Considering JTV-89F

[DoveCorp]

Hi everyone, just looking for some advice really. I have been watching lots of videos about the JTV guitars and was struggling to see any proper reviews on the 89F version.

 

I have not got a super strat and fancy getting the 89F to meet that need whilst dipping into the world of Line 6 guitars.

 

So I guess I am asking for those who have it - and perhaps have experience with other guitars with floyd rose type bridges, what's it like? How upgrade-able are the bridges on JTV?

 

I really liked the 59P which has been discontinued. Can anyone tell me why? That was a good looking guitar.

 

Thanks in advance.

[clay-man]

59P was discontinued? Bummer.

 

You can't upgrade the bridges on a JTV because that's where the piezo pickups lie which is for the modeling part of the guitar.

[DoveCorp]

Hey Clay-man thanks for the reply. Hopefully I can find somewhere that stocks them and I'll get to try one out. Cheers.

[davidb7170]

I see no 59P's on sweetwater, last I looked, but they're still in the products listed on this L6 site... I wouldn't want one myself -- I have the 59 and a 69S. I've gotten too used to the relative silence of humbuckers, but have been a Fender guy for 40+ years. My Tele Deluxe I bought in 1973 has Humbuckers, but my late 70's Strat doesn't and I just put up with the hum for years with it.

 

When I got my 69S 2012, I had the hum back on the mag pu's, and took just for a few months, then replaced them with DeMarzio noisless strat pu's -- love 'em.

 

A while back I picked up an fairly inexpensive Epi LP special with P-90's, mainly to see how those sounded. They sound killer, but a lot of hum... I use my JTV's about 80 - 90% of the time with their mag pups, so couldn't really see myself going for the P-90 version...

 

It is a bummer for those who dig 'em, but don't know if their sales were good enough to continue offering them. P-90's do have a good bite, but I just can't get past the hum. I'm really spoiled at this point. I'm going to replace my Strat's with noiseless when I get around to it....

 

My 2 cents.

Dave

[edstar1960]

If you are thinking of buying now is a great time to get a fantastic deal! Many retailers are offering 30% off list price and there is a £100 or $150 dollar mail in rebate which Line 6 are offering on top of that!  There has never been a better time to buy a brand new JTV at such a good price (excluding scratch and dent deals of course!). 

[Leftzilla]

I consider my 89F one the best guitars I have ever owned.  Its a Korea stock but very well made.  I also own a JTV 59. which is also an excellent guitar but I ended up preferring the feel and playability of the 89F.  If you want to see and hear the guitar in action go tohttp://www.elephantsofscotland.com/

[dspellman]

 

 

 

I'm not sure why you'd want to upgrade the Floyd on the 89F; near as I can tell it's the Schaller OFR with the Graphtech piezos, and that's about as good as it gets.

 

I've had the 89f since last October, and I'm thinking it may actually be the best of the JTV bunch (though I didn't feel that way at first). My initial inclination, when I first got a chance to play with the JTVs, was that the 59 would be my guitar (I mostly play LP-style guitars, but with Floyds). I'm not a bolt-neck fan. But I also prefer larger frets, flatter fretboards, and I've been leaning toward a longer scale of late.

 

The 89F's Floyd is top notch. The fretboard is a 16" radius, it has jumbo frets, and the 25.5" scale, as well as 24 reachable frets (the only Variax neck to have many of these features). The pickups are a hotter variation (compared to the 59's). I much prefer having the volume knob closer to the bridge/bridge pickup (easier for pinky swells) than where it's positioned in the usual LP-style quad, and that's where the 89F has it.   I have the older Variax 500, and it's pretty obvious that the Variax firmware is designed around a five-way, and that's what's on the 89F (the 59, sadly, has a kludged 3-way setup).   The superstrat body means that the neck strap button is located way up by the 12th fret, which means there's no way the guitar will be neck-heavy. The body is substantial (solid mahogany), which produces decent sustain. And the back of the neck is satin-finished, which means it's fast. Not so on the 59.

 

What I don't like. As the guitar hangs in the strap, the fretboard is moved to the right compared to a strat or LP. That means that if you're going to be playing in the upper frets, your hand will be more across your body than with either of the other two guitars. Something to get used to.

And there are TWO lousy colors (Line 6 decided this was going to be the "metal" guitar but didn't leave any other options open); black and blood (dark) red. I have WAY too many black guitars. The rosewood fretboard on my guitar is very very smooth, but I still would have preferred ebony, even the streaky look. Since this is a Korean guitar, ebony is a lot easier to come by.  Oh, and the PWB at Line 6 decided that this guitar needed more drop tunings, so they left out some nice Blues G and other alternate tunings from the factory preset knob. Ack. Ptui.

 

I got the guitar brand new in the box; opened it at GC in front of everyone to make sure it was in good nick. Frets were level, action was low -- I was NOT expecting a setup this good on a new guitar, and was fully prepared to haul it to a PLEK machine.

 

Would I buy another?  Well, the truth is, I'm picking up a backup JTV-89F in a few days, taking advantage of the reduced price and rebate and a 20% discount by the manager of the local GC. Haven't decided on black or red yet (already have the red). Probably doesn't matter.