I bought an XGP Premium light blue Strat body from guitarfetish.com for $89. Check out the Partscaster build I have over on the YouTube channel. Guitar Fetish (GFS) pitches their bodies as being comparable to much more expensive bodies from other companies. Let’s do the review thing.
The Good
The light blue body I got is stunning – the paint job is perfect (not counting the cavities.). It was routed very accurately, and I’m very pleased with the end results. The price simply can’t be beat. The packing was very good. You can’t find a deal as good. If you want a cool color body with a great paint job for under a hundred bucks, this is it. I’m a big fan of GFS – they make great budget pickups, parts, etc. I can definitely recommend this body to anyone who understands exactly what they are getting…
The Bad
My one gripe is that it doesn’t come with predrilled holes. I can understand why – without holes, you can customize it any way you want. But drilling holes for a trem claw requires a 12 inch long 1/8 inch drill bit, which most people won’t have. I would have been willing to pay some extra money to get a body with predrilled holes. That’s where Stratosphere Parts excels – you can buy a Fender (or Squier) body that came from an actual guitar, so you don’t have to drill. However, you’ll pay a lot more money.
The Ugly
GFS pitches their bodies as being comparable to expensive bodies, but in some ways they’re not. The cavities weren’t fully painted… or even fully sanded, for that matter. Basically, the cavities are sloppy. I’d expect some things like that in a body for under a hundred bucks, but you should understand that this is not really the same quality as an American Fender Strat body, or a Warmoth body. You get what you pay for.
Summary
I’m very happy with my GFS body and I’d definitely buy more in the future, and probably will. I think they’re fantastic for the money. Drilling all the holes sucks – it’s time consuming and you need to be careful. But the results are well worth the effort.
