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SX Ursa 6-string Jazz bass
- Thread starter Figbassist75
- Start date
Going to be here on Wed ahhh can't wait.
Oh and Maxproud has a review up.
And you can tell from the sound he didn't change the strings!
So the question still remains, Do SX basses suck? Are they all a bunch of hot air or is there really something worth while there?
And I've got one more piece of the answer: Can you say "Night and Day"?
SX 6 string research continues with the first test, taking the SX down to the big rig in the basement instead of using the under-the-computer-desk Laney combo. First thing I noticed right off was that the tone started to develop. Deeper lows were immediately apparent and the overall tone thicker and richer. Not great, mind you, but definitely a step up.
And that set the stage for the next step. Well the local guitar shop was kind of sparse on the 6 string sets so I could only buy my usual D'addario XLs and a set of GHS flats. Since the idea is to go for "old school" tone I decided to put the flats on first.
The first thing is the comment someone made about the SX tuners not being quality was right. They look OK but precision instruments they are not. But hey, until they jam or something I figure they'll do.
Next I found that the hole in the bridge for the B string is too small and had to be drilled out. Not a biggie, but just saying. I noticed that one could easily make this bass have through-body strings by adding a row of eyelets along the bottom of the bridge. And that would be better (though I doubt it would do much for tone) but because when the saddles are moved toward the bottom of the bridge the string tends to have the "bumpy" part where it's tied to the brass eyelet up on the saddle. Through-body would insure the smooth part of the string in on the saddle.
And I might as well mention that the "mushroom" string trees are crap too. The strings (both the originals and the new ones) tend to stick in the grooves under the disks. Clearly a bar type tree or roller trees or even just grind wider grooves in the disks need to be done to get rid of this problem. But so far I haven't dealt with it. It just creates very sticky tuning. Otherwise string change went without event.
Then tuned and played it. Can you say, "like night and day"? I KNEW that you could! Those strings made an AMAZING difference in tone. The new sound was louder. It is punchy. It doesn't have that clanky "twang" of the SX strings. In short this thing is HIGHLY useable as is as a 6 string bar bass with a wondeful old school tone! But I like it even better than that. as you go to higher strings the tone starts to develop an "edge" that just makes those higher notes come alive. Even with the new strings it's not exactly a "Hot" pickups but it's no longer bad, either. I tried it back on the Laney and there is plenty of punch and volume. Wow. This is one cool bass especially for the money!
So what do I think? The question in my case being whether I should get a second SX 6 to convert to fretless to make a nice fretted-fretless SX -6 bar bass pair? I was rather skeptical to this point. I figured if I had to fork out for new pickups, I might be better with say a Douglas Fretless 6 from Rondo. It's only slightly more and has an Ash body which I much prefer to Alder. And it's active too. But I also had fears that it wouldn't be old school in tone.
So anyway the string change convinced me and yes, I ordered the second SX 6! So I'm going to have to pay close attention now to the reports on neck stripping, orange removal, Ursa headstock shaping and of course fret removal if anyone else does that too.
$300 for a new PAIR of old school six string Fender clone basses in fretted and fretless. You GOT to be kidding! I paid twice that for just my USED fretless 5 string. As you can see I've settled the "Does SX suck" question in my mind. The rest of you will have to decide for yourselves. And now to wait for meet the new bass, same as the old bass!
Not a dumb question at all.
Actually this bass proves to be a lot more difficult then i thought/hoped it would be.
I lost the decal on the very first coat of this stuff. Only left it on about 45 minutes. The room was very hot, around 82 degrees.
Basically the citristrip went through not only the orange coat but also the clearcoat at certain points, specifically the edges of the fingerboard and certain parts of the back.
I was really hoping to be able to just strip the orange crap off the neck like many others, this however isnt the case. SInce it went through some clear, i am going to lightly sand the whole neck and re do it. Probably with a minwax tung oil.
