over to a friend at a party & not have to think twice about it.

[ux4484]

Quite the resurrection on a dead thread.

On harmony central, there doesn't seem to be as much love for the SX STL 50 compared to the '51. That, coupled with the fact that you can only get a '51 on ebay or craiglist makes the desirability on the '51 higher (though that does not mean anything really).

You can actually tell from the pictures that the string spacing on the SX is a bit tighter than on a Standard Tele.

[newey]

coupled with the fact that you can only get a '51 on ebay or craiglist

It's too bad that Squier, which used to have several cool "Fenderish" models like the '51 and the Venus is now just basically building Fender clones only.

Fender seems to have given up on trying to establish a brand identity of its own for Squier.

And Newswede, I'll keep your comments on the SX in mind, most others I have heard from thought the fit/finish was pretty good for the price.

My 4caster project is using an SX Strat-style neck, which seems to be of pretty good quality, although I haven't strung or played it yet as the guitar is still under construction.

[ux4484]

Nov 6, 2008 20:23:23 GMT -5 newey said:

Fender seems to have given up on trying to establish a brand identity of its own for Squier.

Methinks it was cutting into their MIM sales, honestly, it's a close call on some of them.

[newswede]

One thing I was considering when buying the SX was the radius on the fingerboard. It has a 13.7" radius while all but the Baja, 2008 American and Custom Shop Fenders have 7.25".

As a project guitar I'm sure I'll switch out the larger (massive!) frets sooner or later. I'm sure I'l have questions for later!

[mastersja]

I'd like to say a few words on behalf of the SX STL50. (Well, actually a bunch of words.)

I have one in butterscotch with the black pickguard that I just love.

The wood quality is actually really good, considering the price. Rondo sells unfinished Tele and Strat style bodies on their web site, so you can see that they aren't a laminated mess of garbage.

The bodies of the SX Tele and Strat copies are usually 3 piece alder. And as to the one I have, I can see the grain through the finish and it took me a while to find where I think they joined the pieces, and it is truly a lovely guitar.

The fit and finish on my SX STL50 is very high quality, and I LOVE the neck on the guitar. I like the flatter fretboard, I can't abide the 7.25in radiused ones myselt. The neck is a little on the chunky side, but not really fat.

I sold both an American and MIM Strats because the neck was way too thin for me. The SX neck is just perfectly chunky for me. The lower priced real Fender Teles and Strats all have thin necks and I just end up hating the guitar despite loving the tone.

The SX Tele copy will need a setup when you get it, if you get it. They aren't intonated out of the box. But I love working on guitars and usually immediately intonate the thing and then spend a few days getting the neck/action adjusted just like I like it.

So, I have a SX STL50 in butterscotch with the two-piece maple neck, a powder blue SX SST57 Strat copy with a two-piece maple neck, a black SX SJZ62 Jazz bass copy with maple/rosewood neck, and I'm getting an SX STL/H Tele thinline copy for Christmas.

I don't have much money, but I can set up and work on guitars. With the SX Tele and Strat copies, I can set them up perfectly for intonation, usually with a set of Guitar Fetish steel saddles replacing the SX ones, and then take my time while playing to work on the adjustment of the pickups. There's some great tones, even with the stock pickups, if you take the time to adjust them until the magic starts to happen. The pickups on my SX guitars are good enough that I still haven't replaced them, even after a couple of years of playing them. Once dialed in, I think I have inexpensive guitars that sound really good, play GREAT, and most of all, I WANT to play them, so I practice more.

The moral of the story here is that, in my opinion, the SX guitars are a fantastic deal, but YOU MUST set them up and intonate them and have the patience to play and adjust the pickups until you have them in the sweet spot.

The SX STL Tele copy is my favorite, it has good bridge pickup tone, both clean and with some distortion, while the neck pickup by itself is kind of dark and muddy, BUT the combination of the neck and the bridge together sounds great as well.

Sorry for the long post, but I just want folks to understand that these inexpensive SX guitars are worth more than what I paid for them.

Some day I'd like to buy some Wilde and Keystone pickups (by Bill Lawrence) to put in all of my SX guitars, but until then, I'm totally satisfied.

But then again, I've taken the time to learn to setup guitars and have the patience to work with them to find the tone I know is in there somewhere.

P.S. My younger daughter who is left-handed, wanted to learn guitar, but we were running up against the higher cost and smaller selection of left-handed guitars out there. Rondo Music, who sells the SX guitars, usually has a good selection of SX, Agile, and Douglas guitars that are inexpensive. My daughter chose a lefty Strat copy with the rosewood fretboard and still plays it three years on.

If you happen to get a sub-standard guitar from Rondo, Kurt WILL make it right with you. They're good people.

Good luck with your gee-tar hunting.