Customer Reviews

SX LAP 1 NAT Natural Lap Steel Guitar W/Bag

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recently decided to purchase a lap steel guitar, mainly because I am going to retire and will have much more free time to pursue hobbies, and secondly because I have always wanted one! With a few years of regular guitar behind my belt I decided to check out all the purchase options. I didn't really want to buy one of those vintage ones off ebay because I wanted to play one not work on one! On the other hand, I didn't want to buy one of those cheapies that would make me wish I had spent more money. After reading several reviews about the SX, I decided to purchase this one. I figured when I got it I would be kinda disappointed. Man was I wrong! Just looking at the case it came in told me I had made a great decision.Nice! Right out of the case you could tell it was well worth the money. It plays really great! The feel of this guitar is very comfortable. The shiny chrome bridge cover makes for a great place to rest your hand for picking. And the volume and tone knobs look soooo much better than those cheap ones that are on the cheaper ones. Nice tuners too...not those open gear types.I am really satisfied with everything about the SX lap steel. Amazon has the best deal going.I actually believe this guitar is just as good as the other brands I looked at costing $100.00 more.

The great thing about low price quality imports like this is the ability to spend more money on upgrades and still have an affordable instrument. This guitar is fine, as is, for someone starting out on a lapsteel or buying as a second instrument. If you start progressing and want a better instrument, just keep this one and spend a little more on a bridge, or pickup, or tuners, and you have an instrument that you would have to spend much, much more to replicate. Just the body and case are worth the price.

hard to believe there are still a few DEALS out there but this is one of them. The quality of the case that comes with this lap steel makes it even more of a bargain. I have been totally satisfied with this transaction in every way. Thanks for being there to help.

This was delivered promptly in perfect condition and It is just what I hoped it would be.
This vendor and product is 5 star in my book!

I agree with the reviewer who pointed out that this is a solid instrument that can be upgraded as the player's needs progress. Out of the box, it is a good, not great instrument.
Positives:
It keeps itself in tune pretty well (most lap steels require frequent retuning anyway) and none of the parts are 'cheap,' except maybe the tuners.

Pretty good starter pickup-I have found that some experimentation is needed to get that sweet spot tone, you will want to run this thing through some pedals to really flush it out, its a little on the weak side without that.

The bridge! This is a cool 'tune-o-matic' type bridge I did not expect to find on a guitar in this price range. I am not sure why they included this and didn't put that expense into a better pickup, but it is nice to have.

Negatives:
I have had some issues with some buzzing and rattling on the low end. This is a classic lap steel problem, and can be mitigated with some good bar technique, but I still think it is more exaggerated than I have found in other lap steels.

The sound is a bit weak.

Overall, you can't lose at this price range. My advice: buy this for 100 bucks, put another 100 into upgrades when you have it, and you have a good player on your hands.

I must first qualify this review with the fact that I've never played a lap steel before, but I've played guitar for 30+ years.

Everything about this instrument was pleasing to me. Considering that it's an entry-level instrument, the quality is very good. The gig bag is pretty dang nice. The tuners are decent, and the bridge is okay enough.

I took other reviewer (Aaron Mai)'s advice and bought those D'Addario ECG26 Chromes Flat Wound Electric Guitar Strings, and changed the strings immediately. It was worth taking the time to do so, and it was nice to have a head's up about it so I had them there available when the instrument arrived. Kind of a PITB to change the strings, but it's night & day difference from those round wound oxidized things that came installed.

I also had ordered one of those Jim Dunlop Lap Dawg slides, which was very worth doing. (This instrument didn't come with a slide, so it was a good thing I did).

Plugged in, it has a very nice and clean sound, good enough to record direct. But it also sounds very good plugged into my tube amp, however it needs a pre-amp to wake it up if you want to do blues or something edgy. I was using a "Fat Boost" pedal, and that 6 watt VHT tube amp that Amazon sells.

I don't think I've bought a better instrument for $100 before.

