Its been a while, and I'm still not 'used' to having a blog, but I figured I'd follow-up on the Xaviere XV-500 project. Cutting to the chase, I still consider the guitar an amazing value, but I did run into a few things that gave me some pause soon after a wrote about Part II.
As I mentioned before, the setup of the guitar - after a few tweaks - remains decent, even pretty good. While adjusting the truss rod however, I got a big scare in that I ended up feeling some play in the truss rod nut. I thought that perhaps it was stripped or that I was using the wrong size wrench, but upon further inspection I realized that there;s about a quarter-turn of play before the nut engages the rod. The rod does seem to be moving, but I honestly wonder if the nut will cease to bight one day, rendering the neck un-adjustable. The frets are not perfectly level, so I do get some odd buzzing here and there, but the guitar remains to be very playable and frankly very enjoyable to play.
I received the Manlius Hot Rod 59 set and upon replacing pots and the toggle switch, I came upon the utter hack of a routing job. They just butcher the insides of these things and you end up with inconsistencies thickness of the top; some pots sit higher or lower than others, requiring some creativity with washers to get everything even. I opted to abandon the traditional Les Paul-like vol-vol/tone-tone config and went with a master vol and tone, disconnecting the others and leaving them there as dummies and then installing a cap and resistor across the volume to retain treble. Regarding the new pickups, the Manlius set is wonderful; better than the mass produced PAF clones. Its difficult to explain, but they seem to have more dimension than their machine wound cousins.
Soon after receiving this guitar, I was reminded of how poor access is to the upper frets on this type of guitar (any LP style instrument with a traditional neck joint for that matter). As such, I abandoned my plan to add a piezo bridge to make this one ultra versatile and just left it as is with the new pickups and electronics. I have since gigged with it with very good results; feels and sounds like any Les Paul I've ever played, and with a total investment of less than $400.
One thing that remains to be modified, and something that I read about on the forums and can confirm for anyone interested is with regard to the tuning machines. The tuners aren't the worst out there, but they do sometimes slip and allow strings to go flat. I'm a seasoned player and well versed in re-stringing techniques, stretching and seating and all that, and while tuning stability is generally good, every once in a while something will go out of whack on a string or two. For true gigability, you really do need new tuners.
So all in all, I really like this guitar, and it serves the need which was to give me access to Les Paul playability and sound, and it does exactly that at a bargain basement price. And another kudos should go out to Manlius guitar pickups for their excellent design and incredibly reasonable pricing! If you're looking for a hand-wound, cost effective alternative to the usual pickups manufacturers, give these guys a chance!
Play good, live well and my God bless!
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Just wanted to say thanks for the detailed write-up. I've been on the post on these guitars for a while, and most people are very keen to slam them because of "x". Like you, I'm looking for a solid platform to build on. Never heard of Manlius, and they sounds really nice! Pulled the trigger on the guitar, and may well as well on the pickups.
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