Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Other Stuff => Guitars => Topic started by: mresistor on August 24, 2024, 01:23:24 pm
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Hi guys. I traded away a terrible Ibanez slimline nylon string acoustic for an Xavier XV-870 a bit ago. I wasn't too impressed with it initially. The tuners really suck, every time I picked it up it was out of tune.
Of course I had to set it up to my liking and used some standard stratocaster setup specs then went for there to fine tune. It intonated perfectly. I ordered some, get this, $15 Chinese made tuners that are copies of the Korean brand Jin Ho locking tuners, which in turn are mostly copies of german made Schaller locking tuners. Unbelievable that you can get these for $15 from Shenzen China.
Once I installed the new tuners the guitar has stayed in rock solid tune for days. Only the temp humidity will cause drift now.. not slippage .. they are 18:1 ratio and on ebay.
The body is USA Fender spec. The neck is really pretty nice with a thin coat of poly and the frets are dressed well and leveled. Pickups are the GFS vintage alnicos with the kwik plug.
The trem arm is an adjustable tension push-in setup. Kind of like my Ernie Ball guitars. Neck looks to be half sawn and has a pretty substantial neck profile.. nearly 1 " at the nut. It feels great in hand.
These guitars are going for around $210 on GF if you know what that is. Mine was used and abused and now it's one of my faves and rivals my 62 strat and Korean made Pro Tone. Go figure.
Mine is a vitage burst with maple neck/board. I usually like rosewood boards but this one is pretty darn nice. I'm in it for $197.89 at this point. Was considering some new pups but ran it through my Hoffman boarded Deluxe Reverb with clean settings and I can say these pups are pretty nice and have all that Strat quack and glorious chime.
That's my report for you all.
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I was actually looking at this one prior to seeing a way to trade for one. I did pull up the guard and there are full size pots onboard. Might upgrade the wiring configuration and capacitor one of these days but really happy with it the way it currently sits.
https://www.guitarfetish.com/PRO870-Solid-ALDER-Sonic-Blue-Alnico-Kwikplug-Pickups-Rosewood-Fingerboard-_p_49754.html (https://www.guitarfetish.com/PRO870-Solid-ALDER-Sonic-Blue-Alnico-Kwikplug-Pickups-Rosewood-Fingerboard-_p_49754.html)
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Many of the "Import Copy" guitars are physically quite nice. Necks are usually good and even fret placement is pretty much spot on.
Their artisans are quite skilled at the art of copying. Where many fall short is in the mechanicals and the electronics.
Back in the late 80's I was a tech for a fairly large local guitar store. We sold a lot of Epiphone Les Pauls. We also sold
a truckload of pups and electronics. Upgrade tuners, bridge saddles, pups, pots, etc. and you've got a screamer you can gig with
and not worry about dings and scratches.
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I wouldn't hesitate gigging with this axe.