zeddd wrote:

 

Hey folks,

 

In an another thread last night (which I cannot seem to find at the moment) someone posted a couple of new YouTube videos which star Rich Renken with a companion showing off the JTV-69 in a really great 2-part interview. This is essential viewing people! It is more than 40 minutes of Rich talking about and showing off features of the guitar. I learned a few things I that I hadn't figured out previously, and I am absolutely more excited about this guitar now more than ever before. Holy crap these guitars are ultra-cool. They will definitely be worth the wait, even though the waiting is painful.

 

Enjoy the videos from right here:

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-oiVjIQSz4

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGZ6V1X-ZkA&feature=related

 

 

Gosh that US model guitar sure looks beautiful. I wish that was one of the Korean model options, but I'm very glad that the quality of the guitar tones will be pretty much identical.

 

I'm stoked all over again. There are no other options. A GR-55 has nothing on these babies. These guitars are the ****!!!

wow, wow, wow. amazing video. watching it - and seeing and hearing what the JTV can do - makes me forget about all of the other stuff. also, rich, i love seeing how excited you are about this guitar. not sure when this vid was taken, but there's no shortness of enthusiasm on your part for what the variax is capable of. this in itself assuages any concern

...and chappers is a funny fellow.

i'm sure we'll all be happy very soon.

hey rich, another question. you alluded in one of your previous posts (i forget which) that you guys are doing something to make up for the wait or 'a little extra' or something to that effect. any ideas what this might be?

raze

No I haven't, but I'll definitely check it out, thanks for the tip.  I wasn't even aware that they had anything new coming out.  I check the website from time to time hoping to see some dates near the Toronto area, but the tour schedule seemed to be non-existent.  I guess that was because they were recording, I thought maybe they were packing it in.  I have only seen them live once and that was at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto when they opened for The Guess Who.  They are the type of band that I would prefer to see in a smaller venue like a bar, so I have been watching for them, hopefully they will be out playing more often when the new album is released.

zeddd wrote:

 

Rich,

 

Let me begin by saying that it is great to see you back in here a second day in a row, responding to more comments this morning. As numerous of us have said many times, your presence makes the waiting feel better. You don't even have to write as much as you do, but if you could show up every day or two and respond to a question or two (and give us a mini pep talk if necessary) it would really help to minimize the hard feelings. We want to feel like Line 6 is paying attention and cares about our concerns and frustrations. When you disappear for a week or more, it feels like we have lost a life line or something, since you are the only Line 6 representative participating in these discussions.

 

 

And it might be useful to talk to us about colours. I have an order for a blue JTV-69, but if it is mostly red guitars that are going to be sent here, then I would change my order in an instant. What are the ratios of colours being sent to each dealer location? Are they evenly matched, or are they based on the actual orders being placed by each dealer?

 

Great links a couple of posts up, btw. Thank you.

Hey, thank you. I appreciate it. I am working on more information. Hang in there. Good advice, I am trying to get in here more an more. It is my new job. Just trying to stay in there and help us get to the finish line with the JTVs as well.

The colors were predetirmined by demand, so it should be close, I would stay in touch with your dealer.

Rich

Good to see you're back here and offering up some information. I only just realised from the Andertons video that your job is artist relations and not sales or marketing so it doubly sucks that you're the only person from Line6 who seems to be interested in how people are feeling about this monumental balls up.

I read your report back to the guy who had the problems with his JTV. In an earlier post I mentioned that I own a PRS SE made by the same guys in Korea who make the JTV. I wasn't happy with the PRS quality, one of the issues was that the fret wire was not smooth and the strings scratched along it at certain frets when bending. I wouldn't be surprised if the broken strings this guy is experiencing with his JTV is caused by the same issue. Maybe one to add to your QC checks when setting up in the UK/US?

http://line6.com/community/message/250560#250560

It would seem that this guy is experiencing exactly what I am describing too...

Rich I don't want appear rude but your answer to this guy was that the wood had shrunk and that this is not covered by warranty!

