New SX Lap Steel

I couldn't stand it. I've been GAS-free for a while, but I just ordered one of these. Didn't get the stand, just the guitar and case.

Congrats! Full review when it arrives, please...
Good to see an alternative in the same price range as the Artisan (and all its spin-offs), and I noticed it has a 22 3/4" scale length unlike the Artisan's ultra short 21".
Swap the pickup with a Duncan Little '59 and you'll have a real screamer!

8)
Steinar

Yeah, I'll tell you all about it when it gets here. Might not get shipped out till after the Easter weekend.

Ahhhh that's cool!

Months and months ago I wrote Kurt asking about a (lucite) lap made in the shape of a New Yorker, but this is cool enough!

Gotta go look at the pics again!

Looking forward to the review!

we need a serious review asap 8)

Thats a real looker :D

yes. a review.

huge ashtray. are you going to leave it on?

Probably. If I feel a need to palm mute, I'll pull it off.

One thing they obviously thought out better on this one than the Artisan is the jack location. The Artisan's badly placed jack doesn't bother me as long as I use a right angle plug, though. I think the large open area is a better setup than the dual slotted headstock, IF the tuners are stiff enough and well enough anchored not to need the extra support. We'll see.

FedEx says this thing was picked up today, in Keene, NH. Due to arrive 4/12.

Well, it's here, but I can't open it yet. Baby Zellie (the tortoise) is sleeping on the hearth, and Mrs. R. has the box with the lap steel in it propped up as part of the shelter she's hiding behind.
:lol:

No worries: lap steel shipping boxes have traditionally been used to shelter tortoises.

I'm sure I read that online somewhere - some lap steel instruction manual from the 30s. ;)

After a while (I got E-mailed some of the boy's model pics that we all had to look at, then he called), my daughter directed me to get Zellie out and warm her up, which I did with her cupped under my hand on my chest. We both dozed for a while, then woke up hungry. I got her some dandelions, and heated myself up a sausage biscuit. About time to open up the lap steel...

Well, it came VERY well packed in heavy double boxes. It's in a nice looking, sturdy hardshell case, typical of the Chinese hard cases but miniaturized to just fit this little lap steel. Because of the lap steel's squareneck shape, there's no place in the case for an accessory pocket for things like picks, steel, tuner, cable... There is a web strap included for slinging the case. The guitar had a paper wrapper around the strings.

The guitar is made of a solid "mahogany" wood, satin finished in a reddish brown varnish, likely polyurethane. The pores could have been better filled, but that's not something I'd quibble with on a $100 guitar. Looks like the finish on my Johnson ukelele. The wood is perfectly shaped, probably on a CNC machine. The headstock with the large open cutout is very sturdy. The tuners are good quality sealed Grover type ones. Far better than the ultra cheap classic guitar tuners on the Artisan. They're mounted with the knobs turned up, and all of them tighten the strings by turning counterclockwise. The nut is a piece of steel angle iron, notched for the strings and chrome plated, bright and slick. Way better than the walnut Artisan nut, another of its weak points. I'm really impressed with the fretboard, which has actual "frets" of thin rectangular wire or sheet inset into the "rosewood," with white marker dots for the cardinal positions all the way up to the 36th fret. (The dots scale down in size as they go up the scale, and the fret spacing is pretty close near the 36th fret!) The bridge is a Gibson type one of the Les Paul Junior sort with the wraparound hooks that fit over the locating pegs, adjustable individual saddles (all of which are properly adjusted in a straight line here), with the strings anchored in the bridge rather than a separate stop tailpiece. It's covered with a nice looking big chrome ashtray that's a handy handrest. Not a cheap looking stamping, it's well made. The pickup is a Strat type single coil, screwed into a routed cavity in the wood. This is the only obvious flaw, the pickup being mislocated about 1/8" to the side so that the strings don't pass over the pole pieces but just off to the side. As high above the pickup as the strings are, it likely makes little difference in the pickup's response, but it looks sloppy. The knurled, chrome plated die cast knobs look and feel nice. The jack is on the off side of the guitar body for a right handed player. It has strap buttons on the tail end and on the bottom under the headstock. Other than the misplaced pickup and cheap finish, everything gives an appearance of quality.

My playing's been limited so far, but it does sound nice. I've been playing it through my Pignose G40V with the gain and volume down so it's Fendery clean. The output from the pickup is low, and the tone is full of bright harmonics with the tone knob all the way up. It has a lovely bass, too. I'm playing it in Open D. The string gauges appear to be .014-.056".

I've still got the boxes and I suppose if I wanted to be nitpicky I could send it back for the off center pickup, but I'm happy with how it sounds and doubt it would affect that if it were moved. I could fairly easily move it over a skosh myself, as there's a bit of room on the side it needs to go in the cavity. Just needs the screwholes filled and new ones drilled to do the job. I expect I'll hang onto it.

It really is a good value for the price, and is definitely a nicer instrument than the Artisan. (Both are nicer than the student model Morrell, IMO.) I do recommend it.

I'll get around to recording something before long, but I need to get to bed soon. Anyway, it's hard to judge instrument quality by posted clips. So much depends on the players' ability, whether it's properly tuned, the amp it's played through, the recording setup, the room, recording settings, what you're playing it back through... But I can tell you it does sound mighty nice to my ears.

:D :D