May 2012 \ Vintage & Upkeep \ Bottom Feeder \ SX Hawk MN P90

SX Hawk MN P90

Will Ray

The P-90s make the guitar sound full and very Gibson-ish, while the Strat-style body, neck, and bridge give it more of Fender vibe.


Premier Guitar May 2012

Top: Meet the Hawk—a mix of LP Junior-inspired electronics and Strat-style body, neck, and hardware.
Middle: On this guitar, I keep the 4th string out of the string tree, allowing it to resonate like the other wound strings.
Bottom: Check out the 3-way switch—its placement is reminiscent of an ES-335 or SG.

Ever since a neighbor turned me on to SX guitars a few years ago, I always keep my eyes open for them on eBay. This particular one caught my eye because it looked so cool. It’s a SX Hawk MN P90 done up in vintage white with a tinted maple fretboard. When I went to the SX/Rondo site to check out the specs, their current versions of antique white just didn’t look quite as rockin’ as the eBay one. So I emailed the eBay seller and asked why there was a color discrepancy. He replied that his was a limited edition “Vintage Custom Series” that was “way better” than the regular ones. Yeah, right. Whatever.

I decided to bid on it, and the auction ended with me having the highest bid of $91. But the seller’s reserve price of $115 was not met, so we had no deal. I politely wrote him back explaining that you can buy these new for $109 online. Then he sent me an eBay Second Chance Offer for my $91 bid plus $25 shipping. I decided to accept it on a whim, and I’m glad I did!

Bottom Feeder Tip #266: Never be afraid to contact the seller and make an offer if an auction ended with no sale. All they can say is no.

When it arrived, I really dug the color. In the catalog these look slightly pinkish white with a much darker, cheesy-looking tinted maple neck and fretboard. Mine looks better— to my eyes, anyway—with more of an aged yellow blonde color to the tint.

So how does it sound? The P-90s make the guitar sound full and very Gibson-ish, while the Strat-style body, neck, and bridge give it more of Fender vibe. This guitar is a blues machine and very fun to play. It oozes tone, baby!

My only criticism is the location of the volume control. My right hand is always accidentally bumping the knob and turning the guitar down in the middle of a solo, so I usually remove the knob before any serious playing and set the shaft to 10.

I never did find out if it’s really part of a limited edition series or not, but who cares? I like it and that’s all that matters. She’s definitely a keeper for now.

Will Ray is a founding member of the Hellecasters guitar-twang trio. He also does guitar clinics promoting his namesake G&L signature model 6-string, and produces artists and bands at his studio in Asheville, North Carolina. You can contact Will on Facebook and at willray.biz.

     

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Comments

 (5 comments) display by
UsernameComment
Guit fiddle
on 04/09/2012 		Great guitars for cheap. Change the electronics and nut, and they are good to go after a good setup. Don't believe any bad hype, lemons happen sometimes even with expensive guitars.
Fairy Dusted
on 04/09/2012 		I think the "Vintage Custom Series" has a little fairy dust mixed in with the space dust. The only downside to that is if the monks accidentally inhale it they trip out for a few days and spend more time watching Peter Pan then building guitars.
Guitar Monk
on 04/09/2012 		^^^ok. I have a man on the inside that says they are made from space dust by Tibetan monks in the highest Asian mountains constructed on full moon nights only. Purely magical and use no children for labor or Earthly trees for materials. Buy with confidence.
the baddmann
on 04/09/2012 		excellent mod platforms. You want a cool guitar on the cheap, check these out. stock pickups aren't half bad, but tuners, string tress need to go. Replace these, along with saddles, and they are keeper guitars for sure.
The Gee-tah Guy
on 04/09/2012 		I recently stopped buying these guitars as there's too many unanswered questions about how they come to be and what affects the manufacturing of them has on rain forests, growers, factory workers, etc. I know the importer is probably getting stinkin' rich. Think he's asking these questions? Yeah, right! You can buy them up if you want, but before you do, I'd ask you all to consider the impact of making zillions of cheap, unregulated guitars on the planet, the economies and the people from EVERYTHING I've mentioned. We are just screwing ourselves in the long run.



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