Aug 26, 2009 12:51 AM
Transplanting Variax 300 electrics - Is scale length significant?
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I'm about to transplant my Variax 300 (electric) electronics into an ES335 copy. Someone told me that he's heard of problems with changing the scale length (possibly due to the algorithms in the electronics being programmed specifically for the output of the 25.5" scale length of a Variax guitar).I can't see why this would be the case but don't want to wait to find out for sure until I've completed the conversion!
Has anyone put Variax 300 electronics into a 24.5" scale guitar? Does it make any difference? Were there any intonation issues?
Thanks
Chris
more than scale length, is the fact of building Variax electronics on a 335 what can't give good results...
please think, modelling has to do with the way strings vibrate, to get a certain algorithm applied: Variax are solid body, bolt-on-neck guitars... which doesn't match with the way a string swings on a ES335 (thin hollowbody, glued-in neck guitar)
anyway, I wish you good luck...!! ![]()
cheers ![]()
Thanks. I understand that but am hoping that the hollowbody effect will positively affect the tone. What I need to know is whether it will actually work - sound in tune, intonate correctly etc.
this is exactly what I mean: no tuning problem, but the resulting tone cannot match the original Modelled Guitars, as the source tone generated by the ES335 won't match the tone generated by a Variax...
cheers ![]()
i put mine into a danelectro dc body with no problems intonation was right on. and i didnt notice any diference from the solid vax body to the hollow dano body tone wise. i have to disagree with antonio on the tonal changes . just my opinion but ill say it anyhow. i think that since the signal goes through the piezo to a processor chip that the chip creats the sound your going to hear.
others disagree with this. but i found no tonal changes from one to the other.
its not like putting the same pickups into a guitar and going from the pickup to an amp . in that way you will also get the sound of the body. but since the variax processes the sound through the chipallowing you to generate sounds the key word is generate. i dont see how the body would have an affect tone wise. sustain is another story altogether.
someone else brought this up elswhere in the forum a while back . i believe the guy tryed it in a few guitars and came up with this conclusion
you could put the vax in a cardboard box or a cinder block and it would generate the same sounds. the only way to know for sure is to listen to a few diferent ones clean through a clean amp.
once again i went from 300 factory body to dan electro hollow body ( body construction is plywood with masonite top and bottom pure crap) and had no tonal changes
Thanks. What's the scale length of the Dano?
Thanks
Chris
acording to the danelectro page its 25 even but i had to move the bridge forward 1/4 inch because of the old drill holes and still got perfect intonation
Actually, I think with the piezo pickups, the body type, scale length, and all sorts of other physical variables have little effect on the tone going through the pickup itself. Piezo transducers works by sensing the actual physical vibration of the string against the saddle, so in reality the string gauge and type will probably have a greater effect on the tone than the body.
I'm reminded of the Bogdon Bass Box, which the inventer developed a cheap alternative to an upright bass. If you listen to the sound samples, it kind of amazing how close the amplified sound comes to the sound of a pickup on an upright.
Someone should do a cardboard Variax...![]()
you can believe this.... danelectro is as close to cardboard as you can get......but i like them ![]()
Don't worry about the scale length. It's a non-factor. Mine is a 24.5 scale length too. The main thing you have to worry about is how and where you're going to put the electronics in your 335.
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