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NGD: Xaviere xv-580SS Acoustic Guitar


LightenUpMcGraw

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There's so little information about the Xaviere 580SS I thought I'd post some pictures and some impressions of mine.

Normally I wouldn't buy a guitar sight unseen but I stumbled on the 580SS on the Guitarfetish web site and couldn't resist. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was and how inexpensive so the bottom line is I drank the koolaid and bought one. I figured if it didn't work out I only spent $369 and if it did work out then I hit a home run for the price. Thankfully I can report that this is an AMAZING guitar regardless of price. It's beyond beautiful and the sound is made in heaven, sweet and soothing with a chime only a great acoustic can get.

 

The fit and finish are outstanding on all points and the appointments go way way beyond any guitar I have ever seen at this price point. You can find an all solid woods guitar for a good price but I haven't seen any others with appointments like rosette, abalone body work, abolone inside pearl fret board inlays, double and triple body and neck binding, the list goes on. The specs include: solid matched SITKA spruce top, solid matched rosewood sides and back with abalone inlay in back, mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard, gold tuners with ebony buttons, rosewood bridge with ebony pegs with abalone inlay, hand cut bone nut and saddle.

 

This guitar feels wonderful in my hands, the neck fits my hands perfectly and it just feels right. I always play with a pick so I have no idea if this is a good model for a picker but for me it's better then I could have ever dreamed of. Deep lows, rich mids, singings highs, it so much guitar for the money I'm overwhelmed frankly. I never thought I could afford an all solid woods guitar of this beauty and sound quality because of the cost but that all changed now with this mighty mighty Xaviere xv-580SS an amazing guitar.

 

I've been playing for years and years and although I'm no expert I have played enough high end and good acoustics to know when I have something or not and I really have something here. It's a winner and I can't stop playing it, looking at it too. In the end it either passes the sniff test or it doesn't, when it is stummed does it sing out, YES it truly does.

 

Here's a link to the Guitarfetish site and this guitar.

http://www.guitarfetish.com/OUR-BEST-Solid-Spruce-Top-Solid-Rosewood-Back-and-Sides-with-Binding_p_4274.html

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It looks good, and it seems like you are happy with it. My cynical side, however, wonders at a person's first post that reads much like an advertisement. I look forward to your further interactions here to dispel my doubts.

 

 

That's an interesting take I hadn't anticipated on at all. I have zero affiliation with Guitarfetish or the Xaviere line of guitars they sell. They are a web only business, no phone to call, no storefront to go to and their shop and home base is in Boston MA. I live far far away from Boston in good ole North Carolina and after about 12 years of playing only electrics I have just gotten back into the acoustic again. From about 93 till 2003 all I played was a Seagull S6 I bought when I worked at a music store. The thing is I never really liked the sound or feel of it but as an employee I got a discount that was too good to pass up. I wore that thing out untill about 2003 I bought a Roland Ready Fender Strat and stopped playing the acoustic till 2012. Now all these years later along with my unused Seagull I have a nice little collection of electric guitars, an American Strat, a Roland Ready Strat, a Gibson Les Paul Traditional Plus, an Ibanez bass guitar.

 

Recently just by happenstance I went into the acoustic room of a GC played some acoustics and that gave me the bug once again to have a great acoustic. As I said, the Seagull just wasn't ever going to fit what I really wanted and the guitars I liked in GC were just too expensive for me to pull the trigger on. So like many people with good taste and little money I started to research what was out there on the cheap. I stumbled on xv-580SS and found myself going back to the web page again and again to look at the pics and read the specs. As I said in the first post drank the koolaid and decided to get one. My thinking was that if I screwed and got a peice of dung it only cost $369 not chicken feed but not the end of the world either. I also decided to make the purchase when I did because the 580SS had been out of stock for months and months as I and I was even on their waiting list for it to come back in stock. In fact I was so keen to get it that when I saw it was back in stock I ordered it before they sent me an email telling me it was back in stock.

 

So that's it and to a degree you are right, I did actually join this forum so I could talk about and show off my baby. Also I'm hoping to find at least one other person that has this exact guitar to see what they think of it. Anyone else own the mighty mighty xv-580SS?

