SX SJM 57

Uniquely styled alder body, 2 single coil P90???s, Volume and Tone knobs, 3 way pickup selector, maple neck, stop bar tailpiece, three-ply pickguard (White, Black, White.) The best deal for the money I???ve ever seen, period, and I like to consider myself a cheap guitar aficionado.

Judging from the range on the volume knob, these pickups have plenty of power. 4 or 5 (of 10) makes enough noise to compete with my greedy keyboard player (and drummer) on stage. I prefer a lot of treble and this setup delivers. (I???m a Fender ??? single coil man, owing to some rock n roll hearing loss that drops the bass out???) That???s not to say the bass output is lacking. I actually like the ???presence??? I get from the bass end/rhythm pickup, it cuts through. (My old ears can hear it, in other words.)

Out of the box, the neck and bridge needed a tweak, but that I expected. The frets were beautiful ??? other ???cheap??? guitars I???ve owned (Danelectro, Fender Squier, etc.) were in a lot worse shape. The hardware is not high-end, but a cheapo tune-o-matic style bridge beats the un-adjustable pre-fab kind all hollow. (One complaint - the Volume knob is too tall or too close to the "strum zone." I knock it when I play rhythm. A strat-style low-profile knob fixed this for me.) The paint was (almost) flawless, one chip along side the neck pocket, but again ???superior to other name-brand cheap guitars I???ve owned.

Electronics are sound (no pun intended???) and the guitar seems tough enough to be counted as durable.

Didn???t need to call them, although their specs/description on the web site and shipping service were right on ??? that gives me some inkling.

I???ll cut to the chase, this ??? guitar ??? looks - cool! Leo and Les had great ideas, sure, but how hard is it to copy a Fender or Gibson body design? This guitar answers the question, ???isn???t there an original design(er) out there???? Right-on for daring to be different! That???s what caught my eye, and made the sale. I chose the hardtail because I thought the Jazzmaster whammy bar detracted from the overall shark/USS Enterprise logo aesthetic, just my opinion. All I would ask for is??? come up with a better name! ???SJM??? doesn???t do this jaunty, cocky Buck Rogers design justice!

Blue finish, vintaged Maple neck, 22 frets, Whammy bar, 2 P-90's, Alder body, Jazzmasterish look, but its own animal.

2 P-90's, alder Body, whammy bar. Had the rosewood version first and it sucked, lots of fret buzz & funkyness, not a pro instrument. This one is FINE! Full bodied, plenty of sustain, no noisier than any other single coil. Great for blues, or rock. Not super clean, but plenty of voice & attitude. Whammy works great. Not for everyone, but way cool & sounds killer.

Set up was good, but needed pick-up height adj. & bridge work. Bridge is a bit funky, just like the fender it copies, and takes a bit of work to get it right, but doable. Only flaw I found is pick-up height adj. was not able to go as high as I might have liked. Works fine now.

Used it at a bunch of gigs so far & it is very dependable and doesnt eat strings. Played one joint with poor power supple and was super noisy, but so was my bandmates $1000 strat. Every other club, low noise, high tone. Guitar looks great, nice fit & finish.

Bought many from them, none better anywhere.

This axe looks & sounds great, takes a little bit of adjustment initially. Bridge is the only weak spot, and with work, it can be made to do it right. I wound replace it if stolen. My band mates love this guitar even more than I do, both the tone and what I can make it do with the way cool whammy bar. Nothing else comes close, very unique and worth 3 times what they sell em for.

2005 Chinese made guitar. The SJM 57 is the same guitar as the SJM 62 except that it comes with Powder Blue as an option and it has the classic '57 Maple fret as opposed to the classic '62 Rosewood Fret. Pushed the price up by ten bucks to have the maple and powder blue and it was 10 bucks well spent. It comes with standard 22 frets. Solid body guitar. Powder Blue is the list color but it looks like Fender's classic Sonic Blue. Three way selector switch with an H/H config. Basically two cream P90s. Strange but the P90s are not the traditional Jazz or mellow full sounding Gibsons. The pickups are "hot". Basically a hotter sound found in EMG's. The guitar looks like and is a modified Jazzmaster but the pickups sound like they were plucked from an 1989 Ibanez. Pickups are passive, no ninevolt battery in the back. ;). What impressed me to make the purchase other than it was a cool looking retro modified Jazzmaster was that the body is solid alder. The neck as mentioned above is maple with an amazing golden vintage finish. One of the best looking necks I have ever seen. The bridge is a saddlebridge. More on that later. Tuners are chrome no names. Has a problem staying in tune. I would definitely consider switching the tuners later. The knobs are Neck features the jumbo frets. Came with nothing but a whammy bar. Off white vintage knobs. White Jazzmaster pickguard.

