I mentioned in some previous post that I bought a Xaviere XV-600 guitar from GuitarFetish. I knew almost nothing about the company, but having read a few mentions of the company, and after reading over the site, I felt pretty good about my chances. In fact, I bought a several parts from them for the strat project, and except for a communication glitch with their eBay store, all went very, very well there.
Still, I chose the bright yellow XV-600 so if it didn’t work out as a guitar I could use it as a traffic cone. My first impressions, generally, were that the neck felt big, the tuning and action were less than ideal, and while the appearance looked good, I did find a small scuff in the finish at the neck heel. Also, a few days after I got it, I noticed a small chip in the paint on the edge. I’m sure I did it somehow, but it did make me wonder about the longevity of the finish since I didn’t remember hitting it on anything. In any case, these minor cosmetic issues don’t matter to me, since I wasn’t after a museum piece but a nice solid guitar. As for the neck feeling huge, I was actually after a bigger neck after playing the Son Unit’s mex strat. The XV-600 has a 1-21/32, which I think is the same as the Mex strat and definitely wider than my jap strat’s. The Dream 180 pickups sounded really good to me, and I got get some really nice slide tones out of it. Still, I knew it needed the attention of a luthier. The nut needed work and I don’t have the files — maybe the skills either — so I took it to Maple Street Guitars. The luthiers there have never let me down.
In addition to the set-up, I also asked them to install a push-pull pot as recommended (and sold by) by guitarfetish. (There’s another skill I’d like to have myself.)
Part of this exercise was to satisfy my own curiosity about just how important luthier work is, to do a “My Fair Lady” test on it. Could you take a $160 Chinese guitar and make it a keeper? I got the Xaviere back today, and the answer is a resounding “Hell Yes.” This guitar now plays beautifully, comfortable, and thanks to the push-pull and access to single-coils or humbucker, it’s versatile, too.
Here are some samples played throught the new Vox VT30 amp and recorded with a little Edirol R-09 portable recorder. I’m between the amp and the recorder, so you actually hear the pick and unamplified strings in there.
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The luthier’s work (besides the push-pull pot installation) was largely on the nut, the rest being standard set-up stuff, as well as tightening up some hardware (a string ferrule was loose.) He did a great job on the nut, which tragically looks more impressive in person than in the photo I took. (For comparison and amusement in a future post I’ll show you the tragic horror of my first attempt at fashioning a nut.)
So I’m very happy with this guitar and still amazed at the price they sell for, which makes me more intrigued by the guitarfetish business. They are doing something right, as far as I can tell. What don’t I like about this guitar? The headstock shape. That’s about it for my complaints, and a shallow one it is. My experience with this effort is $160 + a good luthier = a guitar that plays and sounds like a $600-700 guitar.
