hmm...

well, here's a few other questions...

do you not think that the fact that adrien belew, who according to you is one of your "bigger endorsers", has decided that he would much rather have the variax electronics in a guitar of his own choice rather than one of your own guitars, might just indicate that there is indeed a market for a variax transplant kit?

if he's such a big supporter of line6, wouldn't he just play a variax guitar?  and would line6 authorize the use of thier technology in another manuafacturers products, not to mention willingly provide them with this technology, while at the same time insisting that the look and design of thier own guitars should be acceptable to everyone else?

i'm confused as to why line6 would choose to alienate its own customer base, while at the same time provide a competing guitar manuafacturer with the technology that thier own loyal customers have been begging for...  the fact that adrein belew, somebody who has played with such legendary acts as frank zappa the mothers of invention, david bowie, king crimson, and the talking heads, just to name a few, has decided that the line6 variax guitars are not compatible with his own aesthetic and functional standards just might indicate that some of us who are not so fortunate as to be associated with such legendary musical acts might feel the same way...

does it really make a difference that he's famous and we're not?  is that line6's standard for customer service?

we've been asking for this technology, and we've been clear that we're willing to pay for it...

it was one thing when line6 was unwilling to offer a transplant kit to anybody, but now that the precedent has been set that line6 is indeed willing to offer the technology to somebody, it's starting to border on the insulting that the privilege is reserved for the elite...  i've never seen adrien belew on these forums (maybe he's got a cleverly disguised user name...  if so, clue me in)...

WE are your customers, not adrien belew...  maybe line6 should start doing US some favors...

hehe...  sometimes it's necessary to do the dance...

> They bought the parts. I made it happen. It is a signature model. He has a deal with Parker.

> You should see what they went through to make all of that stuff work together. That is another

> reason it is not wise to sell a kit. They had two brilliant engineers and a guitar builder and a

> major guitar brand working on it and it still took a lot of assistance from myself and 3 other

> people here at Line 6.

> So I will say it again. We are more interested in building and selling great guitars than kits. Kits

> do not even come close to Line 6's financial goals.

k, well, first, nobody is asking line6 to hold our hands (well, i suppose that some people would, but it's not what i'm asking for anyway)...  the idea that line6 couldn't include some sort of disclaimer to protect themselves from people harrasing them as to why thier variax electronics don't work in their strat doesn't really make sense to me...  if you buy a fender pickup and you're an idiot and it doesn't work, fender isn't going to fix your guitar for you...  the fact that variax electronics are even more complicated means that it is even more reasonable for line6 to say "well here's the stuff but we don't want anything to do with your problems"...  we know it's not cut and dry stuff...  i would argue that a majority of the transplants being done are being done not so much to be able to play banjo licks on a strat, but because of the interest that people have in technology and what it can do and how it works...

and i'm starting to think that the word "kit" might be just as responsible for line6's hesitation than anything...  the word "kit" implies packaging, instructions, marketting, advertising, etc. which i doubt is what parker got...  i imagine all they really wanted were the boards and the model selector knobs...  because everything else can be dealt with...  so instead of wanting a whole kit, what if i just wanted to buy a board and a model selector knob?  you don't have to make a big hoopla about it on the website or in guitar magazines, but it would be nice if we could get new parts directly from line6, so we could be reasonably assured of thier functional state (which line6 doesn't necessarily have to guarantee, obviously)...  whether you want to participate in the process of figuring out how to get it to work or not is up to you...

not everybody is unreasonable...  i'm certainly not asking line6 to hold my hand through the process...  i've done my own research...  i stil haven't figured it out yet...  i would appreciate any assistance you'd be willing to offer, but if you don't want to, i wouldn't consider that out of the ordinary...  i do consider not even offering the parts even in an unofficial capacity a bit out of the ordinary...  i mean, i wonder where adrien belew even got the idea that he could have variax guts in his guitar?  maybe he saw the transplants people have done?

is offering parts on an unofficial basis really outside of line6's financial goals?  a community of people that are so enthusastic about the possibilities of your technology that they want to learn as much as they can about it and see if they can figure out how to do things that haven't been done yet, things that ultimately could end up on one of your guitars one day...  to actively discourage that, i believe, is outside any company's financial goals...  most companies would kill to have that kind of enthusiasm and word-of-mouth marketting going on for them...

> So, if we want to sell killer guitars with Variax and I have the chance to sell parts to Adrian Belew

> to bring awareness to Variax, not to mention that fact that he is a friend, that is my call, right?

of course it's your call, who's disputing that?...  but if awareness is what you're after, the transplants have brought more awareness to variax technology than the AB fly has or ever will...  forget the pricepoint of that guitar, number one you can't even find it on the parker site (all you'll find is a link to adrien's site), and i have yet to see anything about that guitar that has more than a passing reference to the line6 technology...  they're not advertising for you any more than we are...

and if being your friend is the difference here, well, what are you doing next friday?  (hehe)

> Now if we turn our guitar business into a mainstream, needed, and wanted path for players, then

> maybe one day we will have the money to invest in the research it would take to make an easily

> installable "kit". That will be cool. It is not in the cards right now.

again, maybe the idea of a kit isn't the right way to go about it...  like i said, that involves packaging, instructions, marketting, advertising, support, blah blah blah...  i can see why line6 would want to stay away from that, especially the support issue...  but again, it wouldn't be the first time that a company put a disclaimer on a product saying that installation is at your own risk, will not be resposible for incorrect installation, support, etc...  i'd be more than willing to sign whatever you want me to to get my hands on a brand new board with the model selector knob (within reason)...  again, it doesn't have to be an official product...  you don't have to advertise...  the people that would want it are all pretty much around here all the time anyway, so all you would have to do is let us order it and send it to us...  seems to me there's less hassle in that than having these arguments with me all the time

> I am the Product Manager for M13 and am working on derivatives for that and have a late summerish

> release coming. I am a bass player and guess what, I don't get to tell the company I want an Octaver

> in the next update. I made the request but even I don't get all that I want.

well, i can't comment on the decision making process there at line6...  i'm not there...  but i hope that you or miller or anybody else that have had these mildly amusing arguments with me don't think i'm blaming it on you guys...  but you guys are the ones who respond to these posts, not the executives right?  give me the executives email and i'll leave you alone, i guess...  but me and you both know that's not going to happen, so i'll continue to state my case here until i get what i want...  you're perfectly within your right to ignore me...

> I get it guys, you want a kit, our guitars were sub par. Not going to happen soon but I hear you. It

> is written down. I hear you loud and clear.

again, i can understand your fustration having to be bombarded by people's gripes all the time and mine in particular...  and i understand that even though you might agree with me (or not, i don't know), you can only do so much to affect what gets done and what doesn't at line6...  it's not my intention to annoy you personally, but i hope you understand that i'm not going to stop thinking what i think and saying what i say and wanting what i want because you're getting tired of the whole thing...  i don't like repeating myself any more than you like hearing it...  but if i was to shut my mouth, would it ever get done?  no...  if i keep griping, will it ever get done...  probably not...  but "probably not" is better than "no" so i'll take it...  again, you're perfectly within your right to ignore me, and i wouldn't blame you, because i admit i'm not really interested in taking your feelings into consideration...  so i'll do what i have to do and you do what you have to do...