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Why, oh why did I have to buy that weed whacker this week? I could have had a crappy looking lawn and a sweet looking cheapie 5er!!!
:scowl: 
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SX Ursa 6-string Jazz bass
- Thread starter Figbassist75
- Start date
Why, oh why did I have to buy that weed whacker this week? I could have had a crappy looking lawn and a sweet looking cheapie 5er!!!
:scowl: 
finally got my ursa six LOVE IT the output was a bit mellow but I had the factory strings on them and I don't know if all our comments to kurt affected anything but they felt great; however I'm sure there will be more zing when I put a set of ernie balls on them.
I can honestly say I like this bass more than models that cost more than 3X this bass.
I have to tweak the action a bit but that would require me not playing it for an hour or so that will have to wait...lol..
Between that and the 2 super low end SX Strats I bought for my kids I would Very enthusiastically recommend the brand to anybody. Click below so see my fat happy mug, which really needed cheering up.
http://kingbiscuitpants.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/new-bass-day-sx-ursa-6/
I can honestly say I like this bass more than models that cost more than 3X this bass.
I have to tweak the action a bit but that would require me not playing it for an hour or so that will have to wait...lol..
Between that and the 2 super low end SX Strats I bought for my kids I would Very enthusiastically recommend the brand to anybody. Click below so see my fat happy mug, which really needed cheering up.
http://kingbiscuitpants.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/new-bass-day-sx-ursa-6/
Looks like the price of admission went up $10 a pop this time around.
My bass has shipped, should be here in 6 to 8 days.
My bass has shipped, should be here in 6 to 8 days.
More SX-6 tweaks! Just finished putting in copper shield and changing the second volume for a rotary switch (neck, both parallel, both series, bridge). By the way the tone cap is NOT a nasty ceramic disk and really doesn't (I didn't) need to be replaced.
Results were excellent! I LOVE this bass. It's EXACTLY what I was looking for! Old school look and tone in a 6 string. The pickups may be a tad weak, but the series connection brings them right up! Really not all that bad. In fact they are very quiet as is with no shielding! The shielding job didn't do much as hum was already quite low. A person could get along very well with this bass just as it is! The flats I put on give it a fat tone that you usually don't hear in a 6 string.
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I'm lovin' this bass! Think about it. What else could you get in a 6 string? A Rogue? A Dean? An low end Ibanez? All cost more. All have Basswood or the like instead of real Alder. None have that Fender style and look (we'll ignore the headstock issue). My cousin has a rogue and it's not a bad 6 string bass for the money but it cost more and doesn't do the old school looks thing!
And yeah, I own 3 SX strats too. Super guitars next to free! One is A stock and kills as is. One was B stock and is perfect except for some bridge buzz I haven't fixed yet and the nuclear orange finish. I did buy a new bridge from Kurt for a song. And lastly I bought one of those unfinished ash strat bodies Kurt used to sell. Finished it in tung oil and it looks and sounds positively boutique! Again, price was nearly free with parts from Kurts part department (You sort of have to wait for the various things to become available...)
My assessment in spite of all the SX naysayers around here...
We did GOOD! SX RULES!
Finally took mine apart to upgrade it! First thing I noticed is the pickups are potted, so there will be no pulling them apart and rewinding them :/
Copper foil shielding in the cavities went smoothly, and I also noticed the use of a polyester capacitor in the tone control. Orange drop vs "green drop" - not much difference in resultant tone.
I think I'm going to put a push/pull pot in there to allow running pickups in series for the volume boost.
The neck is quite flat and the fretwork looks pretty nice. I'm going to file the frets above 15 for a little drop-off, then shim up the neck for lower action.
Copper foil shielding in the cavities went smoothly, and I also noticed the use of a polyester capacitor in the tone control. Orange drop vs "green drop" - not much difference in resultant tone.
I think I'm going to put a push/pull pot in there to allow running pickups in series for the volume boost.
The neck is quite flat and the fretwork looks pretty nice. I'm going to file the frets above 15 for a little drop-off, then shim up the neck for lower action.
I am looking for experiences of anybody replacing the string guides on this bass, especially those only putting a guide on the A, D and G strings.
Why? OK, on the old-style headstocks, there is a single guide on the E, A and D strings which were the strings whose tuners were the farthest from the nut. This makes perfect sense to me since those strings would benefit most frome the added downforce. However, if you look at the headstock on the NEW style 5 string headstocks, you can see that they put the same strings under the guide, even though the A string tuner is closer to the nut than the G string tuner!
OK, so on the Ursa 2 6, if I use a 3 string hipshot guide on the A, D and G strings, I will again be guiding the 3 strings farthest from the nut, which makes sense to me. But I am curious what the loss of a guide on the C string will mean, since the stock Ursa2 6 actually puts a guide on the C string as well?
All information is welcome, and if you want to know why I am being so stingy and not just using 2 hipshot 2 string guides to replace the stock ones, I just thing 2 separate guides looks hokey is all. I have the parts to do it either way, but I really would rather just use a single 3 string guide.
Why? OK, on the old-style headstocks, there is a single guide on the E, A and D strings which were the strings whose tuners were the farthest from the nut. This makes perfect sense to me since those strings would benefit most frome the added downforce. However, if you look at the headstock on the NEW style 5 string headstocks, you can see that they put the same strings under the guide, even though the A string tuner is closer to the nut than the G string tuner!
