Crusty_Old_Rocker wrote:

 

As a Strat man who digs the comfort and playbility of the Fender Stratocaster, the JTV-69 (USA of course) is going to be my Variax.

 

Unlike a lot of the forum members, I am happy to be a rhythm guitarist although I can (and do) solo some of the classic rock greats, I am not a screaming lead player or shredder.  I can see how the JTV-59 would suit the Les Paul guitarist and I have to admit it is a great looking guitar.  I can also see how the JTV-89 would be the model for the contemporary shred style guitarist too, although it's not my cup of tea it too is a good looking guitar.

 

But for me, I'm thinking a JTV-69 is going to suit me right down to the ground.  It has a bit of a Strat and Mustang vibe about it.

 

What say the rest of you?  The academic researcher in me is curious to know if the style of music you're into is what drives the style of guitar you like.

 

Cheers,

 

Crusty

 

P.S. Have you seen the 2010 American Deluxe Strat - 9.5" to 14" compound fingerboard radius?  I VOMITED.  What a load of $%#ing cr@p!  If (a very big if) I bought one of those, I'd have to put a real Stratocaster (V) neck on it.

I dig the 69 except for the ugly tunding knob placement. If not for that I may have just bought a 69, changed the neck and put a prail where the humbucker is and call it a day.

I dig the 59 look a lot but doubt I will dig the neck as it is not compound, is not 25.5 scale and can't be changed.

I don't dig shred guitars with flat necks as I agree they are really set up for lead and suffer for rythm.

I like the offerings from line6 but have become very picky since doing my first custom build. So if I do an xplant or several it is not because I don't dig the JTVs it is because I am spoiled with getting exactly what I want.

I don't agree with your take on lead guys digging les pauls and rythm guys digging strats.Most guys I know play both. Last I looked clapton, beck, SRV, mayer, garza, king, guy etc do pretty wll playing lead on a strat;-)

I picked a tele for my xplant because of a few reasons. I never owned a tele and not a real tele player. When I thought about which guitar body style would not look "weird"when all the 25 modeled guitar sounds started coming from it. . . .. .I decided on a tele. I have seen teles with single coils, p 90s, humbuckers, filter trons etc. I had an old kramer ferrington acoustic that was tele shaped, the godins tend to look tele like so it wouldn't look that weird when acoustic sounds started emanating from the guitar. Pete townsend played some tele shaped shecters and even back in the 80s there were some shred guitars that were teles with explorer necks. . .  .I even toyed with an explorer neck on my xplant but thought it would look too shred.

Another big factor was since many people seemed put off by the lack of pickups. . . . . . .the old broadcasters and esquires only had one pickup that was hardly ever visible when being played like here in billy gibbons hands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcvd8h0YqrM

When I look at video of me playing my tele xplant I don't notice lack of pickups.

Now that I am gung ho on the using of mags and vax at the same time and will add pickups to my xplant and future xplants, I am open to more shapes. Since I am planning on 2 duncan p rails, doing a LP xplant or an explorer makes more sense than a strat xplant. Although I will be making a lipstick tube strat to xplant some 500 guts I have in my backup vax 500.

I'm torn.

The 89 "shred" model actually comes pretty close in features to my preference (hardtail bridge, contoured double-cutaway body, more than 21 frets, dual humbuckers - not that that really matters because it's a Variax!), BUT the shreddy shape, flat fingerboard/thin neck, and reverse headstock are major turnoffs for my style. They give off a metal/shred vibe that's great for those guys, but that's not me either.

The 59 has got a really classy and non-techy look about it, which I appreciate. But I've never been a Les Paul kinda guy; every guitar that I've felt comfortable on has been a 25 1/2" scale. The 59 is a 24 3/4" scale, which I don't feel at home on, and I would prefer a 5-way switch to the 3-way + toggle system. On the other hand, I never use a vibrato, and on all the Strats I've owned, I've tightened the springs all the way and wedged a block of wood between the "trem" block and the body. The 59 is a hardtail, which is a plus for me.

The 69 looks like it has the body and neck shape that would fit me best, but I would prefer if it had a classic Strat-style pickguard shape. But I did a little mockup in image editing software, and a Strat-shaped pickguard would not properly accommodate the tuning select switch - it wouldn't even cover up the routing. So it looks like it would be impractical to replace the pickguard.