The vendor (Rondo) was very prompt with the shipping, and I have no complaints about them. I'd order from them again.

Be careful when purchasing this from Rondo Music. The shipping price estimate on the product page is WAY off from the shipping cost it charges in the cart. When I emailed the company about this issue, they said that the ship price in the cart is fair; $55.00 shipping, FAIR? Basically they (Kurt at Rondo Music) said this, no way any carrier do that for $15 never mind free" this is Kurt's quote to me in his email to me. But if you look around on Amazon, Musicians Friend offers FREE SHIPPING, buy from them, they are honest & value their customers & potential customers. Rondo Music, do your research before you send an email reply stating wrong facts. Buyer's, I hope I can save you some headaches & disappointments.

This is a good looking and sounding small guitar.I have been looking for a small guitar for a while and I found this lap steel guitar and it will be a great start to learn not to heavy and easy to hold.

First, Rondo Music is fantastic--great values and quality instruments. Their customer service and return policy are the best out there. Kurt rocks! This is my third guitar through Rondo. Second, SX guitars are very inexpensive, but the quality is hit and miss. This one is mostly a miss.

The BAD: The bridge, the nut, the tuners, the pickup, the finish and detail work: all pretty bad, almost unplayable. The factory strings were rusty roundwounds.

The GOOD: The mahogany body is decent and sounds good (though not oiled sufficiently), all cut from one piece of lumber. The inlays look good. The strap buttons, jack plate, control knobs, and control plate are good. The padded soft case is nice (though once upon a time Rondo sold these with a very nice hard case for the same price). And of course, the bargain bin price is very nice.

After deciding not to send it back, I bought a lot of new parts: Wilkinson tuners, graphtech nut, rosewood bridge, mini humbucker, and a chrome tailpiece. It cost me another $100 in parts and most of a lazy Sunday setting it all up. Took quite a bit of sanding and oiling, as well. I'm glad I did it. It's a really nice lap steel now, sounds and plays great. I'd put it up against guitars costing many times what I paid, though the fine detail work is still not as good as a Gibson or Fender (my amateur luthier skills aren't much to brag about, I might have made it worse lol).

Just for fun, I tried putting the "ashtray" bridge cover back on so that it made good contact with the tailpiece--it suddenly opened up the sound, with lots of new harmonics, and almost doubled the acoustic volume of the instrument. Resting my palm on the bridge cover darkens the tone and shortens the sustain, a very nice contrast.

SUMMARY: A cheap, entry level lap steel, full of lousy hardware, but it can be upgraded into a very nice player.

I've noticed that most of these reviews are on recently purchased units. I repair and build guitars, and one of these arrived at my shop for repair which was about a year old. In my opinion, there are some inherent problems with this unit that make it low quality.
When intonating, the saddles on the bridge cannot move enough to keep it intonated correctly at the 12th and 24th position. It always goes sharp. So you have to adjust the whole bridge back with the little screws they provide for this purpose until the saddles come into range. That's why the bridge has the long slots. Once you begin to move the bridge back,(with strings loose, of course), the bridge posts are riding out further in the bridge slots, which puts the bridge behind the posts. The adjustment screws are terribly undersized, I believe only 2.5MM. When you tighten the strings, the bridge will begin to slant up, putting undue stress on the posts, since now only the bridge wings are holding the whole setup to the posts.
The one that I received had bent posts from tilting bridge stress, and the threaded inserts had started to loosen in the low quality wood used in this unit. The bridge wings had started to move apart. I was forced to rebuild the insert holes, replace both the inserts and the posts, and reassemble. Upon doing this, I found that one of the tuners had suffered a tooth skip, making it unusable for tuning. Also, the handles on the keys of the tuners come loose constantly, making it seem like there is a lot of play. Possibly putting Locktite on the key screws would help.
I'd look for something a little more well built, if you consider yourself a lapsteel player who is concerned for correct tone across the entire board.