Rondo Telecaster "clones"?

crazydoc

crazydoc

Master Baiter
Sorry to be so ignorant. Does anyone know the difference, mainly in tone/playability, among these guitars? (Besides the obvious differences in headstock, fretboard, and number of pickups/switch.) Why would I choose one over the other? (Unfortunately, I'm partial to a rosewood fretboard - I've had maple on a Telecaster bass and Gibson Marauder and didn't like the laquered feel.)

http://www.rondomusic.com/stl50.html

http://www.rondomusic.com/stl62sssvwh.html

http://www.rondomusic.com/wf150sn.html

http://www.rondomusic.com/product2642.html

Thanks.
 
Im with u on the rosewood But the sx bsb was nice to.....I would suggest seeing wat they sound like tho it depends wat style music ur playing tele are well known for there country sound.....
 
Buyer Beware with SX and Douglas guitars, it is hit or miss on build quality on these guitars.

and In all honesty they are probably going to sound about the same.

you may want to check out the Xavier Tele clones from www.guitarfetish.com
they have better electronics and better build quality than the SX.
 
I've seen a lot of telecasters made of alder, and mostly what I see made of basswood is 80s-shred-type guitars. Based on that I think I'd get the alder one, but I can't say for sure it'll make a difference. For the money, I'd be tempted to try one of the new Xavier kits. Anybody here done one of those?
 
I think that the biggest difference in tone is going to be the pickups. Rondo guitars aren't exactly reknowned for having terrific pickups, so I'd figure that you'd want to put aftermarket pickups in it right after you get it.

After that, the body wood would probably be the next biggest deal. I'm not familiar enough with Basswood and Alder to say which wood sounds like what.

I'd recommend looking at Rondo's Agile line of guitars. They have a superior build quality to the SX line. But with the SX line, you're getting more guitar for the money than you could get anywhere else. But they're still entry-level instruments. Depending on your tolerance for error and your experience with other instruments, the SX guitars and basses may or may not satisfy your needs.

Personally, I think they're a great deal. Rouge Titan got a bum deal a few times in a row trying to get an SX guitar or bass (can't remember which). They repeatedly screwed up his order by sending defective instruments to him. So that''s the reason behind his buyer beware caution.

I know of about a 1/2 dozen other people who have bought Agile and SX guitars and basses and have been happy as a lark. One thing you can't argue with: their customer service is top-notch.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm not much of an electric player, so pickup quality isn't going to be much of an issue.

That kit from Guitarfetish looks like just what I need (thanks for the link danw.) I've just been laid off my job as of August 1st, and am finishing up my workshop, so this should be a good easy project.

I'm a little unsure of the paulownia wood - it being less dense might affect the sustain? Any thoughts?
 
crazydoc said:
Thanks for the replies. I'm not much of an electric player, so pickup quality isn't going to be much of an issue.

That kit from Guitarfetish looks like just what I need (thanks for the link danw.) I've just been laid off my job as of August 1st, and am finishing up my workshop, so this should be a good easy project.

I'm a little unsure of the paulownia wood - it being less dense might affect the sustain? Any thoughts?
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Density is not an indication of sustain.

Paulownia has been used as a solid body timber quite successfully.

I never pass comment on one make or model as opposed to another as you know but to be honest with most of the cheaper lines of tele's out there much improvement can be had from simply getting a decent setup done and shielding the body routs and scratchplate correctly. I wouldn't buy blind unless you have someone you trust to advise you and do the work that maybe required to bring to your playing standard. You call really..
 
crazydoc said:
I can easily do that myself. So it looks like the best deal for me will be the kit.

Thanks.



Or I could go this route:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/2009-$100-tele-challenge/148314-completed-scattesquire.html

Most amazing build I've ever seen. :D
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I'm a member at tdpri and post occasionally there are some good build threads there and one or two guys that really know their telecasters. Much more than I do anyhow I'm more your archtop kind of guy as you know.

If you want a build thread I'd be happy to help you out.. I recently finished a couple of tele' style guitars and because I rarely do them I took a bunch of pics. I also had to make a load of jigs as I haven't done any fender style guitars in a long while as nearly all I do is archtops and the odd acoustic these days. It was a hell of a lot of fun and was pretty much built without breaking down my normal machines and work methods, so on the bench with a router and jigs etc.

It's at the photographers right now as I finished it last month but I did snap a few for the customer before it went.