Overall, my ideal Tyler Variax would have a combination of features not available with any of the three: Strat-shaped body with classic pickguard shape, hardtail (string through) bridge, non-reverse headstock, 22 or 24 frets, HH or HSS magnetic pickups (but I don't care that much), and 5-way switch with volume, master tone, model select, and tuning select.

A JTV-69 with a tremolo block it is, then! Guess I'll just have to put up with the pickguard.

Hi Crusty - being that you asked if music style is what drives a person to a certain guitar type...In my case at the beginning it was a combination of two things as a lad of about 12 years old.  Before what follows happened I was only familiar with bubblegum poop songs by the Archies, The Monkees, 1910 Fruitgum Co., and of course I knew of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Doors, and whatever else my parent’s radio would pick up on AM radio.

The biggest life changing thing for me was...I was introduced to Led Zeppelin album #2 by an older cousin of mine and it blew me away.  He was into Zep, Hendrix, Stones, Beach Boys, Deep Purple, The Who, etc.  Then I saw photos of Page playing he had one of three guitars, an old beat up Tele with a violin bow, a Les Paul, or a double neck SG that I thought was amazingly cool. I hadn't seen any photos of his Danelectro in the early days of my coming out of the classical world and into the rock/pop world.  And I also saw photos Pete Townsend jumping up in the air with a LP and an SG as well as photos of Ritchie Blackmore & Jimi Hendrix playing a white Stratocasters.

I then went to the local music store (all this back in NJ where I was born and raised) and they had both Les Pauls, and Stratocasters along with a brand of guitar that had a "castle" looking headstock in both guitar & bass, as well as Rickenbacker.  Anything else they might have had, I don't remember.  Looking at the prices, I was first drawn to the Strats.  I pulled on down and tried doing some of the bits I had learned up to that point on guitar.  The neck felt alright (as I had not developed any preferences yet...I was a blank slate...so to speak) the owner showed me what the electronics did and how it could get different sounds with the 5 position switch.  However, every time I tried strumming I kept hit the volume knob and turning my self off.  I asked why it was so close to the string and he told me it was because many players like to wrap their pinky around the volume knob for swells, and other performance effects.  But I was no where near that technical as a relative beginner, so I was just unhappy with the layout.  I then tried a few of the other less expensive guitars he had.  But one thing or another about them did not appeal to me.  So then I tired and SG, but did not like that fact that if I let go of it, it would flop over neck first.  However, I DID like how it played and the overall tone it had.  I asked which of the Les Pauls might be close to the same feel and sound.  He handed me a new 1974 Les Paul Deluxe with the chrome covered PU's.  He said that LP's come in two basic style of neck...The slim tapered necks and the chunkier necks.  The one he gave me had the chunkier neck and it did not feel like the SG and I felt like I was playing a baseball bat compared to all of the other necks I had tried to that point.  The he handed me a 1972 used Les Paul Standard that had the slim tapered neck and THAT WAS IT!!  I thought is looked cool with the tobacco burst finish.  It wasn't too heavy in my opinion and it just felt like this was the guitar I was "supposed" to be playing.  It sat well on the strap.  I could let go and come back and it would be right where I left it.  It also seemed to make the various amps he plugged me into have more "balls" especially over the Strat.

So with all those comparisons side by side, I went for the guitar that felt right, played best in my hands and did not sound twangy or turn off when I strummed.  Bottom line - my guitar choice in my beginning days was based on some hero worship, but it ended up being the PRICE and the FEEL of the guitar.  I didn't start soloing (or trying to) for a few years after that guitar choice.

You asked and there ya have my story.  My guitar choice stayed since I still feel the same about MOST Strats and I was brought up on a simple premise that if something isn't broken, why fix it?  And now with my 700's I CAN have all those Strat and other guitar sounds I would never own for real but now when I have to play "Sweet Home Alabama" for the 1,637th time, I actually SOUND like the opening riff on a Strat in position 2 running through a Peavey amp.

