To Xaviere or not to Xaviere

[progrmr]

As I wind down the last 12 days to my next guita purchase I am reviewing all inexpensive LP copy's and just discovered Xaviere which much like Agile seems to good to be true.

Now I'm looking at the Agile Silverburst, 3100 I believe. Looks great and I'm sure it would be a fantastic player. Looking at ~$500 shipped with a case.

So of course a decent LP copy for ~$300 (cases are backordered) would be great. But how great could they be? I'm betting the GFS pickups are better than the Agile, but what the overall construction?

Xaviere good for the money and worthwhile? Or project guitars that cost $300?

[Heywood Jablomie]

I have no hands-on with Xaviere, but I have had hands-on with Agile, and the one I played (FrankenFretter's) is a VERY nice guitar for the money. From what I've read, the Xaviere (China) LPs aren't up to the quality of the Korean Agiles. Not that the Xavieres aren't good for what they are and what they cost - just that the Agiles may prove more satisfying overall.

[Duffy]

I have an XV500 Xavier LP copy I bought about a year ago. I recently bought an Agile AL 3100 double bound LP copy.

The Agile AL 3100 is easily about twice the guitar of the Xavier, in terms of overall quality, sound, feel, and playability. The Agile AL 3xxx guitars and above are very good guitars.

The stock AL 3100 pickups are way better sounding than the Xavier GFS pickups.

However, the GFS has a three quarter inch solid maple top, verified. The body, neck, etc. is of good quality. The tuners are very poorly aligned and if this indicates the general attention to detail when constructing the guitar I would say they are thrown together with little attention to detail. Conversely, when I looked in the control panel the wiring was very well done, heavy wire, short runs, neatly tied and run together. The pots looked good too.

The Agile AL 3100 has a lot of binding on the body, neck, and headstock. My double bound has extra binding on the back sides of the body, giving it that quality look, similar to the body binding on the Squier CVC.

The Agile has an ebony fretboard.

The Agile feels great in my hand. The neck is substantial and the chords fall right into place without a struggle to get the fingering right. Some guitars are like that.

The Xavier is not in the same class as the Agile AL 3xxx.

I bought Charity's grandson a white Agile AL 2000 that was clearly superior to the Xavier XV500 when I did a side by side comparison and played both thru a few amps. That's when I REALLY wished I had bought the Agile. I play the Xavier and should get it back out - those GFS humbuckers hit the preamp good and hard with some good tone and overdrive very quickly for a cool sound, but the pickups on the Agile AL3100 are way better sounding.

My Epiphone LP Standards are way nicer guitars than the Xavier in my opinion, and I think they are safely twice the guitar, so the value for the price paid is probably better with the nice Epiphone LP Standard and Plus Top.

You might want to look at the Michael Kelly LP style guitars. I bought a MK Patriot Custom with direct mount Rockfield pickups. This guitar is very nice and of very high quality, unlike the Xavier. They have a spalted maple natural Patriot Custom at a store by me that is beautiful.

Another option you might want to explore, since you are going to be spending the money, are the new Fender Black Top strat and telecaster. I bought a black Black Top strat with maple fretboard and it is an awesome guitar. It was a toss up with the Black Top telecaster, a candy apple red on with a maple fretboard. Both sound really good and have chrome or nickel plated covered dual humbuckers that produce great tone, better in my opinion than the Xavier by far. I got the Black Top strat partially, I'm sure, because of the really classic looking combination of gloss black and chrome, along with the maple fretboard and five way switching and the vintage tremolo it is really a great guitar to play and I would say probably a bargain at the 448 out the door price I paid.

There are a lot of choices out there now that are way better than the Xavier in my opinion. You may have to pay more, but not that much more and you get value added that the Xavier will never give you.

But it's like everything, you get what you want and can afford within your scope of possibilities.

[progrmr]

I'm willing to go up to $500 - so yea I'm really glad for your input on the Xaviere. Like always, I'm looking for the cadillac at the pinto price :)

I did read in many reviews of the Xaviere that frets were a big issue - IE not even seated or very unlevel. That's something I don't want to mess with. Plus that silverburst 3100...man, reminds me of the Epi LP Custom I had...another foolish decision to sell in a moment of weakness. It was a great guitar.

I'll check out Michael Kelly too just to cover all the bases - probably be the last guitar I buy for awhile so I want to make it a good one.

[progrmr]

...
Another option you might want to explore, since you are going to be spending the money, are the new Fender Black Top strat and telecaster. I bought a black Black Top strat with maple fretboard and it is an awesome guitar.
...


Wow - just watched some videos of the Blacktop series. That strat looks fantastic - doesn't sound quite as warm as an LP though IMO. Is that just the video? How would you rate the tone on your blacktop strat compared to an LP copy? I'm guessing it's the weight and solid body of the LP that accounts for the warmer tone.

[Duffy]

I thought my black and chrome Blacktop sounded real good. The pickups are fairly hot and are duncan designed as determined by communication with Fender by Zman from here on the Fret. Here is the thread, "Brought home a new Black Top strat":

http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=16785

Zman contacted a Fender representative and wrote:
"They are Duncan Design Alnico 5 101 pickups . Also it took him a week to find out. He had to email the Ensenada plant for the specs. Jeff is based in Arizona. I have three sets of DD pickups in Fender guitars. I have two Deluxes with single coils, and an Esprit with Hbs and they all sound killer. So I think is it a plus. This should quiet the "mod" factor with these guitars because they will sound really good as they are."

The five way switch gives you a lot of tones and all the positions produce a good clear tone, even in full humbucking you get nice note definition and great sounding chords, with - no muddiness. That's more than I can say for a lot of LP copies.

