LeftyBassist.com

That's probably due to the steady diet of fried banana and peanut butter sandwiches.

The SX-SJB 5-string I ordered came on Monday... after looking it over I found very few flaws. There's just a bit of a lacquer run on the corner by the B-string, and the tuning ears have slight imperfections/scratches on them - because they're cheap! - but they work fine. Overall though the bass looks great, and very impressive for $100. I tightened the truss rod, put some guitar honey on the fretboard as it was a bit dried out, and lowered the action - intonation is close enough for now until I put new strings on, but for now the original strings aren't bad at all.

I took it to my weekly Monday night blues gig and played it for the majority of the night, then switched over to my custom. It's probably close to ten pounds, but balanced well. I'm used to using a comfort strap, but the weight wasn't obvious until I put on my custom, which weighs 8.5 lbs. Tone was surprisingly good, and the more I play it, the better I'm able to get different tones from it. the string spacing is narrow, as well as the neck, but I have medium sized hands, and it was very comfortable to play. I've got to say I like this bass better than the MIM jazz I bought - and sold - back in 2005. No real dead spots on the neck, and because of the spacing, is quite easy for me to play. All-in-all it's a good purchase, and doesn't need any immediate upgrades other than a set of new strings. I bought a set of Indie flatwounds along with the bass, and will put them on soon to see how they sound.

The only other thing I will need to address soon is sanding the nut down, as it's a bit too high, and will be replaced eventually with a better nut material... any suggestions on what to use?

Makes me think of buying a fretless now.... Pics below, taken with the camera on my Sprint android phone....

Wow, not bad at all

Looks good! I find the stringspacing a bit odd though: the neck looks like it could take a wider string spacing, but the spacing of the pickup pole pieces doesn't seem to accommodate this. For the money, it looks very good though!

Man, that's pretty darn cool for $99! It's got me thinking about the Black one with maple board. I don't know what gauge is on there from the factory, but given that string spacing I think I'd be looking for a very light gauge 5 string set, like 40-60-75-95-125...

On the topic of cheap 5 strings, I don't think I've talked about this, but I have a Brownsville UB500 that I picked up at Sam Ash a few years back. They don't make them anymore. I think I paid $129 on clearance, and it had been hanging up in the rafters of the store for so long, there was so much bow in the neck you could barely play it. I had no expectations at all, but I thought it looked cool and I had $129 in my pocket, so.... got it home, set it up properly, plugged it in....and shockingly the thing just killed, way beyond what you would expect! I have active Carvin and MTD 5's and they're great-- and yet THIS is generally the first 5 I reach for...how can that be?? The only changes I made were to put vintage knobs on instead of chrome, filed the nut, and changed out and relocated the string tree to equalize the pull angle/ string pressure across the nut. The tone is spot on GOOD passive Jazz tone, warm with lot's of growl when needed, perfect balance across all strings-- the low B doesn't sound like a different string from the others, if you know what I mean. I can transition easily from my 4 string Jazzes without touching a thing on the amp or elsewhere. A couple of things I really like about it vs. the SX-- the neck width/ string spacing is perfect-- wider than the SX but not too wide, super comfortable easy to play, very low action without buzz; and the much heavier mass bridge. I don't dig the heastock, but otherwise I love the blend of retro J and modern design cues. It's hard to tell in the pic but the finish is like a Mary Kay finish, transparent parchment color. Anyway, thought I'd mention this in case anybody runs across one of these, because it's definately kind of a sleeper. About 4-5 months ago there was one still hanging in the other Sam Ash in my neck of the woods, but I haven't been back to see if it's still there.

My SXs:

Hey, that's cool. They're selling these under the Richwood-brand here in the Netherlands, with a more Fender-like headstock. Never knew there was a lefty 5-string too!

When you look at the bridge, the barrels seem to be too large and the bridge plate a bit too narrow, but it creates a nice spacing. What I'll do soon for you all is take measurements of the neck and spacing to let you know what it is.

Wow, I'd never heard of this Richwood brand, but just did a bit of quick online research and reviews and they seen to be very well thought of as a low price- high value line, from what I can see/ read, looks like maybe somewhat better P and J copies than SX to me---but all I found was Ps and Js- and do they do any lefties at all? Unfortunatley the website is under construction right now and I couldn't find a list/ catalog of models...


Review quote: "The quality of this bass guitar - which cost LESS than £150 - is amazing. If it wasn't for the decal on the familiar-shaped headstock, you would think you were playing the "real thing". Bought new in 2007 from Dangleberry Music, they take "budget" guitars to a new level. The only thing I have upgraded is the pickups (installed a set of GFS J-Bass p/ups), and fitted a new set of Rotosound strings."

http://www.richwoodguitars.com
Denmark
Musik Danmark Aps. Engros
http://www.musikdanmark.dk
info@musikdanmark.dk
+45(70)206699

Nice review of the SX 5er. Those tuners look odd. Only one mounting screw on the top? i take it if you wanted to upgrade to standard Fender or Schallers you'd have to route for additional screws?

Regarding Brownsville, The GC near me has had a lefty 6 string bass in vintage cream white in stock now for at least 2 years with no takers. I tried it out, and aside from the dead old strings it was very nice. The only reason I haven't jumped on it (aside from lack of funds) is I've been debating whether or not the Rondo 6ers would be better or not.

