I got my first Les Paul style guitar today, in the form of an XV-700 from Xaviere. It’s finished in natural flamed maple on a mahogany body. Xaviere is sold by the Guitar Fetish company, who are best known for their guitar pickups and other accessories. The XV-700 is a very low-cost guitar, coming in at well under half of an equivalent Epiphone, and close to 1/10 the price of a fine Gibson Les Paul.
So is it worth it? I think so. The XV-700 is Xavier’s lightweight LP model, and so there are no weight issues. The natural finish is well done, and while I have no real experience with Les Paul style guitars, the pickups sound good to my ears, playing both clean and with a bit of a growl.
It’s also worth noting that the tuners don’t feel to be particularly high quality; it almost felt like there were some dead spots as I was performing the initial tune up out of the box. Speaking of, the guitar seems to be reasonably well set up, with the action being perhaps a bit high, but not bad at all.
There is one minor issue that I’ll have to take up with Guitar Fetish, and that’s what appears to be a potential problem with the 2 piece neck separating where it joins together.
Overall, the Xaviere XV-700 is a good little guitar, especially considering the price!
