Members acefreely Posted January 5, 2011 Members Share Posted January 5, 2011 I have been wanting to try a Xaviere guitar for a while now, a recent trade freed up some funds and I went ahead and ordered a xv-870 model along with some locking tuners, roller string trees and roller bridge saddles. Unfortunately I ordered the saddles after the other stuff so they're not here yet, but I installed the rest of the hardware, put some new strings on and gave it my standard setup. Here is the guitar in the case from GFS. BTW - this is a nice case and a great deal. And some other pics I've had the guitar for three days now and I've been playing it exclusively. The setup out of the box was probably decent. I could tell it was in tune and the action seemed fine, but after looking things over the first thing I usually do is cut the strings off and start over. I installed the hardware and put on some D'Addario 10s and got things setup the way I like. After plugging in and playing around for a bit I was really happy with the guitar. The neck feels good, this is a nice size for my hands. I really dig the strat sounds this guitar makes, the pickups sound really good clean with all of that classic strat feel. Matter of fact I've been having trouble sleeping because I keep thinking about playing this thing...weird. I still have a couple more things to do to her before she's totally ready, install the roller bridge saddles and block the tremolo, then I expect to have a keeper! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sk8centilli Posted January 5, 2011 Members Share Posted January 5, 2011 woo hoo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Preacher Posted January 5, 2011 Members Share Posted January 5, 2011 Wow, nice. Love the parchment on that green. HNGD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members j*h Posted January 5, 2011 Members Share Posted January 5, 2011 looks great congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frets99 Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Beautiful color! Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members acefreely Posted January 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 5, 2011 Wow, nice. Love the parchment on that green. HNGD! Thanks! I couldn't tell from the pics on the GFS site what color the plastics were; I was hoping they were either parchment or mint as opposed to white. The faded plastics look really good in person and match the guitar perfectly. This would be a good guitar to relic, but I think I'll just play it for 20 years or so and let that relic-ing stuff happen naturally :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ExiledCrow Posted January 5, 2011 Members Share Posted January 5, 2011 Congo-rats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stormin1155 Posted January 5, 2011 Members Share Posted January 5, 2011 Nice! Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members acefreely Posted January 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 5, 2011 Beautiful color! Congrats! Thanks, the man himself!...I am honored to have your comment in my thread. Your youtube videos were one the main reasons I wanted one of these guitars. Your 870 looks awesome and sounds even better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scuzzo Posted January 5, 2011 Members Share Posted January 5, 2011 thats a cool looking guitar..always dig those strat kinda deals.. hngd..! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bsman Posted January 5, 2011 Members Share Posted January 5, 2011 Sherwood green + mint green PG = Happy NGD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members acefreely Posted January 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 5, 2011 Sherwood green + mint green PG = Happy NGD! Ive been thinking about the mint green pick guard too, the parchment one looks good too though. Might just grab a mint set to have in case I ever wanna swap... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members acefreely Posted January 10, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 10, 2011 UPDATE:So it's been a week now that I've had this guitar. I've still been playing it everyday. It's the only guitar I've played since I received it... The roller saddles came in last week and I installed those. I also put on some bigger strings, 11s, and setup the guitar. I tuned it down 1/2 step. The best thing I did though was take some 0000 steel wool to the back of neck. These things come with a high gloss finish and it was just a little sticky feeling at times. About a dozen or so passes with the steel wool and WOW what a difference. I am glad these come from the factory with the high gloss finish. That way you can leave it that way or if you want you can smooth it out a bit. Now this 870 is feeling really good. I've got the locking tuners, roller string trees, roller saddles and 11s tuned 1/2 step down. The neck size feels bigger than a MIM or MIA strat, which I like and now that I've hit it with the steel wool it plays great. I got the action nice and low and the neck adjusted just right. There is no fret buzz anywhere on the neck. The pickups sound good to my ears. Very much the classic strat sound. The last thing (for now) that I want to do to this guitar is cut a wooden block to fit in between the tremolo block and the body cavity. Then she'll be all set. These guitars are a steal. Mine was playable out of the box and for most people a new set of strings and a $30 setup would be all that would be required to have a nice strat style guitar. Now that I've put a little work into mine I am liking it more and more - to the point where this could end up being my favorite guitar (especially after smoothing down that neck a little wow what a difference). Hard to believe I only have about $240 in this guitar... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted January 11, 2011 Members Share Posted January 11, 2011 congrats -- glad you like. I have to think it's odd that it's playable out of the box, though, every single xaviere I've gotten has had a completely wacked out setup out of the box including but not limited to stratosphere-high action and on two occasions neck pockets that had to be shimmed in order to lower it enough. on the plus side I agree that the xaviere neck sizes are very comfortable. I almost hate to say it but I think the slightly chunkier feel of the xaviere neck is more comfortable than my fenders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JasonA Posted January 11, 2011 Members Share Posted January 11, 2011 Actually my 870 came setup reasonably okay. Too bad the neck twisted after a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members acefreely Posted January 11, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2011 congrats -- glad you like. I have to think it's odd that it's playable out of the box, though, every single xaviere I've gotten has had a completely wacked out setup out of the box including but not limited to stratosphere-high action and on two occasions neck pockets that had to be shimmed in order to lower it enough.on the plus side I agree that the xaviere neck sizes are very comfortable. I almost hate to say it but I think the slightly chunkier feel of the xaviere neck is more comfortable than my fenders. Agreed I like the Xaviere neck better than the fender standard MIM and MIA strats. The fender KWS and SRV models both have chunkier necks and I'd love to have one of those guitars...actually I think the KWS is going to be my next purchase :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stingxnj Posted January 11, 2011 Members Share Posted January 11, 2011 Actually my 870 came setup reasonably okay. Too bad the neck twisted after a year. That's the result of using fairly freshly cut wood to make instruments. You're really supposed to let 'em cure properly but I guess that's par for the course when your selling guitars so cheaply in mass quantity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members acefreely Posted January 11, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2011 Actually my 870 came setup reasonably okay. Too bad the neck twisted after a year. I've read your twisted neck in other posts and it's always in the back of my mind when I play mine, sorry to hear that....I got my fingers crossed that it doesn't happen to mine as I am really starting to bond with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JasonA Posted January 11, 2011 Members Share Posted January 11, 2011 Well, mine was an early one. And maybe just bad luck of the draw. It obviously didn't sour me on Xavieres completely, since I ordered an XV-440. Maybe I'm just a slow learner. I hope yours lasts you a long time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Davo17 Posted January 11, 2011 Members Share Posted January 11, 2011 Noice, but I cant help but wonder how it would look with a tort guard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members crashclc Posted January 11, 2011 Members Share Posted January 11, 2011 (oYo) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members acefreely Posted January 14, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 14, 2011 So just to update my update post and post some more pics: Added the roller saddles: And blocked the tremolo: before After I've got that block wedged in there tight, it isn't going anywhere. Now she's a real player! Seriously though I like chunky necks on my strats and this one has chunkiness going on. And the pickups sound great. If I do anything else it'll be upgrade the 5 way switch and pots, the rest of this thing is golden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian Krashpad Posted January 14, 2011 Members Share Posted January 14, 2011 Congrats! (o)(o) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Woody_in_MN Posted January 14, 2011 Members Share Posted January 14, 2011 HNGD 3 paws up from Lamb Chop. She likes the color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members shoeless Posted January 14, 2011 Members Share Posted January 14, 2011 Very nice. Just out of curiosity, why the roller saddles if you're blocking the trem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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