Guitar Fetish Luthier Special Blowout

[Mossman]

I got an email from Guitar Fetish about their Labor Day sale, and I usually ignore their frequent sale announcements with their BS "stacking" coupons that only apply to their dumpster- er, I mean: "factory buyout" items. But out of curiosity, I took a look in the "discontinued clearance guitar" section, and they have a lot of Xavier semi-hollows (335 style with HBs and P90s) for 30% off. Some of the cheaper ones have serious problems like a twisted neck or mis-alligned pickups, but a lot of them just have rusty parts/strings, sharp fret ends, or need a new pot or switch (or all of those things). With the 30% off coupon code, you can get a decent 335 (they look decent, anyway) that just needs a few parts replaced, or a little fret filing for the cost of a Firefly.

https://www.guitarfetish.com/Discounted ... c_185.html

The coupon codes is: LABORDAY30

I'm almost tempted to get one myself, but the next semi-hollow I buy is gonna be a Gretsch.

[glasshand]

I sort of wish I hadn't gone to look at GFS. Now I'm tempted to put together a hardtail Strat even though I already have my SX Hawk...

[solteroblues]

never seen one in person, but I've always gotten the impression from other people that even if they're in perfect condition, they aren't very good. Some of those look tempting, though!

[nomadh]

279 for an all solid wood walnut acoustic with comfort cut. Hmmm. How horrible could it be?

[Mossman]

I sort of wish I hadn't gone to look at GFS. Now I'm tempted to put together a hardtail Strat even though I already have my SX Hawk...

Yeah, it started the gears turning for me too... I started looking at some of their bodies, and I ended up at Warmoth trying to find out how much it would cost to have a Swamp Ash Jazzmaster body made that's routed for wide range humbuckers (!)

Answer: too much

But I need another project like I need another hole in my pants, anyway. I still haven't finished the baritone Strat, and I have a couple of other projects that are languishing around here.

never seen one in person, but I've always gotten the impression from other people that even if they're in perfect condition, they aren't very good. Some of those look tempting, though!

Yeah... I think the ratio of positive opinions is like 60/40. Some people say you should never buy anything from Guitar Fetish that's made of wood, but I've never heard any scathingly negative reviews about Xavier guitars. For that matter, I haven't heard any glowingly positive ones, either.

I've never seen one of those 335s in person, but I have played a used semi-hollow Les Paul type thing of theirs once, and I think Xaviers are probably the most okayest Asian-made, off-brand guitars on the internet. It had really over-wound P90 pickups in it, which really wasn't much of a surprise, since over-winding seems to be Jay's answer for everything. But other than that, there really wasn't anything wrong with it per se. I just wasn't much inspired to play it for too long.

279 for an all solid wood walnut acoustic with comfort cut. Hmmm. How horrible could it be?

I've thought the same thing about those acoustics even at full price... How bad could it be? But then I think of GF's less than friendly return process and decide that maybe I don't want to find out.

[glasshand]

Some people say you should never buy anything from Guitar Fetish that's made of wood, but I've never heard any scathingly negative reviews about Xavier guitars. For that matter, I haven't heard any glowingly positive ones, either.

I've never seen one of those 335s in person, but I have played a used semi-hollow Les Paul type thing of theirs once, and I think Xaviers are probably the most okayest Asian-made, off-brand guitars on the internet. It had really over-wound P90 pickups in it, which really wasn't much of a surprise, since over-winding seems to be Jay's answer for everything.

I have an older Xaviere, back from when they were really Zemaitis knockoffs, and I like it a lot, but OTOH I get the impression that the quality dropped after a while when they had to try to compete solely on price. But I really haven't seen many Xavieres in person, and overall, my impression is similar to yours based on what people on the internet say.

I agree on the overwinding thing too: the original pickups in mine were definitely on the hot side (probably Fat Pats or Crunchy Pats, not sure), and not necessarily in a good way. They worked OK for hair-metal-ish rock, but ultimately I ended up swapping them out.

[Mossman]

Some people say you should never buy anything from Guitar Fetish that's made of wood, but I've never heard any scathingly negative reviews about Xavier guitars. For that matter, I haven't heard any glowingly positive ones, either.

I've never seen one of those 335s in person, but I have played a used semi-hollow Les Paul type thing of theirs once, and I think Xaviers are probably the most okayest Asian-made, off-brand guitars on the internet. It had really over-wound P90 pickups in it, which really wasn't much of a surprise, since over-winding seems to be Jay's answer for everything.

I have an older Xaviere, back from when they were really Zemaitis knockoffs, and I like it a lot, but OTOH I get the impression that the quality dropped after a while when they had to try to compete solely on price. But I really haven't seen many Xavieres in person, and overall, my impression is similar to yours based on what people on the internet say.

I agree on the overwinding thing too: the original pickups in mine were definitely on the hot side (probably Fat Pats or Crunchy Pats, not sure), and not necessarily in a good way. They worked OK for hair-metal-ish rock, but ultimately I ended up swapping them out.

Honestly, I've tried three of their humbuckers and I didn't like any of them. I'd stay far away from anything that says "hot" in the title or "over-wound" in the hyperbolic sales copy. It's surprising how many "hot" pickups they have, or over-wound versions of their regular pickups... Hotter does not equal better!! On the other hand, I've never tried a GFS Tele pickup that I didn't like, and I like the Retrotrons... Their bass pickups are good too.