NGD - Xotic XSCPro-2 incoming

Greg Ferguson

Greg Ferguson

Legend!
For a couple years I've been dancing around buying an Xotic XSC-2, their version of a "Strat". I have a decent ash body with a Warmoth roasted maple neck with compound radius and modern profile, that sustains like crazy, and feels great, that I realized was pretty much what Xotic uses, so I switched the bridge to a similar design, and love the sound, but there's always something going on with the guitar, it's too fiddly, so I just don't trust it.

I was roaming through Reverb the other day and found some nice looking new guitars at a place near L.A., and "hearted" them, and didn't think anything else about it. Last weekend the shop made me an offer I couldn't refuse, but it was on one of the guitar colors I considered a fall-back color if the one I really wanted sold… a Lake Placid Blue model. It was listed at the same price as the other colors, so I took a chance and asked if they'd extend the offer to that guitar, and they accepted it. I mentioned it to my S.O. who said, "So buy it!". So I did.

vweqgv5kbhokqhym3qsm.jpgy2g5nchsfysz3p3tjai6.jpg

Peach Guitar's shootout and knowing the quality of the Raw Vintage pickups and parts sold me on it. These aren't as well known as other household-name guitars, they're made to sound very traditional, like early 60s Strats in a SSH configuration.
 
Last edited:
Greg Ferguson said:
For a couple years I've been dancing around buying an Xotic XSC-2, their version of a "Strat". I have a decent ash body with a Warmoth roasted maple neck with compound radius and modern profile, that sustains like crazy, and feels great, that I realized was pretty much what Xotic uses, so I switched the bridge to a similar design, and love the sound, but there's always something going on with the guitar, it's too fiddly, so I just don't trust it.

I was roaming through Reverb the other day and found some nice looking new guitars at a place near L.A., and "hearted" them, and didn't think anything else about it. Last weekend the shop made me an offer I couldn't refuse, but it was on one of the guitar colors I considered a fall-back color if the one I really wanted sold… a Lake Placid Blue model. It was listed at the same price as the other colors, so I took a chance and asked if they'd extend the offer to that guitar, and they accepted it. I mentioned it to my S.O. who said, "So buy it!". So I did.

Xotic California Classic: XSCPRO-2 Aged Series, Lake Placid Blue
d8xmhpc5fvxhrupb7h9p.jpg

The UPS truck is SLOWLY moving my way. I'm hoping it arrives before my fiber internet connection melts from abusing the tracking screen's refresh.

Peach Guitar's shootout and knowing the quality of the Raw Vintage pickups and parts sold me on it. These aren't as well known as other household-name guitars, they're made to sound very traditional, like early 60s Strats in a SSH configuration.
Click to expand...
Man, that's a great looking guitar! I gotta watch out for GAS, or I'd look into those.
 
The UPS man finally coughed up the guitar. :)

The wood is stunning in person, and the finish is like glass. Sitting down with it means I have to keep a hand on it or it'll slide off my lap. The neck feels wonderful. I haven't had a chance to play it though, just got it unpacked and spun it around to see how it looked and felt. Play time will be late tonight.

IMG_2416.png
IMG_2417.png
IMG_2418.pngIMG_2419.png
 
Nice and not too relic'd which they do a lot of... And which I don't really care much for.

The neck looks great!
 
unix-guy said:
Nice and not too relic'd which they do a lot of... And which I don't really care much for.

The neck looks great!
Click to expand...
I just got the Schaller Strap Locks on it, and tuned it. The neck is a thicker profile than the Warmoth neck on my other roasted maple neck but at the same time it's much closer to the neck on my Fender American Deluxe Strat. It's not uncomfortably thick though, it's got enough girth to feel substantial. The fingerboard and frets feel great. Tomorrow I'll give it a touch of fingerboard oil because I think it's been on the wall a couple years. It's an oiled neck, no finish, so it'll be my go-to guitar during our hot Phoenix nights when I don't want to touch a finished neck because it's sticky. The fret ends are smoothed and polished, with standard nickel-silver frets IIRC. I just realized the neck feels like my original '62-ish Strat from way back when, but with a more usable radius.

The setup is gorgeous. Pressing a string at the 3rd fret shows the nut slots are perfect, I don't think a sheet of paper would slide over the 1st fret and fretting at the 1st and 22nd frets and touching the 7th shows a tiny bit of gap, but there's no buzzing at all. My Fender's action is SO high in comparison. The back edge of the tremolo sits a bit higher than I like, but I'm not going to mess with it because hitting the open G and pulling up the bar results in a whole step up in pitch. And, intonation is perfect. And that's all playing acoustically, where strumming the strings just rings.

I don't understand their tuners yet, they're very vintage feeling, but are staggered and locking. Tuning it up was like… whoa! I'd replace my Fender locking tuners with these.

The pickups look like they're lower than I'd normally set them, but I'm not going to touch them until I've had a chance to plug in live into something that is on 10, either the Imperial or the Lonestar or one of the modelers.

I rarely name my guitars, but I think this one needs a name. Once I hear it plugged in and singing its name will come to me.
 
Lovely guitar

Last time I was in Peach Guitars I remember chatting with one of the staff and he was saying how they all thought the Xotics were a cut above all the similar brands
 
Greg Ferguson said:
For a couple years I've been dancing around buying an Xotic XSC-2, their version of a "Strat". I have a decent ash body with a Warmoth roasted maple neck with compound radius and modern profile, that sustains like crazy, and feels great, that I realized was pretty much what Xotic uses, so I switched the bridge to a similar design, and love the sound, but there's always something going on with the guitar, it's too fiddly, so I just don't trust it.

I was roaming through Reverb the other day and found some nice looking new guitars at a place near L.A., and "hearted" them, and didn't think anything else about it. Last weekend the shop made me an offer I couldn't refuse, but it was on one of the guitar colors I considered a fall-back color if the one I really wanted sold… a Lake Placid Blue model. It was listed at the same price as the other colors, so I took a chance and asked if they'd extend the offer to that guitar, and they accepted it. I mentioned it to my S.O. who said, "So buy it!". So I did.

Xotic California Classic: XSCPRO-2 Aged Series, Lake Placid Blue
d8xmhpc5fvxhrupb7h9p.jpg

The UPS truck is SLOWLY moving my way. I'm hoping it arrives before my fiber internet connection melts from abusing the tracking screen's refresh.

Peach Guitar's shootout and knowing the quality of the Raw Vintage pickups and parts sold me on it. These aren't as well known as other household-name guitars, they're made to sound very traditional, like early 60s Strats in a SSH configuration.
Click to expand...
Sweet! Can't go wrong with LPB...
 
I think they're cool.
But hate having to take the neck off to adjust the trussrod, what is the point in that in 2023?😝
I live in a climate where my guitars need a little tweaking every now and then so I stick with guitars I can adjust like 5 min before a gig or something😀

Edit. Oh, looks like this one have adjustment at the headstock now. Guess they've changed it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom