NGD Xaviere XV-950 Hollowbody

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Controller

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I've been looking at these Xaviere XV-950 Hollowbodys for awhile, reading reviews and watching YouTube demos. So my wife said that could be my birthday present. Thanks honey! I just love the look of these and I figured at $279 I could work with any deficiencies since at the least it is a good foundation. I ordered it with the case since the cases were on sale and a gig bag is not really right for a hollowbody.

It arrived in perfect condition. I looked very carefully and could not find a flaw in the finish or workmanship. And it is beautiful. With the color and double binding it looks great when I am not playing it. The case is very nice and fits it well.

This is my first hollowbody and the basic principles are the same but the details of setup are a bit different. I was concerned about getting the intonation right with the free floating roller bridge and loosening and tightening the strings to set bridge height and action but that has been amazingly straightforward. The bridge seems to find just about the right position and I can easily tweak that once everything else is set. I am still working on the relief and letting things settle in. The neck seems really good and the frets are good except for one around the 15th fret area on the low E and A that will probably need a little tapping or tweaking, but amazingly playable right out of the box.

This is a fun, fun guitar. Feels really nice. The neck would probably be a classic D in my estimation, not a large neck but very comfortable and not skinny and not too wide. I didn't know how I would deal with the 12" radius since I really like my 7.25" radius necks but it wasn't even a consideration. I think neck shape is a much bigger issue for me and this one is very nice. The neck is well finished and no sharp fret ends which also surprised me. Not hard to deal with though if there were. I will probably replace the nut but, again, not a big deal and something I do on the lower priced guitars.

Still getting things tweaked but I am enjoying playing this guitar very much. I like the sound of the pickups. Not dull or muddy as humbuckers can sometimes be. These are the GFS Retrotrons and they give me all the brightness I like and the treble middle and neck positions are all usable tones without going to extremes on the amp settings. I am wondering where people set these pickup heights? They are 1/8" on the neck and 3/16" on the bridge. They sound pretty good there. For me, this is a keeper and still very surprised at how few things it needs. Very playable and enjoyable right away.

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Controller

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Awesome! And Congrats! I've also been looking at the Xaviere lineup recently. I'm jealous!

Since I couldn't play this in a store I wasn't sure what I was getting, but at this price I could afford to gamble a bit. Much better than it has any right to be and any changes I can do myself.
 

Zepfan

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Nice Guitar. With pickup height, I always lower them down to ring height. Start with one pickup and adjust up in intervals til I get the tone sweet spot for each string. That sometimes leads to uneven pickups, but nobody will notice. Then move to the next.
 

Controller

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Nice Guitar. With pickup height, I always lower them down to ring height. Start with one pickup and adjust up in intervals til I get the tone sweet spot for each string. That sometimes leads to uneven pickups, but nobody will notice. Then move to the next.

Thanks Zepfan, makes sense. I have had great results dialing in pickup heights on each guitar but I wasn't sure on a hollowbody what height people tend to have them. I will start at ring height as you suggested and work up.
 

Zepfan

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They usually end up lower that what's on a solid body for me, but everybody has different likes.
 

Controller

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Great looking guitar. You'll have to update once you get it dialed in. These look tempting.

Is that the linen case? What are your thoughts on it?

It is the linen, 335 size case. It fits the guitar well, well padded and supported internally. Seems to be a faux linen vinyl covering but it has a nice look. Fairly lightweight which for me is an advantage. The hinges seem to work and fit. If you want a heavy duty case this would not be the one but works for what I will do.
 

3-Chord-Genius

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That's hot. I've been checking those out for a while. I've had the Retrotron pickups before - installed them into an Ibanez Artcore and they really brought that guitar to life.
 
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