A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Saturday I was cruising Reverb and saw this P90 equipped SX Hawk discounted. I already have this exact model, but thought for $159.95, I could grab another one to mod. https://reverb.com/item/60662229-sx-haw ... 90-pickups
I decided if I order it off of the Rondo site instead of Reverb it would save Kurt the Reverb fee, so that's what I did. Later, I realized the one he listed on Reverb has a rosewood fretboard (which I like) and the one on the Rondo site has a maple fretboard (still fine, but not my preference). I know sometimes his listings are not fully accurate, so it was a coin flip as to which would arrive. https://www.rondomusic.com/SX_Hawk_RN_P ... PG_LH.html
This morning I got an email from Rondo saying the order was canceled as the guitar was not available (the site said there were 3, and the Reverb listed it as the only one left). So I have no idea what really happened. I emailed back to say if it was the rosewood/maple fretboard difference, I wouldn't mind either way.

So this morning I just played my 2 stock Hawks. I really like them as-is, and wanted to trick a 3rd one out. We'll see.

Sounds about right While SX has always been a fantastic value, Rondo was never known for their exact inventory management unfortunately Hope you get the one you want.

After a few hours, I saw he didn't modify either listing, so I went ahead and purchased via Reverb this time. Hope that works.

It's getting weirder. Even though Kurt canceled my Rondo site order of the maple fretboard Hawk, he just now messaged me on Reverb that they only have that guitar with a maple fretboard. Seriously! I told him I'd take either, but it felt like he was messing with me after last week's maple board cancellation. Edit: Kurt got back to me and said the 1st cancellation was a mistake, and that he'd process the order for the maple fretboard. Works either way for me, just a bumpy trip to get there.

BatUtilityBelt wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2024 1:03 pm It's getting weirder. Even though Kurt canceled my Rondo site order of the maple fretboard Hawk, he just now messaged me on Reverb that they only have that guitar with a maple fretboard. Seriously! I told him I'd take either, but it felt like he was messing with me after last week's maple board cancellation.
Maple only.jpg
Edit: Kurt got back to me and said the 1st cancellation was a mistake, and that he'd process the order for the maple fretboard. Works either way for me, just a bumpy trip to get there.

What this experience tells me is Kurt is still having a little bit of trouble keeping his listings ummm, up-to-date and accurate. It IS hard to get good help.

dabbler wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2024 2:35 pm What this experience tells me is Kurt is still having a little bit of trouble keeping his listings ummm, up-to-date and accurate. It IS hard to get good help.

Exactly. And it is really hard running a small business - you have to wear many hats concurrently and can't always deal with all the details.

I can't look at his listings. 9 string 10 string fanned frets etc. Sad the old days are gone of choosing between 7 models of LP's. $600 is too much for a a LP copy. I've bought studios for less than that.

mozz wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2024 7:10 pm I can't look at his listings. 9 string 10 string fanned frets etc. Sad the old days are gone of choosing between 7 models of LP's. $600 is too much for a a LP copy. I've bought studios for less than that.

So very true , but I still check his listings regularly. But while I am sad, I'm not mad. Kurt is simply continuing his strategy of finding that niche part of the market that he can be a major (successful) player in.

On the prices I will also say that prices are up across the board, again sad but it's just where the market is right now.

I wouldn't mind having a 3200 but I don't play the bunch of gits I have now enough. My 3010 root beer wide which I upgraded to Giovanni's pickups has about 1 hour playtime. The used ones I picked up are all playable, the 2000 was professionally set up and I should be rotating it to the " play me rack". I don't blame him for trying to sell what's popular, got to feed the kids somehow.

I go see a lot of bands play. I watch a lot of videos of band constantly and I rarely see someone playing a 7-string guitar much less a 10 stringer. I am not sure he is selling what is popular but I am willing to admit my experiences are anecdotal. Anyone else seeing all these auto-harpish guitars out there in the wild performing at a local bar?

The 8+ string guitars are for a metal niche. There are not a lot of people buying them, but there are also not a lot of companies selling them, unlike cheap Chinese LP clones these days. When the Agile LP was at its peak, there were not many other options in the price range, and less if you wanted comparable quality, but now it costs more for Kurt to get a decent LP and there are too many others he has to compete with. The many string metal guitars are expensive, but he isn't competing with as many cheap clones.

Chocol8 wrote: ↑Wed May 08, 2024 2:22 pm The 8+ string guitars are for a metal niche. There are not a lot of people buying them, but there are also not a lot of companies selling them, unlike cheap Chinese LP clones these days. When the Agile LP was at its peak, there were not many other options in the price range, and less if you wanted comparable quality, but now it costs more for Kurt to get a decent LP and there are too many others he has to compete with. The many string metal guitars are expensive, but he isn't competing with as many cheap clones.

Like @Chocol8 said, the market he's serving is not as large as in the past, but they want what he's selling.

Folks like these at: https://www.sevenstring.org/search/9071 ... ile&o=date

To finish this thread with better news... The Hawk landed today (maple FB, not rosewood). I guess the fretboards will let me tell the difference between this and my other stop tail Hawk at a glance. More importantly, it seems perfect except a few slightly sharp fret ends. Incredible deal for $160. It plays and sounds great, almost too good to be a mod platform, but that's why I grabbed it. Ir makes me wish we were still in the Rondo heyday, but things change and that's a constant. So tomorrow it gets a bit of fret end filing, and I will start working on its mods. Happy Friday. Edit: The new Hawk is on the left.