Post by simes on Oct 6, 2009 7:44:35 GMT -5
A friend of mine has just received a Xaviere XV700 ordered online from Guitarfetish. It’s essentially an LP design with small cross inlays instead of block inlays, and a thinner body with a rib contour on the back.
It arrived in Spain in perfect condition and reasonably well set up. The only faults were present at origin and included (a) a small dark smudge under the transparent finish, handily covered by the forearm when playing (b) one poorly-dressed fret (c) a slightly offset nut.
The woods are nominally mahogany (body and neck), bookmatched flame maple (top) and rosewood (fretboard). They look very good and sound fine to my ears, and the guitar has plenty of sustain.
The PU’s are GFS “Crunchy PAT’s”. The 14K bridge PU doesn’t actually sound much hotter – if at all – than the 10K Lil’ Killer I have at the bridge of my Strat, although it has more mids and less treble. The 10K neck PU is fat and powerful, certainly hotter than the 6K Lil’ Killer I have at the neck of my Strat, and has enough treble for me. I got some nice classic rock sounds through a small Laney valve combo, and the PU’s (or maybe it was the amp) were responsive enough to clean up nicely when using a lighter touch. I have advised my friend to install a push-pull pot to tap both PU’s, mainly to make the middle position on the 3-way more useable with dirty sounds.
The electronics seem fine: the pots are smooth and responsive, and the switch is quiet. Hardware-wise, the bridge seems OK, but the tuners will need tightening up.
All in all, I think it was a worthwhile buy. It looks great, plays well and sounds good, all at a very good price. I’m tempted to get myself a semi-solid twin cutaway XV580.
A word of warning to non-US residents. This guitar cost EUR 230 including freight to Spain. However, my friend then had to pay another EUR 43 in import duties. Still not expensive, I should have anticipated it (I work in import/export, for heaven’s sake) and I daresay Guitarfetish mention this somewhere in the small print, but it was an unpleasant surprise nonetheless. Now that I think of it, none of the previous purchases I’ve made from GFS (PU’s, hardware, electronics) had import duties applied to them.
It arrived in Spain in perfect condition and reasonably well set up. The only faults were present at origin and included (a) a small dark smudge under the transparent finish, handily covered by the forearm when playing (b) one poorly-dressed fret (c) a slightly offset nut.
The woods are nominally mahogany (body and neck), bookmatched flame maple (top) and rosewood (fretboard). They look very good and sound fine to my ears, and the guitar has plenty of sustain.
The PU’s are GFS “Crunchy PAT’s”. The 14K bridge PU doesn’t actually sound much hotter – if at all – than the 10K Lil’ Killer I have at the bridge of my Strat, although it has more mids and less treble. The 10K neck PU is fat and powerful, certainly hotter than the 6K Lil’ Killer I have at the neck of my Strat, and has enough treble for me. I got some nice classic rock sounds through a small Laney valve combo, and the PU’s (or maybe it was the amp) were responsive enough to clean up nicely when using a lighter touch. I have advised my friend to install a push-pull pot to tap both PU’s, mainly to make the middle position on the 3-way more useable with dirty sounds.
The electronics seem fine: the pots are smooth and responsive, and the switch is quiet. Hardware-wise, the bridge seems OK, but the tuners will need tightening up.
All in all, I think it was a worthwhile buy. It looks great, plays well and sounds good, all at a very good price. I’m tempted to get myself a semi-solid twin cutaway XV580.
A word of warning to non-US residents. This guitar cost EUR 230 including freight to Spain. However, my friend then had to pay another EUR 43 in import duties. Still not expensive, I should have anticipated it (I work in import/export, for heaven’s sake) and I daresay Guitarfetish mention this somewhere in the small print, but it was an unpleasant surprise nonetheless. Now that I think of it, none of the previous purchases I’ve made from GFS (PU’s, hardware, electronics) had import duties applied to them.
