After playing hundreds of guitars over the years, I think this Xotic has a special vibe about it. It has been very hard to decide to let it go. Why? The body ergonomics on it are out-of-this-world-good: it is a very comfortable guitar to play standing, though the neck is a bit chunkier (approx .93" at the 12th fret) than preferred for my style of playing.

It took me a long time to pull the trigger on this guitar. The original listing did absolutely nothing to showcase its attractiveness, maybe because the seller did not want to put effort into cleaning it. I have taken pictures in the sunlight so you can see what is up with it cosmetically. If you see anything odd on the finish, it might be a reflection. If so, just ask and I can take more pictures to clarify. As far as I know, this is an instrument has been naturally relic'd.

The seller claims "it was previously owned by Allen Hinds", who I previously knew nothing about. I have not asked Mr. Hinds if he remembers this guitar or why he sold it. This guitar has been played A LOT but definitely does not show it in terms of fretwear, which seems consistent with Alan Hinds' legato playing style of using many hammer-ons and pull-offs to great effect.

Body Wood: Two piece, high-grade, lightweight Swamp Ash

Neck Wood: Maple, might be lightly roasted, not sure.

Fingerboard: Roasted Flame Maple

Shape: Modern C, approx .93" at 12th

Radius: 12”

Frets: Jescar #55090 Tall Narrow

Pickups: Raw Vintage 60 (neck/middle), Raw Vintage PAF (bridge)

Tuners: Locking, Hipshot I think

Bridge: Gotoh, Vintage Saddles, 2 1/4" string spacing

The only issue with it was the electronics were getting a bit shorty. That has been thoroughly corrected. The schematic now features a blender pot, as would be typical for a Lindy Fralin pre-wired setup. If you have never tried a blender pot setup on an S-tyle guitar — i.e. where you can blend in a balance between the bridge and neck pickups using what would otherwise be the bridge pickup tone pot — you have not lived in my opinion. It is extremly useful as it affords a wider variety of tones to be incrementally dialed-in than with conventional strat wiring.

Why sell it?

The aforementioned neck thickness is a very significant reason. Having more injuries than I any sane person should while still trying to play the guitar better, I have decided focus/limit/"standardize" my six-string electric playing on Suhr Moderns (with 880 deptht at the 12th fret), which is a fairly different S-style guitar than the XSC-2. In other words, because my playing has too many holes, the strategy is to reduce "noise" by reducing variables.

Please feel free to ask for additional pictures or further questions about the guitar.