finally finished the second of three Squier '51s the other nite:
back of neck stripped & gloss nitro'ed
headstock face gloss nitro'ed black with '51 logo
threaded neck inserts for #10 bolts
fretboard dressed
self lubing nut
string-thru-body conversion to original bridge
GFS P90 and Fat PAF pups
full shielding
LP pup switch, tone circuit, concentric tone/volume pots and other minor electrical updates
"Jr." style pickguard (and filling/repairing all those damnable holes from original)
acoustic and electric tones are much nicer, and the feel is more substantial. I'll have to dig out #3 (still original) to compare. I already gig with the first one. this one goes into the mix.
-=tension & release=-
Looks great. Love the little custom pickguard. You must have done some very clean routing work for the P90 to have it bare like that. Mine is a hidden mess under the pg.
Please explain the self-lubing nut - is that graphite? Do the slots wear down over time?
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
AFAIK, there really is no such thing as a true graphite nut. some are supposed to be graphite-impregnated -- but I've never used one of those. this one is probably Delrin -- just a hard, slippery polymer plastic. it's a bit like nylon, but easier to work. because it's black, people seem to think it's graphite. I have them on several guitars; they don't seem to wear.
routed the P90 cavity with a Dremel tool and finished the edges with a laminate file … very carefully. the first one I did is completely under a big-@ss MOTS pickguard. that was much easier.
-=tension & release=-
Very nice! My '51 project is on indefinite hold. Every time I go in the garage, it calls to me from its box, saying "finish painting me."
that looks nice! I'm still gassing for a 51 :(
greg - very nice you do nice work. Since you own three of these I take it you like them. I've read alot of posts on guitars from Rondo and just visited their website for the first time.
Man those geetars are cheap. What is your experience with Rondo and what conditions were these guitars when they arrived? did you have to return any because they wre warped/unplayable.
Man for thos prices I can buy a bunch of these!
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Nice work, man. Very nice. Makes me wish I had more tools, more time, and more talent. What kind of sounds are you getting from the P-90 in the neck?
I've noticed on a lot of threads that a lot of people are using threaded inserts for neck bolts- what's the advantage in this? I think I saw a thread someplace where it was about taking a guitar apart to travel. Are you planning to assemble/dis-assemble this one a lot, or is there some other reason I'm not thinking of?
Keep up the good work.
Ande
thanks guys.
Chris: no experience with Rondo, but Rondo seems to have a lot of fans here at GN. a Squier '51 usually needs a good setup, and I find the neck pup more anemic than "vintage" sounding, which is why I change it. I also drill and convert the rattly bridge to string-thru-body, which smooths the acoustic tone a bit, while also eliminating the bridge buzzes. I've web-purchased three 51s from MF, and they arrived in better shape than my Eastwood guitars -- which are verrry cool, but cost a lot more than thesw modest Squiers.
Ande: the P90 is a fave pup. I've installed them in the neck positions of a number of my guitars because I love the edgier-than-humbucker, growling tone when cranked, and the dark, full-bodied tone when the level is rolled back. I installed my first set of screw inserts into a kit Tele neck that I do indeed take apart for travel. after doing that first installation, I made it a practice to do the same with all my bolt-on neck project guitars, as it really seems to provide a much tighter and very solid neck-body connection with no danger of stripping the neck holes, as with the stock wood screws. I still need to do an A-B acoustic tone test of this latest 51 against the remaining "stock" version I have. I'll let you know if I find any differences I believe I can attribute to the inserts (plus the string-thru-body changeover).
-=tension & release=-
Very nice! If it sounds like it looks, it must do it so good!
Congrats :D
Man those geetars are cheap. What is your experience with Rondo and what conditions were these guitars when they arrived? did you have to return any because they wre warped/unplayable.
Man for thos prices I can buy a bunch of these!
I don't have any experience w/ guitars from Rondo, but I now own two SX basses from them. 1 I bought new and the other second hand. First off, Rondo was a dream to conduct business with. I bought a 5 string Jazz style bass and hard shell case. Bass + Case + Shipping (UPS Ground) cost me $201. Ordered it on a Monday night and it was sitting at my door Friday afternoon. The bass is absolutely gorgeous and feels solid as a rock. My primary bass is a Fender P and I had a Fender Jazz before that, so I'm basing the feel and playability on quality Fenders, not junk basses. The tone from both SXes is sweet. I already have my next 4 picked out!
jw,
I saw your post on your bass and should have asked you when I read that but it seems like so many people had mentioned the place I finally had to check it out.
There sure are alot of guitars that are pretty cheap and they all look good (at least in the pictures)
I think minotar bought one there and he said his looked better in person than the pictures and for those prices unless the things are total crap (which it seems they aren't) how can you go wrong.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
I've got an Agile AS-820 semihollowbody with P-90s, an Agile AL-2500 Les Paul clone with three P-90s, and the first version of the SX lap steel from Rondo. I've been very happy with how they're built and set up. The lap steel needed the pickup moved over laterally a bit. No biggie. When I didn't understand how the lame Gibson style triple pickup setup with three volumes, one tone control and the bridge and middle pickups permanently connected together was supposed to work, I E-mailed Kurt convinced they weren't wired right. (I thought it had the wrong selector switch, or that it wasn't hooked up right.) He promptly shipped me out an entire wiring harness with all the pots and switch! It's rare to find that kind of customer service. (He'd offered to take it back in a swap, but I told him I'd rather work on it myself.) I'm a big Rondo fan.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
well ric sounds like another happy Rondo customer. I didn't realize those Agiles were made by Rondo until I looked at the website. They are very nice looking guitars.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Gnease, it would be most informative if you would use a Rondo product for a future rebuild/mod experiment. Squiers' relative quality seems to be established, but if SXs build up equally well....
I have a "Spectrum" fake Strat I picked up secondhand and cheap, with the idea of building the thing up over time. It was a cheap import to begin with, sold as a package deal in Kohl's stores, and I was amazed as I set it up to see just how good the thing is. Last week I saw a P90-loaded Hamer for $350 -- fabulous little guitar -- & was amazed to find out it was Chinese-made. It's hard to consider paying a grand or more for a guitar today, esp. for someone willing to do some tinkering.
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
Agile is a Rondo house brand for Korean made guitars that look an awful lot like the Tokai Love Rocks line.
SX is a Chinese made line that seems to be sold through other distributors in other countries as well.
Rondo also carries a line of Chinese instruments branded Douglas.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
