Xaviere Guitars are JUNK?
 

...Continued from Gear-Vault's article: "Xaviere Guitars are JUNK?".

Post your personal experiences with GuitarFetish and Xaviere guitars.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...aviere-X56.jpg

I haven't played a Xaviere, but in general the comments I have seen about them and Jay on Harmony-Central have been very positive.

I did have some GFS P-90 pickups in a Frankenstrat that I thought sounded quite good.

That is one thing that seems to echo about GFS is how nice (for the price) their pickups are. That G-V article did catch a lot of backlash, which is what I was kinda hoping for. I did a follow up article to keep everything balanced. - Are Xaviere Guitars JUNK pt2

One thing I don't like about the guitar is how generic the headstock looks. I liked their older headstock design better.

Older Xaviere design:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...rexv700-01.jpg

Howdy all,

This is my first post. Looks like a nice forum.

I bought an XV-550, two years ago. I bought a blem, but there are just a few finish defects. I replaced the tuners and the nut which are junk, but it's a very solid guitar. I'll probably replace the Crunchy PAT pickups, just because they are not right for a semi-hollow. It has a very nice maple top, and is very resonant. NO intonation problems, and the fret work was pretty good. They are definitely not junk guitars and are an excellent value.

Welcome to the forum schoolie. Thanks for posting your experience with Xaviere. How much do you think you have invested into your XV-550 guitar to make it bulletproof? Did they have a different headstock design 2 years ago? I ask because the image above is different than current headstocks. Trying to figure out when the changed it.

Hey schoolie, I see in this post you have both the Agile AL3000 and Xaviere XV-550. How do these guitars compare? I've had several Agile AL-series guitars and know they have a great price and great quality. I've found Agile's are as good or better than upper-end Epiphone Les Paul guitars.

What's your opinion on the XV-550 compared to the AL3000?

Thanks, Mr Sandman! I put about $75 into it. I replaced the bridge, but the old bridge was fine. I think the headstock changed around the time that the XV-600s came out, around 2 years ago.

I bought a brand new XV-870 a few months ago and I gotta say I'm VERY pleased with it. Plays much better than any Mexi strat I've played and the GFS pups in it sound lovely. :D

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1210417_n.jpg

I love my Xaviere XV 620
 

Because one person had a bad experience with one guitar does not qualify that a whole line of guitars are junk. Heck, I have heard more negative things about Gibson than about Xaviere! I am a new user here, but a long time player, having been playing for 47 years. I have all kinds of guitars, high end and low end. Fenders (American and Mexican) Gibsons, Epiphones, PRS and others. I am very pleased with my Xaviere XV 620. I have not changed a thing on it. Great sound, great price. I really think these folks have found a way to produce a very, very nice guitar at a low price. By the way I have two Agile guitars, a company that as mentioned earlier and they make great guitars as well. When I was a teenager, a cheap guitar could not even be played. Times have changed. I have spoken to Paul Reed Smith himself about the quality from the Asian guitar factories. He said, "They will make exactly what you want, exactly to your specifications."

My two cents

Thanks for the update guys.

Hi
 

New here, but HAD to chime in re GFS/Xaviere guitars!

I own 2 my self and bought several for resale in my small music shop.

GF guitars are pretty good for the money, but they CAN be pretty hit'n'miss!

I have mostly bought blems.

I own 2 blems. An XV550 semi hollow in cherry burst quilt top, a beautiful guitar but it needed work. Blems were negligible. It needed some fret dressing which I did my self, and the rosewood fret-board was really light, wishy washy colour. So I dyed it with Prooftint stain. Now it's EBONY! :D

Also I replaced the TOM bridge with a full sized GOTOH hard nickel/chrome bridge as the original was too narrow to intonate fully.

That done it set up nicely. Neck is great, body resonates nicely.
However, like a prev poster stated the pickups DON'T really suit that hollow body style. (DiMarzio SD clones have too much fizz in a hollow!) So what I did was instead of changing the pickups (which is a PITA on a hollow...) I merely changed the magnets. Chucked the C8 ceramics out for A8 Alnicos! MUCH nicer. Still hot but sweeter.

I also own an XV580, double cut which is modelled on the old Epi Genesis model from the 70s!

Got it in vintage natural flamed maple. GORGEOUS guitar! As a blem I couldn't find much wrong bar some light scuffs on the back which I polished out with cutters and the black on the head stock was applied too thin and you could still see the yellow stain underneath! Apart from that, the guit is great.
NO fretwork needed, a restring and proper setup and a fret-board re-dye and oil, + a new GOTOH TOM bridge, and away you go! The GFS Fat Pat pickups are amazingly GOOD! Would not change these at all!

Now to the falls!
I bought 2 other blems for resale. An XV400 Jr style and an XV500 LP copy.

These WERE definitely blemmed! The 400 was almost unplayable!!! All the frets were fucked up and damaged! Some1 in the CN factory buggered the fret install and tried to fix it with a bastard file!
All the tangs were rough edged and the fret-board was seriously damaged.
I sent pics to Jay stating this was BEYOND blem into down right REJECT!
His reply as such was it was still 'playable' so sold 'as-is'! :confused:

Anyway a lot of filing and sanding as well as wood dying ensued!!! Once done I asked a few others to find any damage (not having seen it before hand...) they asked, 'what damage?', so I said, Don't worry then!'!

The XV500. as a guitar impressed me in general. VERY heavy and solid (like OLD LP used to be) Good sustain and clarity and those Crunchy Pats sounded way BETTER in a solid, than a hollow body!

It had some impact damage and some paint overruns. I managed to polish most of it out, so it wasn't too bad! Set her up, guitar plays great now!
Also had another 580 in vintage burst. That too was almost perfect and set up great. Sold straight away!

I recently bought an XV950 hollow thinline guitar in blonde maple. Stunning guitar. This was NOT a blem but still had some faults, tho thankfully minor, but nonetheless should NOT have been there.

The floating bridge was not mounted properly, and had a grub screw protruding underneath, causing some damage to the finish, which I fixed and the triple edge binding on the front near the cut away horn was smudged!!! This type of blemish is unacceptable on a 1st grade guitar!

Still it set up great and plays wonderfully! Bridge pickup twangs like a Gretsch, and the neck is mellow and jazzy but still birght. Middle pos janlges kinda like a nice Rick.

Over all Xavieres, are good, HOWEVER, you will always sadly, get hit & miss in their guitars!

Here are some links from my YT channel re these Xavieres!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDHKBYRkbGk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgLcmF8Ozc4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBusnPNqC5s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhW8jX72B1Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3oTl9vgLLs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fhRn2WuWbA

My 550 review/demo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQKwUBn6rf8

I HOPE you found those interesting/helpful! :w:

Axeman, how would you compare xaviere guitars to the Agile AL2000 + versions?

Man I miss my Agile!

Axeman, how would you compare xaviere guitars to the Agile AL2000 + versions?

Man I miss my Agile!

Well you only had to say it
 

ONCE!!! :eek:

Having never played an Agile, I can't rightly comment. But what I've seen of them the 2XXX series are pretty average. But the 3XXX are way above average for the $!

I'd say the 2K's are on par with Xaviere in features/build quality and the 3K's WAY better in materials and build! THO, GFS pickups ARE hard to beat!:w:

Beautiful guitars!