SX GG4

Chinese made Mockingbird-esque SX. 2008 or 2009. Gibson/Epi feel. 22 medium jumbo frets. Left handed, just like me. Non-locking SX tuners, appear to be their high grade variety. Bridge is stop tailpiece. Rosewood fretboard. Pickups are two covered sx humbuckers.

My style is 90s grunge/punk with various other rock influences peppered in. I am playing this bad boy through a solid state marshall half-stack with no effects. It doesn't need effects. Sounds amazing in drop d and handles well in normal tuning as well.

The sound is very rich and full. Stock humbuckers handle all I can throw at it. Both hbuckers have their own tone and volume knob, so lots of possibilities exist. Since this guitar is a gibson/epi style, it tends to give out a full sound, which is exactly what I was looking for.

Good tonal variety too. It can get quite bright sounding with the right adjustments. Amazing sustain!

NO DISLIKES!

Beautiful finish! Jet black with chrome hardware and awesome looking translucent tuning/volume knobs. The action was perfect right out of the box. Not high at all, just right.

No flaws visible...I've been playing it for a month now. Holds tune, and sounds good in a variety of tuning options.

I suspect it will. It is a relatively light guitar (6lbs) but feels as solid as a tank. If I were the type to only gig with one guitar, this would be the guitar I would choose. Will refrain from scoring this category since I've only owned it for one month.

Havent had the need, but I've ordered two SX guitars from rondo and they took one week to get to my door. Awesome!

I've been playing 15 years, and have stuck close to fender guitars for their twang (strat) and grungy appeal (jagmaster and mustang). I owned an epi sg a few years ago but just didn't care for it...it couldn't handle drop d. I was looking for a gibson-like guitar to handle drop-d tuning. Happened upon this bad boy and fell in love with the look. Even more so with the price $139!

If this guitar were stolen I would be pissed and beat down the thief. Then I'd buy two more. I love the light weight, the look, the feel, and the fat tones that come out of this guitar. You can't beat it for the price. Plays like an 800 dollar guitar.

Some players may wish to change out pickups...but other than that I can't see anything wrong with this guitar. I'm not too discriminating about that...if it doesn't hum and sounds good I'm happy with it. Very satisfied customer of rondo and sx.

Basically, SG specs, nashville bridge, but with jumbo frets. The body style is a Mockingbird. My point of reference is the Angus Young Signature SG (which was 10 times the price).

Pros: Well balanced and comfortable player, nice thick neck, all parts are correcting sizing for upgrading, nice resonance thanks to the mahogany set neck & body, inlays, good wood grain, stain and neck binding.

Cons: Components are one notch below OEM quality.

I play it with DR 11-50s for the DropD thing. Handles bigger string very nicely. These HB are OK, but not quite good enough if you are discriminating. Too muddy. But neither are the stock Gibson HBs in many cases - nothing like spending $1500 and realizing you're not satisfied with the standard Gibson pups. As HBs go, these are OK, distort nicely when wide open..but not up to single wave, dual rect application. Sound great soloing, and with some eq they can pass for most else.

The quality is fairly sick given the cost of this guitar, it feels likea $1000 guitar around your neck. Excellent balance and finish job - except the neck binding due to some overspray issues. I don't like the way the nut was cut, but it's as good, or bad, as the new Gibsons I've bought. I don't like these jumbo frets, but they're nicely finished.

A year and no problems. The finish might be a little prone to pick marks and swirls.

Rondo's cool.

For the cost, anything less than a 10 would be a crime. Putting cost aside, it's a very nice guitar to own and play, in some ways a better choice than an SG. If you see one of these available you should absolutely jump on it, this is package you just can't beat unless you are investing in one of those new $700 dragon blood Mockingbirds. A very solid player, and good fun.

(copied and pasted from rondo music)

This guitar features a radical modern body made from solid Mahogany wood
The flat-top body is contoured for a comfortable playing position
The Mahogany set neck features an adjustable truss rod
The set neck helps transfer string vibration to the body
Set necks tend to be more stable than bolt-ons (less likely to move and cause buzzing)
Bound Rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo (2.7mm) frets and split trapezoidal inlays
Two high quality humbucker pickups help reduce hum and noise and offer superior performance by giving a thicker fuller sound than single coils
Humbuckers also create a much larger magnetic field, which helps eliminate dead spots and increases overall power of the pickup
Two volume and two tone controls plus a 3-way pickup selector switch tailor your sound
The angled headstock and Stop Bar Tailpiece help transfer string vibration to the body for great sound and sustain
All chrome hardware including diecast sealed tuners compliments the guitar's beautiful vintage appearance
Width of the neck at the nut: 1 5/8"; at the 22st fret: 2 3/16 "
Overall length 38"; Scale length: 24.75"
Width at the widest point: 14.75"
Actual Weight is only 6 lbs

This guitar surprised me. It sounded pretty damn good and the pups are really quiet for a cheap set. I used it with my epi valve jr and my kustom quad100 amps but I used the zoom 606 pedal with them. The guitar's quite a jammer. The only problem I have is that the pups are a little dark sounding for playing cleans. If you play hard rock or heavy metal this guitar will do it.

The guitar came with high action and I mean high. When I lowered it it buzzed at around the 8th-9th frets. This guitar has super jumbo frets and I got busy with the stone. I got the action down some more and the bridge bottomed. Still have a little high action but it's quite playable and I started to like this neck. They say 1 5/8" at the nut and I measured 1 3/4" instead. It has a big neck and I like it a lot. In fact, I'm looking for a better guitar with a neck like this. The rest of the hardware are pretty cheap but they worked. The construction of the guitar are pretty good and the paint (mine's black) is so shiny that it gets dusty easily.