If your confident you have the time and a reasonable skill level it can be very rewarding and you'll end up with a guitar that is infinitely better than the ones your looking at.
 

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I have 2 guitars I've bought from Rondo - both are amazing for what I paid for them. I have an Agile AL-2000 (Black w/Gold LP Copy) that I love to death and IS AS GOOD as almost any EPI I've played on except perhaps the ELITE line. And also a Powder Blue SX SST57 (Strat copy) that also plays like butter. Neither one has ever been modded and both came with ZERO issues. Everyone who has played em can't believe how nice they really are and 2 buds of mine ordered them some from Rondo once they played mine. I'm going to buy one of their TELE copies next - I'm sold on RONDO. Check out the Agile Guitar Forums - there's hundreds of owners who rave about theirs - and some have loads of different ones. Rondo will refund your purchase if you aren't satisfied. Mine look amazing, play beautifully with ultra-low action and both sound great too. I've had my Agile for almost 3 years now and even the gold hardware has never tarnished (and I never clean the poor thing). In my younger days I owned 2 different Gibson LP Customs. I couldn't see paying those prices in my old age when I took guitar playing back up 3 years ago (after 25 years of no guitars). Was going to buy an Epi custom but found RONDO and am glad I did. I love em!
 
muttley600 said:
...I recently finished a couple of tele' style guitars and because I rarely do them I took a bunch of pics. I also had to make a load of jigs as I haven't done any fender style guitars in a long while as nearly all I do is archtops and the odd acoustic these days. It was a hell of a lot of fun and was pretty much built without breaking down my normal machines and work methods, so on the bench with a router and jigs etc.

It's at the photographers right now as I finished it last month but I did snap a few for the customer before it went.
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That's a beautiful guitar, except for that f-hole cut in the top. It looks like a gap and unfinished wood underneath. What's with that? (Or maybe it's just the pic.)

I think I'll get that Guitarfetish kit for a starter - then for a build from scratch I have a nice 11" x 38" piece of alder - unfortunately it's only 1 3/8" thick. I also have a piece of Lyptus 1 3/4" x 3" x 60" - might work for a neck, but it's the heaviest piece of wood I've ever seen.
 
crazydoc said:
That's a beautiful guitar, except for that f-hole cut in the top. It looks like a gap and unfinished wood underneath. What's with that? (Or maybe it's just the pic.)

I think I'll get that Guitarfetish kit for a starter - then for a build from scratch I have a nice 11" x 38" piece of alder - unfortunately it's only 1 3/8" thick. I also have a piece of Lyptus 1 3/4" x 3" x 60" - might work for a neck, but it's the heaviest piece of wood I've ever seen.
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The pic doesn't really do the f hole justice I agree. The body is chambred and the f hole is cut in the same place as a standard thinline. It's lost in the picture. It's not my design but it's what the customer wanted. I actually quite like it now it's done. It's based on an old epi design. The colour inside is the label. Better pic of the f hole outline attached when it was still in the white.

A body of 1 3/8ths is going to be tight unless you use a cap for the top.
 

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Muttley--that is simply beautiful. One of these days I'm gonna the nerve to ask for a price. I'd be proud to have a philly like that in my stable. (She'd be in charge of the stable, actually.)
 
I've built a few of the Tele kits, both were Basswood bodies. They are a heavier wood but the ones I built will ding and dent easier than Alder will-my opinion anyway.
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I have a very cheap Tele copy-Johnson brand made of Alder, and it is my favorite Tele and I play it all the time-it just has more of that bridge pickup twang than the others....;)

RedTele1.jpg
 
The grandkids (8 yo boy and 10 yo girl) are coming for a few weeks next month - what a great excuse to get a couple of those guitarfetish kits!

Looks like we'll be abuildin' us some axes. :D
 
I think it's cool that you are building one from a kit rather than buying off the rack...

We're making a pinecaster here in our little workshop... So far so good, just gotta get pickups next... Just can't afford them :(
 
I bought the strat and the tele kits - the strat to practice building (and for my grandson to take home). We just finished it today, and started building a case for it. The only kit-related problems were the tuner holes were too small and needed reaming, one of the tuner nuts had dinged threads and needed filing, and the nut - strings were waaaay off the first fret, like 1/8". The nut is plastic, so it was easy to file the slots. The neck angle is a hair too shallow, but can be compensated by raising the saddles to near the max.

The paulownia wood is very soft, and scars/dents easily.

I'll post some pics tomorrow. Color choice was not mine. :D
 
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