[Axeman]

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!

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'!

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!