I am divided about the sound. The tone on this guitar is absolutely beautiful and to be able to buy a solid alder guitar at such a low price almost feels like a crime. On the downside, the sound is flawed in two basic ways. One, the guitar hums. I am going to wrap the wires in aluminum foil and see if that doesn't help. The other is that the strings rattle and buzz. This is not a fault of SX. This is common to all Jazzmasters. They feature a saddle bridge which causes this hum. There is a device made for Fender Jazzmasters known as the "buzz stop" by Whizzo. I have put one on order and it supposedly puts a stop to the annoying buzzing strings. I play a lot of alternative and some classic rock. The guitar fits my sound but will basically fit any guitar sound. Alder is the O positive of body woods. You can play an alder guitar with anything. I think SX advertises the guitar as a surf sound guitar. It certainly has that look but with the pickups being so hot, I can easily turn around and play Rush or Tesla without missing a beat. It would be nice if the neck P90 was a Jazzstyle and the bridge was hot and you would have more variety in the sounds. I would call the sound bright. Any thought that this guitar was Agathis or Basswood went out the window as soon as I played it. It's alder. It may not be some mythical one piece alder that is cut from the mythical forests in Fenderland but it is alder.

Action wasn't so bad. I did a little playing around with the strings on the saddlebridge. The pickups needed adjusting immediately. It came out of a box that made it's way originally from China. No complaints. Only took me a couple of minutes of tinkering. Not a professional job but it works. On first look it looked beautiful coming right out of the box. Upon closer inspection, (and you would have to really look very very close) there were some flaws. The body where the neck meets had finish cracks on both sides. Very small and faint but they were there. These are common on Fender strats over time and are harmless but it is odd to see it on a brand new guitar out of the box. Personally, I think it adds character so I wasn't bothered by it. The pickguard had faint pockmarks in the finish. Again, can only see it when the light hits the right way. Doesn't bother me. On the upside, paint is a stunning powder blue. The neck is the best looking neck I have seen on a guitar in terms of finish. The stain was just the right color to make you think the neck has been around since '57.

This guitar would easily work being played live. I think some of the hardware looks great and will last the life of the guitar. I suspect the machine heads should be replaced. The finish doesn't seem to scratch or show wear easily so I think it will hold up as good as any other guitar's finish out there. Again, this is an '05 model. Ask me again in '15. Strap buttons seem solid. I always read about guys replacing the strap buttons. This has never been an issue on any guitar I have ever owned. Am I just lucky? I would not trust any guitar without a backup. Who knows what can happen on a gig? Maybe some psychotic fan jumps on stage thinking he is Pete Townsend and smashes your guitar to bits. My guess is you could use it on stage without a backup and never have an issue.

I bought this one from Kurt from Rondo music. Very quick response and amazingly quick delivery. He didn't gouge me on the shipping either. That was my only dealing with him and I am glad that I did not have any issues to find out whether he would have ranked a 10 or a 1. From what I have heard he is great to deal with. This was my only experience and I would and will buy from him again.

I have been playing for about fifteen years plus. This is one of five guitars for me. I really don't have any questions I wish I would have asked. I am very happy with the purchase. If this guitar was stolen. I would be ^%$#@ but I would very quickly and very happily buy this exact guitar again. This guitar inspires either love or hate. the neck half of the body is easily recognizable as a Fender Jazzmaster the second half of the body looks like a Jazzmaster that got to close to the sun and melted. I saw it and instantly fell in love. I think others look at it and think, "wow! what an ugly guitar." I bought this guitar mainly because it featured solid alder at only $139. I was looking at Squier Affinity Strats for the same reason but I am much happier with a guitar that isn't just another strat. I wish it had better machine heads, came with a buzz stop, and maybe featured more mellow pickups, though the factory pickups are terrific sounding. The guitar has some flaws which are listed above. If you buy this guitar and you are expecting a guitar with the quality of an American made Fender, Gibson or PRS out of the box then this is not the guitar for you. If you are looking at a guitar with many of the features of those guitars but with a price tag of less than $150 then this is your guitar. There are very few guitars out there with such a great look and such great features in that price range.