Cheap-Ass Rondo Tele Clone (is tits)

[culturejam]

Despite costing $89 + shipping, this guitar is actually pretty damn decent.

The hardware is actually decent: tuners are functional, bridge is nice (individual saddles!), and the knobs are spiffy. Neck is nice, fretwork is totally acceptable. Even the overall setup was pretty tight right out of the box. I adjusted the intonation on one string and lowered the action a little bit. The neck relief was already in the acceptable range, so I left it.

Mine arrived with a big-ass chip in the finish right on the front in an obvious spot. I emailed Rondo and they refunded me $25, so the guitar ended up costing $64. Sweet. I filled the exposed wood with about 10 coats of Sharpie. Fuck it.

I didn't like the funky old-style pickup selector knob, so I printed a new one with my trusty old 3D printer. Cost me about 12 cents in filament.


Here's the guitar before my Sharpie magic makeover:



After:



New pickup knob:

[Jero]

Excellent! Now for me to find something with 'buckers...

[culturejam]

Excellent! Now for me to find something with 'buckers...

I was so impressed with the first Tele that I also ordered this:




For $99, I couldn't resist.

[goroth]

Wow!!!

[antennafarm]

Nice!! And so cheap that they would be a sick mod platform without regrets.

[culturejam]

Nice!! And so cheap that they would be a sick mod platform without regrets.

Definitely. But honestly, mine didn't *need* any upgrades to be a totally playable instrument. Since it was so cheap, that leaves some money for upgrades, but I really don't need to upgrade anything. I'd say the weakest area is the tuners, but even those are good enough to get the job done with consistency. Actually, the pickup selector switch is probably dodgier than the tuners, but again, it works fine. I'll get around to replacing it one of these days, but I'm not in a rush.

[Jero]

Hows the neck on these? I feel like most cheap guitars have super jagged/hard edged necks that are uncomfortable (without reshaping).

[Swordfishtrombone]

They're a bit chunky (fatter than the neck on my jaguar at least), and really comfy imo. Fretwork is pretty decent too.

I agree with Culturejam completely on the tele copies too. Mine didn't need anything to sound nice out of the box, and it only really got modded because I wanted to change things rather than being out of necessity.

[culturejam]

Did some measuring on the neck, as I'm bad at describing neck profiles:

1st Fret - Width: 43mm; Height: 21.5mm

7th Fret - Width: 48mm; Height: 21.5mm

12th Fred - Width: 52mm; Height: 22.5mm

Rondo site lists the fretboard radius as 13.7"


By comparison, my 2014 Melody maker is a little wider and a little thinner all over.

[Swordfishtrombone]

Whoa, just noticed the headstock on yours. When did they start doing them like that again? They had a similar shape a few years ago, but started using those weird pointier headstocks (like on my Rondo Tele). I like that they're going logoless on the headstock on these too.

[leaves turn]

Just ordered a P90 tele for me and a strat copy for the wife. Cost $200 with shipping. Will report back

[culturejam]

Just ordered a P90 tele for me and a strat copy for the wife. Cost $200 with shipping. Will report back

Nice!

I got the second one I ordered yesterday (went with the same guitar but with a humbucker in the neck). It's definitely heavier than the first one, and no finish dings. Same basic guitar though, and the quality is very similar (and surprisingly excellent).

I'm going to revise my previous opinion and say the weakest area of these guitars is the tuners. They don't suck, but the gear ratios seem to be very inconsistent. Luckily, this is a very cheap thing to upgrade via GFS. I'll probably end up getting locking tuners for both guitars.

For those of you who have one of these guitars or want one, the tuning peg hole size is 10mm. I measured the other day. I would imagine just about all Rondo guitars are 10mm.

[blakestree]

Nice. I saw a Rondo baritone, on another forum, that was sweet too.

[odontophobia]

I thought they had discontinued that headstock style in lieu of some weird, faux ibanez style headstock.

[culturejam]

I thought they had discontinued that headstock style in lieu of some weird, faux ibanez style headstock.

Their main brand "SX" still has the weird Ibby-style headstock design. It's the "Hadean" brand that has the more Fender-like shape. And the beauty is that there is no logo or text at all on the headstock.