Well..........I finally caved in.
I've been lurking on the Rondo website (and the huge TB SX Club threads) literally for years but never pulled the trigger. I've been resisting lately telling myself that I just don't need another Jazz/Precision type bass (which is true).

But I have rationalized that this is the last for the old headstock and at $99 I'd be kicking myself for not getting one.

So..LPB Jazz on the way to my house, I hope it's a good one!

I'm so weak.

I must admit, I'm seriously tempted too. But I'm also on the list for a Bachbird, I need to acquire a wireless in-ear monitoring set, and there's some stuff I don't play anymore that I need to sell first (a Cort Artisan B4LH, a Furch S23CR jumbo acoustic guitar, a '90 Ibanez RG550 and possibly some pedals). At these prices though...

I'm thisclose to buying a fretless...looking at the pics/description now. I need to have another beer so I can hammer my card and blame the impulse buy on the alcohol in the morning. Only thing stopping me is wanting a 5-string fretless...

Resistance is futile. Congrats. That's the one to get.

Can you do me a favor at your leisure when you get it? I'd like to know if the neck pocket/neck heel differs in dimensions from a standard J, as I mentioned I was considering buying one of these to throw my fretless Warmoth neck on. When I asked Kurt about it, he said that his neck's are slightly different but it still might work.

Hold those orders- just received my SJB-57 LPB yesterday...will report shortly....

We're waiting...

OK- I went ahead and spent $99 for an SX SJB-57 LPB (Lake Placid Blue) Jazz bass. You'll recall from my earlier post that I've always wanted a Lake Placid Blue Jazz, and I really love the neck and the tone of my first Squier Modified 70's Jazz. So my plan was to combine the SJB-57 LPB body with the neck, electronics and hardware from my second Squier Modified 70's Jazz I also just recently picked up, and add a set of vintage style knobs.
Well, I ‘ve (for the most part) completed this little project, and I’m very pleased with the final result. As I went thru the process I encountered several "good news bad news" moments:

Good News: The SJB-57 LPB arrived very quickly, and right out of the box looked great by any standard, particularly the body and finish, which was the most important aspect for my project. It also played well, and I like the feel of the neck.

Bad News: About that neck tint... I know they're going for "vintage" but the tint looks like an oompa loompa spray on tan from willy wonka. Better than nothing, but overdone and would look a lot better toned down several notches. Now I plug in. Neck pickup sounds ok. I dial in the bridge pickup and.... nothing. Bridge pickup is DOA. So I really should have packed it up and sent it back but decide to just keep it since the body is good and I'm swapping out the electronics anyway, and I want to get started.

Good News:I remove the necks and all electronics from both basses, and I'm really impressed with how well executed the Squire electronics are- the wiring, the fully shielded control and pickup cavities, the grounding, etc. very nice!

Bad News: The SX electronics are about what you'd expect for the price, and there's no shielding on anything, so I line the body cavities with shielding tape.

Good News: The Squire neck aligns perfectly with the SX neck pocket, the holes all match up, no need to do any drilling, and fits nicely…

Bad News: ....except for one thing- the SX neck heel / pocket are about an 1/8 inch thicker/ deeper than the Squire. I soon discover that the Squire neck is riding too low in the pocket to be compensated for by lowering the bridge saddles. I cut an 1/8 inch thick liner for the pocket out of hard acrylic and re-attach the neck. Wish I didn’t have to, but it works perfectly.

Good News: In goes the Squire Seymour Duncans and controls. The control plate lines up perfectly, again no need to drill any holes.

Bad News: Not so lucky with the pickguard, only 4 of the holes line up. And what the… there’s already 2 sets of control plate and pickguard holes in the SX body- like somebody screwed up once and had to re-align everything. Stuff you’d never know if you never took it apart.

So, pretty much done- still have to drill the other holes for the pickguard but that’s about it. The Bass looks, plays and sounds GREAT! Mixed review on the SX as a stand alone- if I had been buying it to use as is, it would have had to go back since it was defective out of the box. Otherwise not bad at all for $99, the body was exactly what I wanted but as you dig deeper you will find out where the corners were cut. (Now I have to figure out what to do with all the leftovers- the SX neck won’t fit the Squire body, and the SX electronics were crap to begin with).

That looks great!
Mine should arrive tomorrow, keeping my fingers crossed.
I have read alot about these on TB (they have several mega-threads, I think they are up to #9 now). So the shielding/electronix and "orange" neck tint issues are well known. Several guys have stripped and refinished the necks and it is quite an improvement.

To be honest I just bought it for the color and the maple neck (I don't have a maple fretboard Jazz). I have a fair amount of spare parts and was planning on shielding and changing the pots and pickguard anyway and eventually I'll probably strip the neck and Tru-oil it. So as long as it gets here in one piece and unscathed I'll be happy.

Carmine, is the Squier neck pretty stable/solid?

It's not quite up to the caliber of a Fender Japan or USA neck, but it is much better than you would expect for a Squire, comparable to a MIM neck- I always set everything up for very low action and it's stable, doesn't seem to be any problem getting it straight and keeping it there- it definately relies on the trussrod to hold it there if you know what I mean, but there's still plenty of rod adjustment left to go. The nut was too high for my tastes so I had to file it down a bit and tap a couple of frets but nothing too serious. I think highly enough of it that I removed the Squire logo on my other one and replaced it with a period correct 70's Fender logo I had around the house...