On a brand new guitar when taking delivery this is ridiculous but also I seriously don't expect wood on a neck to shrink at all. It should be treated properly before manufacture so that this doesn't happen.

As I said I've been playing  over 40 years and this is a first for me. I've lost count of the number of guitars that I've owned but this has never happened before.

These are not supposed to be cheap "starter" guitars but professional products. Let's discuss the problems with them on that level please.

As an existing customer with a poor experience thus far, I would expect you to have priority service and quite rightly hit the #1 slot in the queue... That's my perspective. My condolances for your experience BTW and GL with getting it sorted.

fatjac wrote:

 

Thanks for the reply Rich.

 

Ok so the bar can be tightened, perhaps we all missed that. I bow to your superior knowledge on that one but TBH it wasn't the main concern.

 

The overriding problem was the neck, hammering on/ off and broken strings.

 

The neck profile was fine. It is very similar to what I am used to. ( I have used a fender Strat Plus for over 15 years almost exclusively. ) The problem with it is that the frets were very rough and the fretboard wood seemed extremely dry. The hammer on problem is as follows. Taking the open top E as an example, hammering on to the third fret and then pulling off the string in a downward motion ie towards the floor and away from the neck causes the string to snap sharply off of the fret and end up residing on the side of the neck. It appeared to us that the frets were filed at too much of an "aggressive" angle, not rounded enough, and that the strings were too close to the edge of the neck. Any hammering on/ off or tapping on the top string had the same effect. I demonstrated my playing using the same technique on numerous other guitars from the rack and there were no problems on any others.

 

The strings all broke at about the third fret position. Yes in the shop. We were all amazed. In fact at least 5 or 6 guys from the shop were taking a big interest in this by this time.

 

Now I was informed that I would have to have this guitar repaired or go to the bottom of the list if I wanted to wait for a new one so at the moment the guitar is, apparently, back with Line 6 for assessment and repair. I asked if I could take one of the other models, perhaps a 59, that had been delivered instead but no. Apparently the price has gone up since I placed my order and if I change model I will have to pay nearly £200 more! I did try both of the other models though and would quite happily of taken either of them away with me instead. This doesn't seem to be very satisfactory for a new guitar to be delivered in this condition especially as this is a very high profile release by Line 6 with so much expectation and so many pre orders.

No problem fatjac,

I don't know if you saw, but we did discover some things about that guitar. You bow to my superior knowledge sounds like you think I was being short with you. Not at all, it just bums me out when user error gets posted as our fault. It happens more than you would believe. I had a guy slam the M13 on Harmony Central because it didn't have a tuner built in, not sure how he missed the switch that says Tuner. Then a couple weeks ago we were at a rehearsal for a major artist and the guitar player was mad because his G90 wireless was dropping out, and our wireless tech went and looked at the receiver, the antennas were on the front but the internal menu was set for rear antennas so there were no antennas because a great tech missed it. So that was more of a general thing.

Now, one thing we discovered, the neck was out of place. That could have happened in shipping. So the neck was pushed toward the high e making it really close to the edge. But I think the big problem with that guitar was the nut width seemed a bit wide and maybe it was filed a bit much. So it was the perfect storm.

The string breakage is still a mystery. I am going to email the UK with your info as to where it broke, it may help them figure out why it broke. Did you guys have a theory on the breakage?

Yours is truly a unique situation. I am so sorry you are going through this. I have been talking with the tech about it already and making recommendations to the team. Thank you for hanging in there.

Peace, Rich

fatjac wrote:

 

Line6RichRenken wrote:

 

Hey guys, got more info on this guitar. As delivered to us, the neck was out of alignment with the body (perhaps it took a knock somewhere) and the strings weren't centred to the neck. That was easily resolved with a hard pull and re-tightening of the neck screws. This was probably a big part of why he was slipping off the edge doing pull offs, but maybe not entirely. So I am going to be talking to the factory about this. Just to be sure.  Also, my guy was not able to break a string at all. He is going to pull it apart tomorrow and check for burrs. Like I said, these guitars rarely break strings.

