Anyone looking for a cheap 7 string?

[zeegler]

Rondo does it again.

http://www.rondomusic.com/product1845.html

[hippietim]

...and once you spend hundreds of $$$ replacing all the parts and spend hours setting it up you'll still have a $150 guitar. Kickass!

[zeegler]

...and once you spend hundreds of $$$ replacing all the parts and spend hours setting it up you'll still have a $150 guitar. Kickass!

[AfterForever]

Those actually look really cheap. I prefer this one: http://www.rondomusic.com/septor.html

[SEEGERMANY]

...and once you spend hundreds of $$$ replacing all the parts and spend hours setting it up you'll still have a $150 guitar. Kickass!

Yep, you can then rename it RONDOSQUIER.

[hippietim]

Those actually look really cheap. I prefer this one: http://www.rondomusic.com/septor.html

Let's see, $349 for the guitar, $50 for a new bridge, at least $100 for new pickups, $40 for new tuners, $20 in misc parts, at least $50 for a case (or less for just a gig bag). So that adds up to a $149 guitar at resale time as well. Another smokin' Rondo deal!

[emperor_black]

have you personally tried any of these rondo guitars tim? Would love to read one of your reviews. I have been thinking about one of those RR types with inverted cross inlays myself.

[CharvelRocker]

Rondo's are a bit over rated. The trems look garbage, and a lot of the metal themed guitars are cheesy and the finishes look bad even in the photos. Their LP copies look nice though, and I would not be shocked if they come from the same factory as Epi's

[Bengal65]

I've got the 24 fret Les Paul Agile with the Floyd. Very nice guitar. I don't know about the others.

[hippietim]

have you personally tried any of these rondo guitars tim? Would love to read one of your reviews. I have been thinking about one of those RR types with inverted cross inlays myself.

As a matter of fact I have had a Rondo. I bought a fretless Les Paul. The guitar itself was made fairly well. But they did a couple stupid things with it.

For instance, they used the wrong thickness for the pickup rings so the strings would hit the neck pickup as you played higher up the neck. Clearly they just used the same rings as on a guitar that actually had frets.

The hardware and electronics were all cheap. If I would have decided to keep it as a serious instrument that stuff would have had to be replaced.

As with anything, you get what you pay for and if it seems like you are getting too good of a deal then you really aren't. The cost of the freight to move the guitar around the globe and eventually to your home is more than the cost of the labor and materials to produce it - that should tell you something. Remember, it costs about $15 for those companies in China to produce those $125 Strat knock-offs. So extrapolate the numbers - a $350 7-string is probably a 30-40 dollar guitar to produce. You can't get a decent block of raw un-planed tone wood for that price much less a neck, frets, hardware, labor, etc. There is a reason these guitars are *that* cheap - they use sweat shop slave-like labor, scrap wood, pot metal hardware, and cheap electronics.

[emperor_black]

As always, an excellent view on things. thanks! I'll look elsewhere . But a fretless Paul? hmm...never seen one.

[thetroy]

eh I have this http://www.rondomusic.com/seg1stdmwr.html

the Floyd copy works at least as well as the JT-580LP and it plays as well as anything else after I set it up. The only things on it that I might replace are the bridge pickup, volume pot, and output jack. About $200 total for a guitar that plays as well as anything and sounds, under high gain, 95% as good as anything.

I wouldn't count out this 7-string immediately. It might be nice.

[sonicsamurai]

http://www.rondomusic.com/intrepidpro8.htm

single hum 8 string

[zeegler]

While Tim is correct about the fact that you're not going to get a high end instrument, no matter what you do to one of these, that's not the point. The idea is, if you don't have a lot of cash, you can get one of these Rondo cheapies, and get a guitar that is playable, looks decent, and won't fall apart. If you're the kinda buyer who buys and sells all the time, of course you're not going to buy one of these and expect to be able to sell it for much. Yeah, you will probably want to upgrade the pickups, and tuners, and maybe even the bridge. So what, if you decide to unload the guitar at some point, put the original shit back on.

On a whim, I bought one of the SX LP copies. Yes, the pickups are shit. The tuners really aren't bad at all, and I don't see any reason to change the bridge. I put in a $40 set of GFS crunchy PAFs, and it sounds awesome. There are flaws in the finish, and the inlays look cheap, but I would actually play this guitar live without a second thought. I assume it's made from one of those mahogany-type woods, but it is solid wood, and looks just like real mahogany.

Obviously noone is going to buy a $189 guitar, and expect to get a $2,000 guitar. Think about what you could get for $189 back in the 80s, an unplayable chunk of plywood that wouldn't intonate. I know, because I had one!

[zeegler]

http://www.rondomusic.com/intrepidpro8.htm

single hum 8 string

Your link doesn't work!

http://www.rondomusic.com/intrepidpro8.html