I guess it has to do with what guitars you have already. I have a few LPs and LP copies, and really like LP guitars. My Epiphone Tribute, Epi standards, and my Agile are my favorite ones. The Tribute has Gibson 57 and 59 plus covered humbuckers in it and costs about 800 with a hardshell case. The Epiphones have Seymour Duncans: one a JB and Jazz, the other a JB and 59 covered. Don't know what Agile uses but they are staying in. All of the above pickups sound great.

I will compare the Agile to the Blacktop and see if I can hear any significant differences in tone at the same relative settings on the guitars and the same amp and amp settings.

Of course the Blacktop has a lot more variety of tone because of the five way switch with coil splitting. Every position, even single coil split, is completely silent. I like having the tremolo as well on full humbucking. But the Blacktop telecaster I liked very much as well. It had real good tone and looks great.

So, the Agile is going to have great sounding pickups but they are Asian. I suppose the duncan designed are Asian too, but built to more stringent Seymour Duncan specifications, possibly under the quality control of SD, presumably in order to maintain the desired level of goodness Duncan requires in order to associate his name with the product.

Any Fender Dealer should have one. The strat and tele sounded better to me than the other Blacktops. Probably a subjective thing, with the psychological effect of the cool looking black and chrome strat sending the strat into the best sounding category. You could compare it to another guitar in the store with real Seymour Duncan humbuckers, like some of the LTD LP types and Schecters. Most of the Schecter anything "Customs" have SD pickups, usually a Custom Custom and a 59 or a JB and a 59. Don't know how close to a store you are.

[duhvoodooman]

I've owned 2 Xaviere's (still have one, a Strat copy) and an Agile AL-3000. The Xaviere's are very decent budget guitars, but no way they're up to the quality level of the Agile. Can't speak for the cheaper Agile models, though I've read good things about them. My personal recommendation in a Les Paul style guitar would be to go with the Agile.

[Duffy]

I agree with Vood. I am real happy with the Agile LP I got. I think it is a high value guitar, worth much more than the price paid when compared to the competition. There isn't any substitute for a good LP or copy.

[FrankenFretter]

As an Agile AL3000 owner, I can tell you that they are great guitars, as Duffy and DVM have stated. If you're looking for a fantastic guitar at a very good price level, the Agile has it all. The stock pickups didn't stay in mine very long, but they really do sound quite good. The craftsmanship on the Agile I own is extremely good. I also own, like Duffy, an Epi Tribute Les Paul. The Tribute is a great guitar, and for a Chinese built Epi, it's pretty high quality. That said, the Agile is better built. My Tribute has several inlays that aren't quite square with the frets. The finish on the Agile is also better than my Tribute. All in all, the Agile was a much better bang-for-the-buck guitar, although I love my Tribute dearly.

Hope all this helps!

[Duffy]

I agree that the Agiles are great guitars and a great bang for the buck. It probably does have a lot going for it that the Tribute doesn't, but I like my Tribute quite a lot.

The way I look at the Tribute is that it has a vibe to it that supercedes the sum of its parts. It is made to commemorate the contributions of Les Paul and was released shortly after his death. It plays and sounds awesome. It looks awesome, but sometimes I notice, in the right light, a special something about it, a certain shade of color or play of light hitting it in some mysterious way, a very surprising way, something that makes me feel that Epiphone did this guitar right, really right. There is the definite feeling to it that it is more than the sum of its parts. The tone, the feel, something special comes thru to me with this guitar, sometimes. I think a lot of thought went into this design and that this model is WAY at another level than any of my other Epiphones. I'm not sure that the designers were aware that they really hit it with this guitar. I think they just tried to do it really good, but didn't know just how good they did it. I think it went beyond them and became a thing of its own, once assembled and finished: a really fine instrument.

Maybe I'm just a sensitive guy, but there is something about that Tribute that is awesome, and when I see that play of light on it, it definitely gets my attention and makes me think. When I play it, it sounds beautiful, plays fabulously, and is a pleasure to play. I encourage anyone to try one if you see one hanging there. You might be surprised.

The Agile is beautiful and a real pleasure to play as well, but I never get that vibe from it. The Agile strikes me as a very high quality build guitar, like a Gibson vibe type of thing, made for people that can't afford a three thousand dollar gibson. It looks and feels like quality.

[Brian Krashpad]

Don't forget the old DeArmond M-series setnecks, this is an M-72 I used to own:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/BrianKrashpad/Honey.jpg

Very bosstastic guitar, but I kept a DeArmond Jet Star (weird body shape w/same pickups) and got a couple Gibby LP's. So it became kinda redundant. You will not need to upgrade anything on one of these. Pickups made in the USA Fender plant.

[oldguy]

I have an Agile AL-3000 w/ WCR Crossroads p/up's and a Gibson hardshell case........flea/bay find for $600. Great guitar, great pickups, great case.
If you're interested, Agile has some LP copies w/ 3/4 inch solid maple tops.
The 3000/3100 models are really great for the $$$. I would imagine the higher end models are even better.

[duhvoodooman]

The 3000/3100 models are really great for the $$$. I would imagine the higher end models are even better.
Like maybe this?? :drool:

http://www.rondomusic.com/al3000thruhsbboundq.html

[MAXIFUNK]

Like maybe this?? :drool:

http://www.rondomusic.com/al3000thruhsbboundq.html

I went to the Rondo site while working late Thursday and saw that guitar caught my eye big time.
But since I prefer the 60's slim profile neck this one really jumped out at me
http://www.rondomusic.com/al3100tribalredslim.html