 

Here's a pic of the Seagull, I wore that thing plum out like a Willie Nelson guitar found in a dumpster.

 

All rights reserved, void where prohibited, batteries not included, some assembly required, add water makes its own gravy.

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I love the way you throw "$369" and "inexpensive" in the same sentence,LOL. To me that's a mid-range guitar but then I'm a cheap sob,LOL. I DO love those Ebony buttons, they keep it from having too much gold which, IMHO, would make it look cheap. The Ebony adds a touch of class to it. The inlays look pretty sharp too and that Taylor style pick guard is a nice touch. Helps it stand out from all the round style pick guards you see on most guitars. I think ya' got a winner there pard.:thu:

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I love the way you throw "$369" and "inexpensive" in the same sentence,LOL. To me that's a mid-range guitar but then I'm a cheap sob,LOL. I DO love those Ebony buttons, they keep it from having too much gold which, IMHO, would make it look cheap. The Ebony adds a touch of class to it. The inlays look pretty sharp too and that Taylor style pick guard is a nice touch. Helps it stand out from all the round style pick guards you see on most guitars. I think ya' got a winner there pard.
:thu:

 

I guess I meant cheap as compared to a top level Martin, Taylor or other high end guitar.

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I guess I meant cheap as compared to a top level Martin, Taylor or other high end guitar.

 

Ahh, ok, I got ya'.

For me Sub-$150 guitars are "inexpensive", $150-$300 are "less expensive but decent guitars", $300-$500 are "mid-range, quality guitars" and anything over $500 is a "dream guitar" but then I've never had the disposable income to allow me to get anything over about $300 plus my wife would kill me if I spent more then that on a guitar.

Same goes for a firearm, $500 is about the top end of my spending limit for anything, don't care if it's gold plated and was owned by John Wayne, if I spent more then $500 for it I'd never hear the end of it. LOL.

I guess some folks are just blessed to have more money for stuff like guitars and guns then me but I think that's great that SOMEONE can enjoy these nice things even if I can't. :cry:;)

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Bought a Xaviere XV 200S, the maple back version. Xavieres are pretty guitars with a lot of nice appointments. The XV 580 looks like a good deal for a solid rosewood guitar, and the appointments are much better than martins costing 5 to 10 times the price. My Xaviere is not broken in yet and the sound is okay but not spectacular. I think the top finish is too thick.

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I guess some folks are just blessed to have more money for stuff like guitars and guns then me but I think that's great that SOMEONE can enjoy these nice things even if I can't.
:cry:;)

 

Listen I don't want to shoot myself in the foot on this one so let me just say this: I have no money for guns but you on the other hand seem to have money for both and that's great so maybe you actually are that SOMEONE you wrote about. Speaking only for myself, the money I save on the guns I don't buy I use to invest in coke and hookers, but thats just me I'm blessed. Nothing better then sniffing coke off the back of a guitar that's on the back of a hooker who's back is balancing on the feet of two midgets lying on their backs in jello in the back room of a shady wharehouse in a bad neighborhood while a rerun of The Love Boat plays on a big screen projection TV. Then again who hasn't done that right? No no no no no just kidding I hate the Love Boat. Remember kids just say no to the Love Boat. Captain Stubbing puts ketsup on chocolate mousse, I'd be pissed too, stupid country! Plus he runs like a Welshman doesn't he? Doesn't he run like a Welshman?

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Listen I don't want to shoot myself in the foot on this one so let me just say this: I have no money for guns but you on the other hand seem to have money for both and that's great so maybe you actually are that SOMEONE you wrote about. Speaking only for myself, the money I save on the guns I don't buy I use to invest in coke and hookers, but thats just me I'm blessed. Nothing better then sniffing coke off the back of a guitar that's on the back of a hooker who's back is balancing on the feet of two midgets lying on their backs in jello in the back room of a shady wharehouse in a bad neighborhood while a rerun of The Love Boat plays on a big screen projection TV. Then again who hasn't done that right? No no no no no just kidding I hate the Love Boat. Remember kids just say no to the Love Boat. Captain Stubbing puts ketsup on chocolate mousse, I'd be pissed too, stupid country! Plus he runs like a Welshman doesn't he? Doesn't he run like a Welshman?

