Xaviere guitars: anyone own one??

rompo420 · 02-19-2010, 05:57 PM

I was looking at these on guitarfetish and could not believe the prices!

Anyone have any experience with these??

Phoenix59 · 02-19-2010, 06:50 PM

I've been looking at them and am very interested. It seems like overall they get very good reviews.

Auriemma · 02-22-2010, 02:26 PM

I have heard both good and bad about Xaviers.

You might also consider Agiles or SX out of http://www.rondomusic.com

Vott · 07-13-2010, 05:55 PM

I have the 870 strat body in capri orange. When I first recieved the guitar the pickguard had mold flashing all the way around it, noticable too. I removed the pickguard to sand the flashing off the edges and discovered that the body was chipped from a screw that was installed crooked in the cavity near the lower tone pot. I was considering returning it, but shipping costs and the fact that the pickguard hid the chip so I decided to keep it. I'm glad I did, I've been playing now for only about 18 months and it never fails I end up playing this guitar almost daily.

I'm new to guitars but even I can just tell the neck is a keeper. Its straight, the tuners hold, and the fretboard is nice (rosewood) but It had cleaning compound in the grain when it arrived, easily solved.

The body finish is good, not as good as a squier imo.

Now for the sounds.. It's a very crisp bright sound outta this instrument. Not as noisy as some of my stock bullets in pos 1 and pos 2 is bright and even quieter. I hope this beginners terminology makes sense to you more experienced players, sorry if not.

The bridge and saddles are nice looking, easy to adjust and seem plenty robust to last quite awhile. The toneblock... Dunno, never have looked in there, might tonight to see if it's a full block or not.

Would I buy another? Yes, in fact I like that black tuxedo hendrix looking one that's back ordered. I just hope they all are as nice as my orange guitar and I'm sure the chipped cavity was a fluke. It just boils down that the price is too right. The neck is worth it alone.

motoman45 · 07-13-2010, 07:12 PM

ive looked at those lp ones for awhile...they look great but have never played one...for the price i think their a steal

richieryan · 07-13-2010, 09:11 PM

Is the neck chunky? Have you taken some measurements? Now I'm curious.

Stratatattat · 07-14-2010, 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by motoman45

ive looked at those lp ones for awhile...they look great but have never played one...for the price i think their a steal

i played the LP style once at a pawn shop...of course the dummies at the pawn shop were asking $500 for it!!!! so i acted interested just to give it try then promptly said "no thanks". all in all, it didn't sound that great to me...it was kinda bland to me. but then again, it was an older model. the new ones might be superior. i ended up going w/ the epiphone les paul standard. in the future i think i'll end up getting an agile just to add to the collection.

Vott · 07-14-2010, 09:16 AM

Followup:
The toneblock is a small one similar to stock Bullets/Affinitys.

As far as measuring the neck goes, tell me where to measure it and I'll measure mine for you tonight. It feels similar to an Affinity to me,

Vott · 07-29-2010, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vott

Followup:
The toneblock is a small one similar to stock Bullets/Affinitys.

As far as measuring the neck goes, tell me where to measure it and I'll measure mine for you tonight. It feels similar to an Affinity to me,

CORRECTION>>> the TONE BLOCK IS FULL SIZED! I musta looked inside an Affinity I was working on at the time of the other post. SORRY

rompo420 · 06-30-2011, 09:30 AM

Can the necks be swapped out for squier necks???

crmartin · 06-30-2011, 11:15 AM

I have three Xavieres, a XV-599, XV560 and a XV JT-100 they are all very nice guitars. You get a lot of guitar for not much money. I highly recommend them. I also have an SX Tele from Rondo and couldn't believe the quality for $109. I would say all these guitars are close to Squier CV and VM series. I have three CV Tele's and one VM custom II Tele.

tjnugent · 06-30-2011, 11:48 AM

I think Rondo supplies better guitars. Agile and SX are both proven brands. I think Xavier is great for small money, but they don't come close to the Squier Classic Vibe, but then again, they are much less expensive than the CV... Probably a good body and neck to use as a foundation for modding...

TJ

rompo420 · 06-30-2011, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rompo420

Can the necks be swapped out for squier necks???

does anyone know about this?

tjnugent · 06-30-2011, 12:47 PM

From what I understand, Xavier uses standard neck sizes. You should be fine. You can email them about it, just to double check.. but I bet you are good.

TJ

rompo420 · 06-30-2011, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjnugent

From what I understand, Xavier uses standard neck sizes. You should be fine. You can email them about it, just to double check.. but I bet you are good.

TJ

What IS standard neck size, TJ??

tjnugent · 06-30-2011, 01:07 PM

Standard size is 2 3/16" Dat be standard

horax · 06-30-2011, 01:14 PM

I had an Epi LP Standard, but then I got an Agile AL-2000 and sold the Epiphone cause the Agile was WAYYYYY better.

