$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...