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SX - you Americans are lucky

#22
LAG said:
Yeah, lucky but..the influx of cheap imported stuff into our country has resulted in a severe erosion of our (manufacturing) job base.
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You can't really complain since the world has been swamped with US produced guitars for 50+ years at high prices and great profits to the companies resulting in high wages and good employment terms for the American employees.

Remember, every western country is experiencing the same thing.

While the eastern countries are getting richer, the western countries are getting poorer. That's just the way it is. And it'll get much, much worse.:crying:
 
#23
bandwife said:
Well then, let's blame Fender, Gibson, Jackson, and a host of others that started manufacturing here and then moved sizable parts of the business overseas. Shame them into moving all operations back within our borders. Convince them making money and lowering prices, and increasing sales and availability are not as important as saving a manufacturing plant.

Next you need to convince the millions of Americans that moved into health and technology (and other) sectors that it really is better for them to work in a manufacturing plant.

Once you have those two taken care of, you then have to tell all the 'yet to be musicians' that they will have to save for years before they can own an instrument and start learning. Perhaps they will settle for cigar box guitars and washtub basses.

Progress manifests itself in many ways, the loss of a job sector most often (in this country) paves the way for a new and often better sector.

Ridiculous.....



I respect that opinion. But to be fair, there a a great number of very skilled/talented professional bass players that regularly gig with SX basses. SX basses are also a good starting point for a project build. To say they are junk is not fair (and possibly a violation of forum rules). SX might not suit you, and you may have some specific complaints concerning the design or manufacture, but to completely dismiss them is irresponsible.


Now, for the topic at hand (which neither of the above referenced posts paid any attention to)



In my travels, I have seen some of the bargain brands sell for incredibly high prices. Although I have never seen a markup like what you describe. I even found an SX the last time I was in China that cost more than it would here in the U.S. That is also often the case with computers and camera's in China now too.
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^What HE said.^

And as far as America's "job base" eroding as a result of imports, maybe if America would get off it collective ass (especially related to this thread as far as instruments are concerned), and actually build something competitive, (like we USED to), instead of worrying if we'll get a snack break every 15 minutes of every hour, maybe then more people would be able to afford to buy American. Not a popular opinion, but it is what it is.
Free market is free market, weather it is national or global.
 
#24
It's really just greed. That is what it boils down to. It's not a matter of how hard you work but, rather, a matter of how much you can pocket. Whenever we Americans decide to stop giving everything away for a quick dollar and start working (or finding) ways to earn then maybe, just maybe we can find value and sustainability in what we do.
 
#30
Temcat said:
Visited the local Yamaha music instruments store today. Surprisingly, they had a handful of old-headstock SX guitars and basses there (didn't know anybody sold SX stuff in Russia!). But when I saw the prices, I was shocked. $400 for SPJ Ash, $550 for SJB LTD! You Americans are truly lucky that you can get them for $100+.

Is there anybody here from other countries of the world who has seen a higher price for an SX at home?
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Not many people in this thread have addressed the OP's question, it seems!

In Brazil it's exactly the same. The only SX bass we can get is the '75 Jazz model, and it costs around US$450-550 because of the absurd taxes we're forced to pay on every imported consumer product.

And even at this price it's still an excellent deal. I have one and love it!

That's because here even the crappiest Squier Affinities are more expensive than the SXs, as are the (often quite good) Brazilian-made Fender clones by brands such as Condor and Tagima.

The funny thing is that around here SXs have a pretty much unanimous reputation, online and in word-of-mouth, as an awesome value and the most obviously sensible choice for anyone except top pros and the filthy rich. Quite a contrast from all the controversy, divided opinions and excessive drama on the topic here in TB! "A step above from junk", anyone? :rolleyes:

I guess if everyone in the U.S. had to pay five times as much to get any bass (like we do in Brazil) there would be more widespread appreciation for the cheap-and-decent stuff as well. :)
 
#31
Temcat said:
Visited the local Yamaha music instruments store today. Surprisingly, they had a handful of old-headstock SX guitars and basses there (didn't know anybody sold SX stuff in Russia!). But when I saw the prices, I was shocked. $400 for SPJ Ash, $550 for SJB LTD! You Americans are truly lucky that you can get them for $100+.

Is there anybody here from other countries of the world who has seen a higher price for an SX at home?
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Ok, so let me try to answer the OP (pouring gasoline on myself) :scowl:

Because of the availability or lack thereof of nicer brands from top name companies and probably the absurd prices other countries have to pay (even by American standards), other smaller brands can adjust within that bracket and get away with it.

If I'm selling a Fender Highway 1 Jazz for $3500 vs. the $500 SX...well you get my point. True like Bandwife said there are other brands of the same build quality of SX in other countries that will never see the light of day in the States and aren't effected by the lame lawsuit headstock change that we had to face. (BTW that's what Kurt told me).

That's just the nature of the beast. I would love to go to China with a cool grand and just load up on some nice gear and high tail it back, same goes for other countries with nice gear. However I don't think it's SX or Rondo that is raising the prices, but rather the merchants who check the internet just like you do and see's them flying out the door like hot cakes.

Best case is to maybe look up some shops here in the states online and see if one of them does international shipping...ok I've lost my thought and I think I'm just rambling now. :rollno:
 
#33
Frankly too much is made of the 'American' job problem. It's a global economy now, and has been for about 30 - 40 years. Everywhere in world, manufacturing will uproot and go where the manufacturers think they can make an equivalent product and make the same or more money for lower cost. It's business. If it's not shoes, umbrellas, computers, --- it's your basses and amps, pickups, strings and straps, cases and polishing cloths.

