Xavier guitars

[benjammin420]

I was poking around the Guitar fetish site and came across Xavier guitars. They look decent. Does anybody own one of these? are they nice for the money?

http://store.guitarfetish.com/xaviereguitars.html

im particularly look at this one:
http://store.guitarfetish.com/xvinsiwichdr.html

 

[Funkwire]

I have the XV-500, the Les Paul copy. Shipped to my door with hard case for $281. At that price, I figured I couldn't go wrong. I have ended up pleasantly surprised.

To start with, it has a maple cap over a mahogany body. There is no veneer on the mahogany, it's a 2-piece body. The flame maple top is a thin veneer, but it's on top of 1/2" of maple. Epiphone Les Pauls just have a maple veneer on mahogany, not an actual top. I understand most Agiles are the same way, until you get to the AL-3000s (I believe? Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong).

It came with GFS Crunchy Pat pickups, Alpha 500K audio taper pots, and generic caps. I'm not a big fan of high-powered ceramics pickups, but the Crunchy Pats sound great for the classic rock I play in the band. I will eventually swap them out, but I'm not in a big hurry, they'll work fine for a while.

There was a fair amount of grime on the fingerboard from the polishing machines when I got the guitar. I cleaned it up with Gorgomyte, changed the strings and tuned it. I've owned it since December, and I haven't touched the truss rod or adjusted the action. It played nice out of the box and still does.

The only bad thing about the guitar was the tuners. If you read reviews of Xavieres by people who bought them, you'll find this is pretty universal. They're really cheap and crappy. I had a set of Schallers laying around, so I popped them in. A good set of tuners doesn't cost that much anyway.

I've had several guitar players at gigs ask me about the XV-500, complimenting its looks and sound. When I tell them I bought it for $209, they are stunned.

I've seen examples of some guitars that have serious issues with them, but Jay from GFS is very good about exchanging guitars. He frequents this board and others and is very proactive about customer service. My guitar was wired backwards, and I sent him an e-mail to let him know. He answered in less than two hours and asked me if I wanted another one. I told him no, I could easily fix it, I just wanted him to be aware it happened and keep an eye out for it in other guitars.

I'm very happy with my Xaviere. It's been my main gigging guitar since I got it, to the point I feel I'm neglecting my other axes! I give it a thumbs up and high recommendation.

And of course....pics or it didn't happen, right?

 

[fngmoe]

I've got one of the xv-600s with P-90s. Had it for a little over a year. It's a very cool little guitar. I wasn't thrilled with the tuners and string trees, so they were replaced immediately. Also did a quick fret level. It's very light with a thin neck.... and sounds kinda light...... which works well for me. Great sustain... I love the neck and middle positions. Not muddy at all and can get a bit of the strat in-between sounds. It's a no brainer at $160 and probably would be a good deal at twice that. I've gigged mine.... nothing has failed yet.

 

[joeh77]

I have a XV-900 335 copy. I've had it for a year or so. It has the old style headstock with the metal "X" and truss rod cover. I much prefer the newer headstock. I paid $250 for this guitar, which I thought was a great price! I spoke with Jay before I purchased and he assured me I would not be disappointed. And I wasn't! Great guitar for the price. I swapped the tuners, as mentioned. I also had it professionally set up, and I upgraded to Duncan 59s, But the GFS pickups were not that bad, I just wanted the Duncans in there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18975893@N07/2312944737/

Joe

 

[Will Chen]

Alan wrote his up XV-600 for FrugalGuitarist.com, he was very impressed.

http://www.frugalguitarist.com/Frugal.aspx?Issue=3&Page=Xaviere%20XV-600

 

[benjammin420]

looks good, do you have any soundclips?

 

[blueshawk1]

I have an XV-600, I like the guitar overall, except I didn't care for the Dream180 pups (yes, I know most people like them), so I split the pups and I like the pups now.
I also thought it was looking a bit plain, so I added a pickguard. I had to move the pup selector switch and I like it better where it is now

 

[benjammin420]

whats the neck like? slim or chunky?

 

[Alvis]

This one started out as a Xaviere XV 600 and is now a great ,expendable air travel guitar
I'll probably do another soon

 

[benjammin420]

what kind of neck is that?

 

[Alvis]

I have an XV-600, I like the guitar overall, except I didn't care for the Dream180 pups (yes, I know most people like them), so I split the pups and I like the pups now.
I also thought it was looking a bit plain, so I added a pickguard. I had to move the pup selector switch and I like it better where it is now

I ditched the Dream 180s too,stuck em in a Memphis LP copy
I also ditched the neck,traded with friends who could use it.Just a little to skinny for my hand.I used an allparts TRO-W
Stuck a T-Top in the neck and a split 490 in the bridge

I think your pickguard is a cool addition

 

[benjammin420]

so the pickups are questionable, but the bodies sound good? the poplar block isnt too light sounding?

 

[Alvis]

The dream 180s were ceramic sounding to me ,dont know if they are ,but they had that ceramic bite to me ,maybe it's just that they're wound too hot,13k or so
The body's fine for me .I aint as much a corksniffer as I am guitar playa.Then again ,maybe I could stand to change that ,but it's worked so far

 

[blueshawk1]

I think your pickguard is a cool addition

The dream 180s were ceramic sounding to me ,dont know if they are ,but they had that ceramic bite to me ,maybe it's just that they're wound too hot,13k or so

Thanks on the pg, I thought it helped to break up, it was just too white.

I thought the same thing on the Dream180s, too hot. Felt like I should be playing heavy metal, and I don't. Fortunately, just splitting them did the trick for me.

 

[beforetone]

This one started out as a Xaviere XV 600 and is now a great ,expendable air travel guitar
I'll probably do another soon

If I am to assume the Xaviere guitar body is the same as the GFS replacement body, how did the TRO neck fit in thier slightly loose pocket as GFS describes on thr web site?

 

[Funkwire]

looks good, do you have any soundclips?

Haven't gotten around to it yet...the wife is out of town for a few days, so I might get it done this week.

 

[Alvis]

If I am to assume the Xaviere guitar body is the same as the GFS replacement body, how did the TRO neck fit in thier slightly loose pocket as GFS describes on thr web site?

I dont know about that .I asked the guy if he'd sell the body without buying the whole guitar but the answer was ,not at this time .But maybe with a flood of emails demanding ......

I put a piece of thin rosewood veneer on the bass side of the neck pocket ,perfect

 

[clay49]

I tried both an Xaviere XV-500 and an Agile 3100 simultaneously (ordered both at the same time) and both were pretty decent guitars. The Agile was a better quality instrument all around (fit, finish, hardware, etc.), but it was also $200 more. I was really impressed with the top on the one I tried...it was a lemon-drop with a really wide tiger flame (I specifically requested that, and they sent one as close as they could). For a little over $200, it is a really great instrument...just be ready to do some adjusting (my strings were way below the pickups...almost a half inch).