Line6RichRenken wrote:

 

See, now this totally frustrates me. Not because you had a problem but because these are not normal problems and in the case of the bar, you guys missed something very important. I am totally ok with your opinion of the neck. I have many artists and pro players that love the neck as is. Not every neck is going to appeal to every player. You say you are a lead player, what kind of neck are you used to?

 

The bar has a set screw that you can tighten and have the bar as tight or as loose as you want it. Did you show the store? Did they not show you there was a set screw?

 

Also, you say that you had three broken high e strings? At the store while you were checking it out? Where were they breaking. That is actually dumbfounding to me because I am amazed at how few broken strings my beta and beta artist have had this last year. They just don't break strings.

 

Can you describe the hammer on problem better? I don't understand what you are saying.

 

Also, like in another thread. The quality you should expect is the same as any around $700 street Korean guitars. Because half of the guitar is our guts, encoders, rechargeable batteries, computer board, custom bridge, Workbench included, etc.

fatjac wrote:

 

Hi all.

 

I haven't posted here before but I did order a JTV 69 last July when I first heard of them and saw some You Tube clips. I wanted one!

Like everyone here I have been very frustrated by the wait but I was called two weeks ago by my local music store to say that my guitar was in stock!

One of the first to hit the country. I headed straight across to the store to pick it up. I couldn't wait to get there. I was a lucky winner.

 

To cut a long story short I was extremely disappointed to say the least. As soon as I started to play it I realised that it was not good.

As a mainly lead player and having played for over 40 years I could tell straight away that this was a guitar that I would walk away from if I had plucked it from the shelf and not known of it's prior reputation.

But due to the build up and the multitude of positive reviews I persevered with it. After three top e strings had broken I asked for the store manager to come and discuss it with me.

It was impossible to hammer on/ pull off on the top string without the string "clunking" off of the fretboard. Useless for a lead player.

The guitar looks pretty good and, for the most part, has a quality feel to it but the neck does not. It looks and feels cheap and nasty.

 

I ordered the 69 because I am a strat player and use the tremelo arm a lot. The first upwards pull of the 69's bar pulled it straight out of the socket!

It's useless! It doesn't lock in place. What good is that?

 

I tried various other guitars from the rack to demonstrate that my technique was not at fault for either of these problems and it was agreed that the guitar was not right.

 

Although I did try some of the modelling sounds and tunings my main emphasis was on the playability of the guitar so I won't comment on those functions here yet.

Suffice to say that the sounds did not annoy me. Whether or not they sound authentic I cannot say with my limited time with the guitar. More on this later, if I ever get it back in my hands.

 

I refused to pay for it and it was agred that it should go back to Line 6 for assessment...

 

I desperately wanted to take it home with me but I could not justify paying almost £1,000 for a guitar that is quite clearly not good enough.

 

Very disappointed.

Rich are we talking about the same guitar? Which music store was this one from please?

 

I have been on to my store today and this is not the info that I have been given.

 

I have just been told that my guitar is NOT considered repairable by Line 6 and that I have therefore gone to the BACK OF THE QUEUE in the wait for a JTV69!

 

I am gobsmacked to say the least. Nine months on a list and I get a poorly made guitar and then I go to the back of the queue again.

 

I would seriously like you to get involved with this for me please. Where exactly is my guitar at the moment? What exactly is not repairable about it? At the most extreme a new neck would be the worst case. Why should I go to the back of the line? Should I not reasonably expect to be first in line for the next JTV69 to hit the country? Rather than me go the the back of the line would it not be fairer to let the list tumble down so that everyone goes back one place? I really do not think that is an unreasonable expectation.

 

TIA

Wow, I agree. I will find out. But also, can you email this whole post to me at richrenken@line6.com? I want to make sure you get taken care of.

Message was edited by: Line6RichRenken  --- Gave the wrong email address. I use richrenken@line6.com for the forums. I watch that one more carefully for you guys to get to me personally.