OK, so on the Ursa 2 6, if I use a 3 string hipshot guide on the A, D and G strings, I will again be guiding the 3 strings farthest from the nut, which makes sense to me. But I am curious what the loss of a guide on the C string will mean, since the stock Ursa2 6 actually puts a guide on the C string as well?
All information is welcome, and if you want to know why I am being so stingy and not just using 2 hipshot 2 string guides to replace the stock ones, I just thing 2 separate guides looks hokey is all. I have the parts to do it either way, but I really would rather just use a single 3 string guide.
OK, so on the Ursa 2 6, if I use a 3 string hipshot guide on the A, D and G strings, I will again be guiding the 3 strings farthest from the nut, which makes sense to me. But I am curious what the loss of a guide on the C string will mean, since the stock Ursa2 6 actually puts a guide on the C string as well?
All information is welcome, and if you want to know why I am being so stingy and not just using 2 hipshot 2 string guides to replace the stock ones, I just thing 2 separate guides looks hokey is all. I have the parts to do it either way, but I really would rather just use a single 3 string guide.
In the next couple days I'm planning on removing the mushroom string trees and replacing them with Hipshot retainers - a '2' and a '3' as you suggested. I'm thinking at this point that the '2' will cover the E and A strings, with the '3' covering D, G, and C. The B string angle is fine if you leave a couple wraps of string around the tuner. It might look (GO HOKIES) hokey, but I'll let you guys decide once I'm finished
I'll post before/after pics!ERGH! Just emailed rondomusic to see if they will have anymore in stock within the next few months, this was there response =/
"I expect it wil l be sold by today. I do not expect more back in until mid 2011
kurt:
"I expect it wil l be sold by today. I do not expect more back in until mid 2011
kurt:
Check eBay. I just saw a "7 in stock" this morning on the Rondo auction for the 6 string. Still lists the price as $149, not$159, so it may be out of date though...
Does it look like one could pull the pickup covers off and use them on another set of pickups?
OK, so on the Ursa 2 6, if I use a 3 string hipshot guide on the A, D and G strings, I will again be guiding the 3 strings farthest from the nut, which makes sense to me. But I am curious what the loss of a guide on the C string will mean, since the stock Ursa2 6 actually puts a guide on the C string as well?
All information is welcome, and if you want to know why I am being so stingy and not just using 2 hipshot 2 string guides to replace the stock ones, I just thing 2 separate guides looks hokey is all. I have the parts to do it either way, but I really would rather just use a single 3 string guide.
As you know I put a tree on all 4 strings (ADGC) at about the position of the B tuner. And that seems absolutely optimum for looks and string angle. The reason I did that was I didn't have a Hipshot tree and I wasn't sure what the string spacing on it was...information at hipshot website rather sparse.
But let me say that I was playing this bass a while with no string trees at all and had no buzz at the nut. Now my 5 string SX came with no tree and it DID buzz on the string farthest from the nut. So I put the 3 string tree on it and all that went away forever. So from what I saw I don't think there is any reason to put a tree on more than 3 strings. It would have been better had SX moved that C tuner down a tad, but still I'm of the opinion that a tree on just the 3 farthest strings will work just fine.
Thanks bassbenj! Your experience is really helpful, but it does raise a couple of questions.
1) You received an SX 5 string without their standard guide for the E, A and D strings? How'd that happen?
2) I'm pretty sure I understand, but I want to make sure, when you say "the string farthest from the nut" you mean the string with its tuner farthest from the nut, right?
If the answer to #2 is affirmative, I will go ahead with my plan for the 3 string Hipshot on the A, D and G strings.
I'm going to send my guard off to be replicated in BWB soon, and while that's being done, I'll shield the cavities, add a series/parallel mod and a little neck shim (right now my saddles are close to bottoming out on the bridge plate).
I've really been playing the hell out of my SX 6 and I have to tell you I'm a compulsive "Modder" and I've pretty much decided to leave it alone.
Though I prefer higher output pickups a little tweak to my sansamp gets me all I need without soldering (which is part of my pedal board anyway) and even though I took advantage on a great sale on Carvin pickups (which aren;t wide enough BTW) that I intend to leave in the parts box for some project in the nebulous future.
I A/B'd the output with my MEC equiped Warwick Corvette standard and it was around the same.
The only real Mod I intend is to jazz up the pickguard somehow since I have a neurotic aversion to white pickguards.
Though I prefer higher output pickups a little tweak to my sansamp gets me all I need without soldering (which is part of my pedal board anyway) and even though I took advantage on a great sale on Carvin pickups (which aren;t wide enough BTW) that I intend to leave in the parts box for some project in the nebulous future.
I A/B'd the output with my MEC equiped Warwick Corvette standard and it was around the same.
The only real Mod I intend is to jazz up the pickguard somehow since I have a neurotic aversion to white pickguards.
1. Old headstock! I mean REALLY old, The "canoe paddle" version before the old version before the Ursa. You think Ursa is ugly? You shoulda seen that! (BS = before bandsaw)
2. Yes I'm talking about nut to tuner distance which on a Fender-style headstock sets that string angle over the nut.
What I'd like to know about the Hipshot is how the spacing of the string loops matches to the SX string spacing at the nut.
I'm kinda leaning toward a trad tort guard right now.
Let us know where you get the pickguard, and how well it fits. Tort PG on a Sunburst? Mmmmm good!
The guard itself is the standard size (as is the body) but if he doesn't get it made, there will be large gaps where he had to widen the holes for the pup ears which are spaced wider apart than normal Jazz style pups.