 

 

Whoa... settle down. It's all good. TnFrank is going through a tough time right now. And I'm pretty sure nobody here wouold risk messing up their precious guitars by doing coke off them. Hell, guitars ARE our coke!

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Listen I don't want to shoot myself in the foot on this one so let me just say this: I have no money for guns but you on the other hand seem to have money for both and that's great so maybe you actually are that SOMEONE you wrote about. Speaking only for myself, the money I save on the guns I don't buy I use to invest in coke and hookers, but thats just me I'm blessed. Nothing better then sniffing coke off the back of a guitar that's on the back of a hooker who's back is balancing on the feet of two midgets lying on their backs in jello in the back room of a shady wharehouse in a bad neighborhood while a rerun of The Love Boat plays on a big screen projection TV. Then again who hasn't done that right? No no no no no just kidding I hate the Love Boat. Remember kids just say no to the Love Boat. Captain Stubbing puts ketsup on chocolate mousse, I'd be pissed too, stupid country! Plus he runs like a Welshman doesn't he? Doesn't he run like a Welshman?

 

 

By any chance, do you live in Scotland?

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Wouldn't it mess up the finish if you poured Coke on your guitar??? Besides, I like Root Beer a whole lot better then Coke,LOL

 

 

I think it depends on whether it has a nitro or poly finish and it also depends on if the owner cares. I'm embarressed to say that the first time I tried to snort coke I almost drowned; I wasn't expecting the bubbles. But that's nothing new, I've always had problems with drugs. One time I tried to smoke some hash but I couldn't get the corn beef lit, so you can see what I mean.

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I have been using Jay (guitarfetish) for years for parts etc. and have found him to be a stand up guy. Decent products and decent prices. With the holiday promo code I ordered a XV_150SCE for like 179.00 or something like that. Being very under employed, I don't have a lot of money either, so I have to go cheap. I fully expect a good guitar, not great, but good enough. I don't gig, I just noodle around the house. Since a friend of a friend, pulled one of my guitars off the wall into the ceiling fan, I found it necessary to replace it.

So, I should have it later in the week and when I get some time I'll give her a review.

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Hey, LightenUpMcGraw, glad to see you are a real person. I am afraid I have become a bit cynical over years of forum reading. Your guitar really does look nice, and I am glad you are happy with it. The price is nice, probably more than I would pay, but I am quite cheap when it comes to buying instruments; if the quality is there I'd probably consider spending the money.

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:thu:



Mere coincidence...
:lol:

 

Not to disparage you detective work on this one but with absolutely nothing written about this guitar on the world wide web all you have to do is type in Xaviere xv 580SS and the 5 things available on it pop right up, it would be hard to miss my threads as they are the only ones that exist to speak of. It was a can't miss search, but still good job.

 

So it's no coincidence at all that's me on the mylespaulforums, NRBQ there (NRBQ is a great band The New Rhythm and Blues Quartet BTW) but Lighten Up McGraw here. Some guy yelled at me for having a handle named after a band on the mylespaul.com so I used Lighten Up McGraw for here.

 

Lighten Up McGraw is a cool Crack The Sky song written by one of my favorite guitarists named Ricky Witkowski, the lead guitarist for Crack The Sky .

 

I actually joined this forum after being active and liking the mylespaul site. Not much acoustic guitar chatter and reviews there so I thought I'd saddle up and trot on over these parts to connect. I am really hoping to run into someone else that might have this model guitar. I can't seem to find anyone anywhere that has one. I found a couple of people with Xaviere acoustics but not this particular model. Plus it's fun to take pics and show them off.

 

Just for the heck of it, here is a link to Crack The Sky's Lighten Up McGraw on youtube for anyone that might like to have a listen. This one song is by no means an indicator of what this band sounds like from song to song, album to album and even era to era these days cause they're still together putting out music since 1975, I was all of ten at the time.

 

 

My handle on youtube is LightenUpMcGraw too, I even made comments as LightenUpMcGraw on LightenUpMcGraw, I may be obsessed.

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