So, which model works for you?  None of them do it for me to be honest.  The 69 Strat type is ugly as sin. Pickguard shape makes it look cheap and headstock looks like it belongs on another guitar.  The 59 Paul type looks better but isnt for me, whats with the 3 way switch - switch and PRESS knob to access the 5 model presets ?  The 89 shred looks good, but is not for me.  Didn't want magnetic pickups or care about the battery power. Never used the battery power ever on my Variax 600 - just used the power supply.  Shame the "Korean" version didn't do away with the magnetic pickups and battery making it more affordable. 1200 dollars in UK today is £875.00. Serious guitar cash.  Extra expense for magnetic pickups I don`t want and looks I don't like.  Would loved to have seen a vintage strat copy with maple neck and fingerboard.(yes I like my variax 600 burst 25 1/2" scale length 9 1/2" fingerboard radius)  Very disappointed after such a long wait but understand Line 6 is trying to appeal to new customers and can't please everyone all the time.  Thanks Line 6 for inventing the Variax, I could never go back to a one sound guitar.  Long live my 600

Crusty_Old_Rocker wrote:

 

As a Strat man who digs the comfort and playbility of the Fender Stratocaster, the JTV-69 (USA of course) is going to be my Variax.

 

Unlike a lot of the forum members, I am happy to be a rhythm guitarist although I can (and do) solo some of the classic rock greats, I am not a screaming lead player or shredder.  I can see how the JTV-59 would suit the Les Paul guitarist and I have to admit it is a great looking guitar.  I can also see how the JTV-89 would be the model for the contemporary shred style guitarist too, although it's not my cup of tea it too is a good looking guitar.

 

But for me, I'm thinking a JTV-69 is going to suit me right down to the ground.  It has a bit of a Strat and Mustang vibe about it.

 

What say the rest of you?  The academic researcher in me is curious to know if the style of music you're into is what drives the style of guitar you like.

 

Cheers,

 

Crusty

 

P.S. Have you seen the 2010 American Deluxe Strat - 9.5" to 14" compound fingerboard radius?  I VOMITED.  What a load of $%#ing cr@p!  If (a very big if) I bought one of those, I'd have to put a real Stratocaster (V) neck on it.

i vomited about it too... but simply because it has a compound radius and no floyd rose.. lol

anyway, I do have a strat, but the look of the 69 is just too classic strat for me.  I like the 89, but I don't like the lines on the body either side of the pickups and bridge... and seen as I already have 3 Ibanez RG's and 3 Les Pauls, those lines made up my mind.  I will be getting the non US 59, and I imagine I shall do something mental like replace the mag pups with slash's new Seymour Duncans.  Afterall, Les Pauls went huge after Slash started using them.

All I have to go on are the pictures online, the 59 is probably the best looking of the three. The 89 just looks off, the body looks like it's glued together and each piece is a different height level, most odd, unless it's the lighting that's off. And the 69, I agree the pickguard is most distracting, doesn't exactly look right against the rest of the body. Each seems to have bad design choices, well not what I would have picked, Guitars are a personal thing. Line up of 10 of any brand or model and each will be different in sound and feel. That's because trees are as individual as people are. This is one of the huge downsides to the whole online thing, Pictures are good for getting an idea of how something looks, even then it an be a lot different than in person, a picture is a flat one dimensional fixed view and nothing more. It can make a $99 special look better than a $4000 custom. Buying an instrument online is like buying a lottery ticket, not  every one is a winner. Which is why I promised myself after the last one; never again.

But what I can't find out, and I've looked for more hours than I wanted to waste,  and what I still want to know, is how the 59 works, with a 3 way switch, and what appears to be two of the 4 control knobs  for variax functions, what's up with that? And I've read that many are having problems with it, more lost points. I've look all over and the only Demo videos I've found all use the 69, or one of the older original versions, like the 500 or 700, to demonstrate how the system works, all with a 5 way switch.

I also looked at the US custom shop section but even there it's their way or nothing, no options except for the paint color, not exactly custom is it?

I get the idea that Tylers 59 neck is the fat baseball bat style, that's another thing I don't like, most points lost. For the high prices they should be offering a lot of options.

I  need to get hands on with these before I go shelling out the big money. And that probably means traveling over a thousand miles to the factory and then hoping they let me in when I get there. It's too bad they won't sell just the eletronics that way I could build my own body and neck and get exacty what I want.