SX Ursa 2 Jazz Bass with new neck! Have pics...look

[Love GK]

Hi,

I know there has been alot of talk about SX bass guitars and the ugly headstock. But I also know they have come out with a new headstock that does look better. I heard a lot of good things about these basses so I took a chance on the SX Ursa 2 with the dreaded headstock back in the springtime and got one from Rondo Music. I got it in not expecting the bass to overly impress me. I was wrong I couldn't believe how nice the finish, the sound (with a nice growl) the tuners worked very smooth and it played really nice. Well I decided I liked it but that headstock so I went on Ebay and started looking at the Jazz necks for sale and took a chance on a guy selling them from Texas for $95.00. I took it all to my Luthier Wally from South Bend Music Exchange South Bend Music Exchange and Drum Company to put it together for me. Wally who I trust said it was a quality neck. I got it back and love this bass.......and I'm gigging with it alot. I get so many compliments on it and people think it cost me a bunch of money. I was going to leave a link to the guy selling the necks but it seems he has vanished and it breaks my heart cause I was going to get another one. Truly hope he comes back! The neck does have the vintage tint with real block inlays and a bone nut and it's made in Japan for $95.00. Also the neck fit really good and the SX tuners fit perfect. People say the SX bass is great beginner guitar but I say wrong cause I have a Fender American Standard Precision and I like this as good. My pictures are of the actual bass I have with the new neck (yes the neck plate is upside down). I'll add this the pointy headstock that everybody doesn't like is not a bad headstock, it just doesn't flow with the smooth curves of the Jazz or Precision. Just my opinion! It would work on the right body but anyway they have come out with the new version headstock now. Let me know what you think......Thanks, Calvin

 

[dave64o]

That's a really nice looking bass, it's got a 70's vibe I love! The real inlays and the bone nut on the new neck are a nice touch, too.

I definitely agree with you about the sound of the stock pickups in an SX Jazz. I've had three different SX Jazz 5 strings and my favorite thing about them was the sound of the pickups. They had a nice growly tone I really liked.

I was pretty negative about SX's in general here on TB but I've softened my stance over time as I Frankenstein'ed those three basses into a single FrankenJazz that has the body from my first, the neck from another, and every other part except the original neck plate from my first SX replaced with aftermarket parts I bought used here on TB. It's kind of hard to call that bass an SX now because only the wood itself is SX, but the neck is pretty comfy to play, the body is nice and solid, and it was a great platform to mod. The SX name on the headstock and the complete lack of effort matching the three different pieces of the body make it look like the $130 bass it started life as, but it sounds incredible now!

 

[dabbler]

That's a really nice looking bass, it's got a 70's vibe I love! The real inlays and the bone nut on the new neck are a nice touch, too.

I definitely agree with you about the sound of the stock pickups in an SX Jazz. I've had three different SX Jazz 5 strings and my favorite thing about them was the sound of the pickups. They had a nice growly tone I really liked.

I was pretty negative about SX's in general here on TB but I've softened my stance over time as I Frankenstein'ed those three basses into a single FrankenJazz that has the body from my first, the neck from another, and every other part except the original neck plate from my first SX replaced with aftermarket parts I bought used here on TB. It's kind of hard to call that bass an SX now because only the wood itself is SX, but the neck is pretty comfy to play, the body is nice and solid, and it was a great platform to mod. The SX name on the headstock and the complete lack of effort matching the three different pieces of the body make it look like the $130 bass it started life as, but it sounds incredible now!

I'm a little confused. The thing you liked best about SXes was the pups, but the only thing you kept was the wood?

 

[dave64o]

Yeah, I can see how that might make someone go "Huh?!", but I made a long story short and left some info out.

I had planned to make parts basses out of two of the SX's and, while I was waiting to find used parts I wanted to use, I saw someone selling Nordstrand NJ5S Jazz pickups at a good price so I bought them to put in one of the basses (might as well get two different sounds from the two basses, right?). But I eventually got tired of waiting for all of the parts I needed to come up for sale and decided to scale back to only one bass instead of two. And since I already bought the Nordstrands I decided to use them in that one bass.

I don't think I lost anything by using them over the stock pickups. The bass I finally did complete sounds fantastic.