This merry go round of the cheapest places to manufacture affects everyone. Much of the manufacturing that was in Japan, Taiwan for the most part of the latter half of the 20c has shifted away from those countries. For those who are old enough to remember when xenophobia made fun of 'made in japan' - MIJ from the era gone past comes with heightened prices now. Even manufacturing milk chocolate in Britain has been affected, the factories have moved to the Eastern Bloc of the new Europe. If you call customer service for almost anything in the UK, you'd be speaking to someone in Mumbai. IKEA manufactures virtually nothing in Sweden compared to what they manufacture or procure from elsewhere.

You can be nostalgic, jingoistic, nationalistic, or patriotic all you want, ---money was invented for exchange and it knows no loyalty.
 
#34
A-Step-Towards said:
<snip>

I agree SX is a great start for a modding platform , but out of the box not that many can be tuned and played that day comfortably the majority need frets leveled, set ups and other adjustments.

<snip>

So i am not dismissing them but i think people need to quit pushing how great they are for begineers because really you need to posses some skill at working on instruments because more then likely it will have some issues. Both mine needed fret dressing andd the pickups were so unaligned that the E string was very dead no matter what i did. I gave up on trying to fix it and i have experience.
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For what it's worth, I'm fairly new to TB and I'd never heard of SX (Essex) before... I haven't played in close to 20 years. That said, after all the reading I've done on TB, I never got the impression that folks were recommending these basses to beginners. The impression I got was that the product is an amazing value but often times requires a little elbow grease out of the box and they were being recommended to folks with low budgets.

That said, I set my expectations accordingly and ordered one. Unfortunately, I'll have to return it because the finish has a lot of problems. I'm in no way upset about that because I know (based on reading the hundreds of posts from satisfied TBers) that it may take an exchange or two to get a keeper. Heck, for $139 shipped, I'm still considering keeping the bass with the finish problems because it plays and sounds so good! :bassist:
 
#35
synaesthesia said:
Frankly too much is made of the 'American' job problem. It's a global economy now, and has been for about 30 - 40 years. Everywhere in world, manufacturing will uproot and go where the manufacturers think they can make an equivalent product and make the same or more money for lower cost. It's business. If it's not shoes, umbrellas, computers, --- it's your basses and amps, pickups, strings and straps, cases and polishing cloths.

This merry go round of the cheapest places to manufacture affects everyone. Much of the manufacturing that was in Japan, Taiwan for the most part of the latter half of the 20c has shifted away from those countries. For those who are old enough to remember when xenophobia made fun of 'made in japan' - MIJ from the era gone past comes with heightened prices now. Even manufacturing milk chocolate in Britain has been affected, the factories have moved to the Eastern Bloc of the new Europe. If you call customer service for almost anything in the UK, you'd be speaking to someone in Mumbai. IKEA manufactures virtually nothing in Sweden compared to what they manufacture or procure from elsewhere.

You can be nostalgic, jingoistic, nationalistic, or patriotic all you want, ---money was invented for exchange and it knows no loyalty.
Click to expand...

I don't have a prob with competing. I'm tired of expecting to compete with an anchor tied to our legs. Let a company move to china however that company should still meet our min wage, epa, zoning, health and 2-300 more bureaucracies that every company here needs to comply.
If we as a society think these are important goals then we shouldn't allow any product that doesn't meet these standards. Hell we'd have a business boom exporting overseeing bureaucrats for a while anyway. Then look at it this way. How many trees are being chopped down so we can have a different grain to our 10th bass. How many of those basses took up a tree but were built so badly its never playable. I think some of the instruments I buy are because I see the price and know in 3 or 4 years there won't be a tree left to make an instrument from. We all say these sx' should sell for $400 and it is true. What we are doing is stealing from future production. Sort of how the housing price growth was stealing from future growth. We are now seeing real housing prices - the crash discount. Isn't economics fun when you can equate US real estate and Chinese basses :) Wow its like an episode on Burke's Connections.
 
#36
A-Step-Towards said:
... i said "one step above" junk ,...I agree SX is a great start for a modding platform , but out of the box not that many can be tuned and played that day comfortably the majority need frets leveled, set ups and other adjustments...
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Most basses at local music stores need a setup... that's pretty much par for the course. As for a fret level, yes even +$1,000 basses and guitars could use it to improve playability. I've had to do a setups and fret levels on Fender Road Worn and American Standards... does this mean you consider them "one step above" junk?
 
#37
Diogenes said:
Most basses at local music stores need a setup... that's pretty much par for the course. As for a fret level, yes even +$1,000 basses and guitars could use it to improve playability. I've had to do a setups and fret levels on Fender Road Worn and American Standards... does this mean you consider them "one step above" junk?
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Nope because those basses are way more consistent, plus the fact they could "use" a fret level not "need" one.

I am stating my opinion , the 2 i owned were complete trash, and Kurt took them back , good guy but i did not want another.
 
#38
You should probably keep it and live with the blemishes, but you paid for a new bass why should'nt you get one?

rhettro said:
For what it's worth, I'm fairly new to TB and I'd never heard of SX (Essex) before... I haven't played in close to 20 years. That said, after all the reading I've done on TB, I never got the impression that folks were recommending these basses to beginners. The impression I got was that the product is an amazing value but often times requires a little elbow grease out of the box and they were being recommended to folks with low budgets.

That said, I set my expectations accordingly and ordered one. Unfortunately, I'll have to return it because the finish has a lot of problems. I'm in no way upset about that because I know (based on reading the hundreds of posts from satisfied TBers) that it may take an exchange or two to get a keeper. Heck, for $139 shipped, I'm still considering keeping the bass with the finish problems because it plays and sounds so good! :bassist:
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