This is a $120 guitar. Don't expect to much from it. It's great for playing with friends or in your bedroom. I jammed with mine at friends' houses and it feels pretty solid but it's no shredder. It's a fun guitar though and it weighs only 6 pounds.

Not needed here but this guy Kurt is 100% supportive as reported.

This is only a $120 guitar like I said but it's pretty solid. You may have to work on it soon as you get it out of the box. I bought it because this guy said he couldn't put it down. He played his right out of the box. Seems that the QC is spotty. You may get a guitar that's playable right out of the box or you may get one that needs work. I got the one that needs work. I made a discovery though. I want a neck like this one and I'm looking for a better made guitar with a neck like this one.

Same guitar as decribed in detailed review below. Mine is the dark red-mahogany wood stain.

I'm a long time player, owned and/or played most everything.

This guitar has some issues, but it shouldn't put someone off from buying it. It handles like an SG, very comfortable to play. Feels higher quality than the RICH Mockingbird I once played, but it does have issues.

Sound is a little less dense than HM I'm used to. I haven't run it through a stack, but it perfoms find on a practice amp. I did the RECTRO thing, fairly nice thrash sound. Cleans sounds just OK. I don't like the strings it ships with and haven't changed them - I expect that will make a difference. Good jass vibe with the set neck and HBs.

It has problems, all minor for me. The string alignment seems off by 1/32nd, the guitar wasn't set-up correctly (Intonation, action, pup heights, etc.), the nut cuts are too tight, etc., etc. Some minor tweaking, but I hoped the QC would have been as good as other guitars I've gotten from Rondo Music. It falls a little short.

The wood finish is wonderful. Unfortunately, there is some sort of overspray on the fretboard binding on the top. Not a big deal, I think a little steel wool wil do it. It's not noticeable until you get up close.

I think with the right strings a good set up, some tweaking of the components, it would play very well, like an SG. If you can't do this for yourself, you may want to factor this in to your buying decision. Very comfortable balance.

Looks solid. No problems with Rondo's guitars (SX, Agile, Douglass, Valencia) to date.

I don't know what this category is intended to mean. I've had top gear fail unexpectedly, why should this be different...

Love Rondo.

You could do a lot worse than this guitar, especially at a GC kinda place with some of those terrible brands the local music stores push. If you don't mind, or actually enjoy, tweaking, then it's a steal all the way around.

If I had these guitar available when I started playing I would have never bougth the LPs, Firebirds, Strats et al. I wouldn't have missed out on all that much. These guitar are fun to play, fairly good quality, and look great. What's there to think about?

This is a new [2004] model from SX. If you haven't seen it, it is a very cool somewhat modified BC Rick Mockingbird style body. Much cooler than the oringal in my opinion.

The guitar is made in China. It has a 24 3/4" mahogany set neck on a mahogany body. The finsh is a see thru wine red [burgundy] color. The body has some very cool edge beveling.

Has 22 super jumbo frets. I mean, if you like the biggest frets known to man, this is your guitar. these babies are huge!! Has split paralell inlays up and down the neck. Edge binding on the neck only.

Has two humbuckers with a three way toggle, two volume and two tone controls.

Tuners appear to be a sealed, grover style. Tune-o-matic style bridge with stop tail piece. All hardware is chrome finish.

The acoustic sound is very stringy and resonant. Plugged in, the pickups are very quiet, and warm. No squeal even at high gain and volume. The guitar has a very thick, nice low end. Smooth as butter, I like it. I would say a lot like a les Paul but with out as much top edge. Excellent sustain.

This is where things get a little difficult. Lets start with the action.

The action and set up is great. The frets are nicely polished and beveled on the edges. Over all very nice. No noticable string buzz or problems even when I lowered the action a bit.

The hardware is surprisingly good. I have owned and played other guitars made in china. In every other case the hardware was fit only for the garbage can. I have had a couple of other well known guitars made in china and sold on ebay that were horrible. the frets were loose, the saddles on the bridge rattled so badly there was no sustain. The finish was bubbled on the bridge. I am happy to say this guitar suffers from none of the above. Even the tuners are surprisingly good. In fact the guitar took a hell of a licking and stayed perfectly in tune !

The inlays in the fret board are nicely done, with NO NOTICABLE FILL !!! UNBELIEVABLE !!

Ok, here is the only part I can find an issue with- The finish. The finish is very glossy and well buffed. the problem is that there are some seams in the wood that show through. Just a little more preparation of the body prior to applying the finish would have been nice. Don't get me wrong, nothing too obvious, I am being very picky here.

The neck shape is great!! It is a bit wide, though that may be an impression created by these humungous frets, but the back shape is very nice. Not thin, not thick, slightly rounded and very comfortable. In fact the guitar has a very slinky, loose action. I love it.

I would have given the guitar a 10 in this rating but I feel the finish work prior to spraying was not up to the standard of the rest of the guitar.

What can I say, this thing is a tank!! Very solid neck joint. the hardware is sound and stable. I can not imagine ever having a problem. It has a very solid feel.

I love the guitars I have purchased from Rondo Music. These guys are really fantastic. On the very rare occaision when there was a problem it was dealt with quickly, without hassle. there is no body better on the net that I am aware of.

I have been playing for over 40 years. I play everything from hard rock to heavy blues. I also have a large collection of guitars. I have built a few guitars as well.

This is one of the coolest guitars I have ever owned [at the moment I have about 90]. I can not believe I paid $159.00 for this guitar. For that kind of money you would expect crappy pickups and hardware. Not the case here. If this thing was ever stolen, some one is going to get an ass whuppin. This guitar is an unbelievable value. I would definately buy another if lost or stolen.