As for the fingerboard im not sure what to do. Im not sure if i need to take off the frets and do a clean sanding of the fingerboard, then finish it, then put new frets and go through completely giving it a nice fret job. Or if i can do it easier and leave the frets alone and just get the remaining clear off the fingerboard and refinish it with something (not sure, any info would be great) and be on my way.
Either way, be careful with these and the citristrip. Perhaps they didnt put as thick a coat of clear on these as they have in the past. One 45 minute session of citristrip went right throug everything to bare wood.
what pickups were you planning on putting in?, and thanks for making the wait that much more unbearable.
Hmmm, I'm surprised that you got a volume increase from the string change. I don't remember hearing this with my changes, only tone improvement. But now that you've posted this, I'll have to go ahead and change my strings. However, I am not planning to do flats. If this brings the volume up sufficiently, then I have to decide whether or not I really want to try to shoehorn the Carvin J99As that are on their way into mine. Decisions, decisions!
Anyway, I finally took a pic of mine:
by itself:
and with his small(er) brother:
My current plan was to go with Carvins as someone else suggested. They are known to be good sounding, inexpensive to buy, come in both single coil and stacked coil humbucking which gives nice choice. My plan (also as someone else figured out) was to cut the ears off the Carvins (Or take them out of the plastic cover) and try to fit them inside the SX larger plastic covers with the odd-ball ear spacing. That way no routing would be needed.
Actually When I take the SX apart for shielding and rewiring, I will take a closer look at the pickup construction. I may consider a Carvin upgrade yet!
As for the unbearable wait... Glad I could be of assistance! Hey, it's only an SX, you know!
WOW! IT IS like night and day!
I don't know how I missed the fact that the stock strings give lower volume as well as clanky tone!!!Ohoh. That means I need to send Kurt an apology. I sent him an email saying that the pups on this thing needed to be hotter. Well, it wouldn't hurt to make them hotter, but, it is quite servicable with a string change!
WOW! IT IS like night and day!
Ohoh. That means I need to send Kurt an apology. I sent him an email saying that the pups on this thing needed to be hotter. Well, it wouldn't hurt to make them hotter, but, it is quite servicable with a string change!
Is it at all possible that the stock strings have a nylon or similar core? A non metal core string would produce less output from the pickups. Hmmmm..
It's very possible they changed the process of finishing necks in order to save cost somewhere. This will be a valuable data point for future reference.
Would you mind posting a picture of what the bass looks like after the citristrip is complete? I'd be curious to see how big a difference there is between the original orange and stripped colour once the body/neck is back together.
Thanks!
You might be on to the solution here! If you have time to take pics and post the process, major brownie points to you!
Now my question is, how does Rondo get away with putting out such a quality product at wholesale prices?
I was one of the first guys to do the 6-string mod to my Squier Deluxe Jazz Active V (check the thread on here about it), so naturally, I've been curious about this bass. My Squier is STILL my main live bass as I like it better than my Spectors. The Fender Steve Bailey model has intrigued me, but I still couldn't justify the steep price.
Seeing as how these SX 6-strings seem to be selling well on the 1st run, I'm pretty optimistic that there will be more & with more choices. It's great to see Rondo stepping up to the plate with this one, much in the same way they did with other niche instruments like baritone, 7 & 8 string guitars. Kudos Rondo!
Seeing as how these SX 6-strings seem to be selling well on the 1st run, I'm pretty optimistic that there will be more & with more choices. It's great to see Rondo stepping up to the plate with this one, much in the same way they did with other niche instruments like baritone, 7 & 8 string guitars. Kudos Rondo!
Yes, I noticed that. Count dropped to 5 and then jumped back up to 6 and figured it was a return. When I ordered my second one I was thinking, "I sure hope the next one they send me isn't the returned one!" (which apparently had a big paint goober on the front)
I emailed Kurt about this a week or so ago - he said he didn't expect to get any other SX 6-string basses in this year, but will be getting many "others" (not sure if he meant other 6-strings from Brice/Douglas or if he meant all basses in general.) At any rate, I read it to mean no more SX 6-strings this year.
