Xaviere XV-950 mods?

[Gustheduck]

Hey y'all!
I'm looking to buy a new Xaviere XV-950 and want to do some mods to it. This will be the first guitar I put any work into myself and was hoping to get some advice on equipment and setup. I want to change out the pups (heard the gfs 59's are good but want more opinions), put on a metal roller bridge, and a tremolo bar.

That's all I have thought of so far. If anybody owns a 950 and can tell me what other work might need to be done to it I'd really appreciate it!

Here's a link to the guitar:
http://guitarfetish.com/XV-950-Hollo...en_p_2343.html

Thanks!

[aunchaki]

I can't make any specific recommendations, but I think it looks like a great guitar and I urge you to document your changes here on TDPRI, so we can all enjoy.

Good luck!

[Valvey]

Weird coincidence-- I just got a Gold XV_950 on Monday and put a Bigsby and a roller bridge on it!

I had these parts laying around before and bought this guitar to have something to put them on. The guitar is only somewhat thicker than a semi-hollowbody, so you could opt for a B7 instead of the B6 I put on.

The roller bridge keeps the guitar in tune nicely but it may not be necessary. You'll notice that some of these guitars come with tunematic bridges and some come with plain wooden bridges, depending on the color. You should get the former and try it with the Bigsby (lubricate the bridge and nut.) If it stays in tune decently you won't need the roller bridge, which some think robs the guitar of some of its sustain and tone.

The guitar comes with GFS 9's strings that need to be replaced with something decent.

Eventually I might put on some pickups that will make it sound more Gretschian but I'm very pleased with the fit and finish of this guitar. It's also one of the few in my collection that I can set up with a straight neck.

Good luck!

[TeleMan59]

These come with Nashville pickups which I thought were supposed to be pretty nice? You both still plan on swapping them out. They really look nice.

[Gustheduck]

Thank you so much for your replies!The gold top looks beautiful! I'm going with the surf green. I also have read good things about the gfs surf 90s and the dream 180s. Any thoughts?

Valve, what's the tremolo bar you put on their? It looks great!

[Valvey]

The tremolo is a Bigsby B6. It's the one you usually get for larger archtops.

I don't know much about other GFS pickups. I'm starting to like the ones that come with it--a good thing because replacing pickups on a hollow body isn't too easy.