$200 Guitar Project, Part II: Reciept of the Xaviere XV-500

I received the Xaviere XV-500 via UPS and promptly unpacked it for initial inspection. The guitar was nicely double-boxed, appropriately wrapped and adequately protected during shipment. This is important because I did not order the optional hard shell case. What I noticed immediately was the striking Lemon Drop finish on flame veneer (yes, this is a Flame veneer but on top of a 3/4" thick maple cap). The color just pops, the flame is adequately deep and is very attractive. More importantly, the second thing I noticed upon handling the guitar was that it feels VERY much like the Les Paul Standards I am familiar with. This guitar feels in heft, balance and neck very close to the real thing. Even the finish has a high quality feel to it. The guitar in no way feels cheap at all, and if you dislike the headstock shape as much as I did in the pictures, you'll be relieved to hear it looks much better in person.

The neck has a contour that feels very similar to the Gibson 60s slim taper, but perhaps a little more substantial, but my no means overly chunky and not quite to the rounded 50s contour which I never liked. This neck feels nice and fits naturally in the hand. When strummed unplugged, the guitar continued to surprise with a lot of volume, resonance and sustain even with the factory strings, which are nothing special.

Fit and finish wise, I was pleasantly surprised with how well the ends of the frets were finished, but the frets themselves are not polished. Not unexpected in this class yet something I'll need to correct. I noticed some kind of blemish in the back of the neck (looks more like a manufacturing process oops and is under the finish) and a little knot in the fretboard wood, though it was still smooth, just a little unsightly in that area. The fretboard is also very light in color as compared to higher end rosewood fretboards, but I suspect a cleaning and oiling will improve this. I suppose the only somewhat off putting thing I noticed was some kind of finish issue on the tip of the horn running the whole length of that edge from top to back. It looks/feels like something wore off the finish along that edge and I can't think of what would have caused that. Thankfully however it really isn't noticeable and looks more like wear. There's a tiny finish chip on the treble side of the nut and a strange little finish flaw on the headstock next to the G tuner. Lastly, I noticed a little bit of a clear finish run along a section of the body binding. Aside from these flaws, which really are quite minor and to most people wouldn't even be visible, the finish seems to be nicely applied. The top looks great and the back and neck are the expected reddish stain over mahogany.

I recall Guitar Fetish claims they set these up before shipment, and while the guitar was pretty close to being in tune, they hadn't stretched the strings or attempted to improve the very high action. After a couple of minutes I was able to seat the strings and lower the bridge for much better playability, but I'm still going to do some more work later on. Even with the bridge cranked all the way down it seems the action could and should be lower thought its perfectly playable at the moment. The neck seems true and I ran into no immediate issues with bending notes all over the neck. Maybe a slightly high fret here or there, but really very good and better than many guitars priced two to three times as much.

Overall I am pleasantly surprised with the substantial specs and decent quality of this $209 guitar. Its surprising for this price range and it easily compares if not surpasses what I've seen from Epiphones costing three times as much. I bought this guitar for a platform and intend to replace all electronics and hardware, and for that I can already tell this is a GREAT platform and would be even at twice the price. Even if left stock, this is no toy. I just can't comprehend how they can actually sell this thing for $209. Unbelievable.

Stay tuned for the transformation...

Can a $200 guitar sound great? Part I

I've spent a great deal of time and money building up my guitar rig. I have an amp that will never need to be replaced (maybe just augmented with others) and a near complete pedal board that gives me everything tonally I need currently and for the forseeable future. You can see this rig in one of my earliest posts. Guitar-wise, I'm very pleased with my current arsenal, but I'm still lacking a couple of fundamental instruments; the gap I'm currently working on filling is that which is left by the absence of a Les Paul type guitar. Having played the real deal in the past, I am well aware of what a Les Paul should be, so I started out on an endeavor to choose which Gibson I'd be saving for. I quickly realized however, that these guitars have become grossly and in my opinion unjustifiably over-priced, so I started contemplating the alternative approach; find a good LP type platform, and replace all of the electronics and hardware. As you'll read below, this approach worked wonders on my Dave Murray-inspired Highway One project, so why not do this with an LP? Now all I need to do is find a suitable platform.



I had hoped to go with a lower end USA Gibson until I realized that the faded series is chambered, has the 50s neck (I prefer something more 60s like) and lacked a maple top. After all, the thick maple cap is in my opinion what a real LP type guitar is all about, so on went my search. Virtually all of the other mainstream manufacturers, including Epiphone, lacked a thick maple cap. It turns out Agile guitars offers one on their $650 instrument, which looked like it would fill the bill until I stumbled upon this brand called Xaviere and their $209 XV-500. I did a lot of research, and I kept coming up with a solid guitar that lacked decent hardware and electronics. Bingo! And some how, this company manages to sell this guitar for $209 yet provides a long neck tenon, a 3/4" maple cap and mahogany back and neck with a rosewood fret board. The base ingredients of that legendary Les Paul tone.



This is only Part I of at least another posting or two to come. At this point I've ordered the guitar and have yet to receive it. I also ordered a set of Manlius Hot Rod 59 pickups, which are hand wound in Syracuse, NY and somehow sell for less than half some of the other boutique makers. I own pickups from the top shelf makers such as WCR and Harmonic Design, so I'm very curious to see how Manlius stacks up. I expect to replace hardware as well but have not made any decisions other than the bridge will have to be of the piezo variety as I intend for this guitar to be nearly as versatile as my main axe, which is currently the Highway One described below. Even if total investment approaches $1,000, if this guitar can compete with a USA Standard or Traditional in playability and tone, then I've really stumbled on to something. Even if I had sprang for the $2,300 plus real thing, I'd still be replacing the pickups and installing a piezo bridge adding hundreds more.



So stay tuned for receipt of the new guitar and a report on my progress. I've had success in making middle of the road guitars in the $600 range sound and play great, but I've never tried to do so with a guitar as inexpensive as the Xaviere. Does it really have it where it counts? Check back and see!

Play often, play well, and may God bless!