I'd like a Xavier hollow body LP, but I don't have the room or need for one now.

nomadh · 06-30-2011, 02:33 PM

My impression from many reviews is the hardware on the gfs will be nearly always better than the sx. It makes sense gfs sells a lot of upgrade parts mostly bought to upgrade the Sx's. Something about the gfs' dosen'' feel right to me. The colors all look like Tijuana paint jobs in the pictures. I think sx just has the styles and woodgrains I want going by the pictures. But that's all just personal guessferences. I do get the impression from others that they may have more QC issues and be harder to communicate with and return to.

czook · 06-30-2011, 04:10 PM

I had an issue with the finish on an Xaviere. Several weeks after I recd the guitar I emailed them. I got a response and it was reasonably prompt, in which they offered to send me a label to return at their expense and replace with a different model guitar. The one I got was slightly more expensive than the original guitar at no additional cost to me. It took a week or so to return the old guitar and get the replacement. Good customer service in my opinion.

The fit and finish of both guitars was good with the exception that the first one I recd had a hazing under the finish, which is caused by spraying finish in too much humidity or somehow trapping moisture under the finish. They recognized the issue and quit selling the model and took mine back. The parts on each guitar, especially the Pickups, are above the quality of any similarly priced guitars, IMO.

I have the lemondrop 510, and it is a great LP type guitar. I hear that the Agile guitars are also very good, but I have only had a couple SX Tele types, and I liked the necks, and everything else seemed average.

5thumbs · 06-30-2011, 09:25 PM

Sparkfire has a LP copy and loves it. He will jump in here soon im sure.

slotrod65 · 06-30-2011, 09:44 PM

From what I have been able to research, I believe that it is hit or miss with Xaviere quality. I myself have had a near miss and a bullseye.

I have an XV-950 a "Rockabilly" semi hollow and also had an XV-900 (ES-335 copy). Both are great guitars for the money. There were some finish issues on the XV-950, and Xaviere offered to take the guitar back. We settled for a partial refund so I essentially paid for a blem model. I love the guitar and you would havew no idea about the finish issues unless I pointed them out to you.
The XV-900 was just awesome. I bought it used for a measely $99, and had it less than a month when someone offered me $200 for it. I just couldn't refuse doubling my money. It was a great guitar though, with no isses whatsoever. I would put it up against any Epi Dot, and it cost me only $99.

Here is a quick and dirty vid of the XV-950 with the distortion cranked up:

YouTube - ‪Xaviere...

Sparkfire · 07-01-2011, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5thumbs

Sparkfire has a LP copy and loves it. He will jump in here soon im sure.

More than happy to be of service. I got the fanciest LP copy they have, the 599. The first one they sent was a fluck. I emailed them immediately and the next morning I got an answer. Pack it back up like I recieved it and UPS was here within a couple days to pick it up. Within 5 days they shipped me another one. I couldn't be happier. The pics on the site are good but not nearly as good as the guitar. The finish is close to the Epi Ultra that Thumbs has. It's a quilt maple veneer sitting on top of a 3/4 inch maple cap with a mahogony back and neck. Tuners are really nice grover type and the pups are the Crunchy Pats from GFS. The hardware is nice and the frets are sweet hand filed ends. The fretboard is almost flat to me and a nice rosewood. Once I let it soak up a little gun oil it really got sweet. I also got the hardshell case and they ship the guitar in the case with a $10.00 price cut if you buy it with the guitar. I will buy another from them someday, perhaps the light ash tele with maple neck. Here's a pic of mine. Like I said earlier, they were quick at making it right when they sent me a mistake. (The first one was obviously a return that some body didn't check before sending it out.) The Agile is a nicer guitar I think, but if you want that maple cap it will cost you double for one of those. The Xaviere is sweet enough you won't be ashamed to show it off and sounds really good with those pups. By the way, they are an advertiser in guitar world magazine.

rompo420 · 07-01-2011, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparkfire

More than happy to be of service. I got the fanciest LP copy they have, the 599. The first one they sent was a fluck. I emailed them immediately and the next morning I got an answer. Pack it back up like I recieved it and UPS was here within a couple days to pick it up. Within 5 days they shipped me another one. I couldn't be happier. The pics on the site are good but not nearly as good as the guitar. The finish is close to the Epi Ultra that Thumbs has. It's a quilt maple veneer sitting on top of a 3/4 inch maple cap with a mahogony back and neck. Tuners are really nice grover type and the pups are the Crunchy Pats from GFS. The hardware is nice and the frets are sweet hand filed ends. The fretboard is almost flat to me and a nice rosewood. Once I let it soak up a little gun oil it really got sweet. I also got the hardshell case and they ship the guitar in the case with a $10.00 price cut if you buy it with the guitar. I will buy another from them someday, perhaps the light ash tele with maple neck. Here's a pic of mine. Like I said earlier, they were quick at making it right when they sent me a mistake. (The first one was obviously a return that some body didn't check before sending it out.) The Agile is a nicer guitar I think, but if you want that maple cap it will cost you double for one of those. The Xaviere is sweet enough you won't be ashamed to show it off and sounds really good with those pups. By the way, they are an advertiser in guitar world magazine.

BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!