clay-man

I actually have an old 600 Variax, but I did get the error you guys were talking about. My G string likes to warble on alt tunings and someone suggested it was a firmware error and to downgrade and upgrade again. Didn't solve the problem, but at least the guitar still works. The warbling isn't too bad anyways, just on some models.

That's what I[m saying by monitoring your amp.

I had this problem as well, but it seems like it's fine now. I tried downgrading and upgrading back to the latest firmware on my guitar, but it gave me an error when the process was done. I unplugged it and plugged it back in to the power and apparently it did update and the firmware is the latest now. I don't know what happened. I rather not try again so I don't accidentally brick my guitar. The VDI cable my Variax came with is kind of sketchy as if I pull it out as much as I can without pushing the latch off, it will still loose connection to the Workbench interface.

I strongly recommend monitoring your guitar sound if you're not going to play your rig loud. Variax is either a studio thing or play it loud thing. Playing your amp really quiet isn't the best thing to do with it. If you're playing your amp so quiet that you can hear your guitar strings from your guitar over the amp, then you need to turn it up man. It shouldn't be that quiet.

This. If you want real alternate tunings "on the fly", there's the Gibson robot tuners, but I personally think with the Variax's pitch shifter being a good quality pitch shifter, it's better than doing physical alt tunings, and there's a few reasons why I think this. 1) String tension remains the same at all times 2) It is instant, instead of waiting for robot tuners to tune your guitar 3) Tuning your physical strings like that too much will wear your strings out and will cause them to break faster 4) As the string tension remains the same, tuning down doesn't sound muddy an crappy. You can tune down 1 whole octave and it's still pretty good, a LITTLE bit muddy at 1 whole octave down, but it's still nice. 5) You can tune up 1 whole octave, which is impossible with real tunings since you'll break the strings and possibly warp your neck. Even the V1 Variaxes have pretty high quality pitch shifters. The only downsides you have with any Variax guitars are 1) Slight latency, as all pitch shifters need some latency to read the pitch of the strings then tune it accordingly to what you set it to pitch to. 2) Not wearing headphones or not cranking your amp above your real string's volumes will give you an interfering harmony. It's not that bad, just up your volume until you can't hear it. Get a setup that's appropriate for you.

I have no problem with my 600 besides once in a blue moon, jumping from position 2 to position 1 doesn't register, so I have to flick between the positions again. I hope the 600 has a proper coffin though so I don't run into problems like this. Are the pickup selectors normal guitar pickup selectors or are they specifically designed for the Variax?

Just lower your string volume by a little bit if it's clipping. If you lower it a lot, then some models will sound weird, like the sitar won't resonate well. What I did, was lower string volume accordingly, and then lower all model levels by like 1 db. Sounds great, no clipping on any of the models.

If reflashing fixes it, then it might be software. Did you look at the string volume for it in workbench? Open up the model editor, then look for String Volume in one of the drop down menus at the top of the window. If it goes bad randomly. it could be a bad piezo, but if reflashing fixes it, that's weird.

Looks really nice. Hopefully whoever buys it is happy.

I think the piezos are definitely going to play a huge part, thought not too much, like you said. The JTV Variaxes have an improvement in quality of the piezos than the V1 Variax guitars. The JTV LR Baggs are probably similar in quality as the Graphtechs, but they'll be a little off being from different companies.

Good luck! I kinda still want a 69 maple fretboard if I had the money, but this is pretty tempting.

Oh my god, nice. Too bad I don't have a single dollar right now.

This is the correct way, however i'd like to state that adjusting string volume will adjust the volume before the piezo input is processed by the Variax. Adjusting the volume level on the presets themselves is POST processing volume, AFTER if gets processed by the Variax. I've noticed that if you have your volume way too low, things like the Sitar won't resonate properly. The sitar is emulated by detecting the attack of your strings, and if the string is too quiet, the resonating twang sound will be lesser. Like solid said, around 60% is a good string volume. Mine is varied around 60% on each string.

I've had a few strings that messed up when I strike the string too hard. Oddly it only applied on detuned strings. I fixed the problem by lowering the string volume a bit. The output was clipping on my interface anyways when I punched down on chords, so it was a good idea.

It's probably not possible then. Like he stated, Workbench must only shift the secondary strings, not all the strings. I'm not sure if you can hard edit the pitch of the strings on the presets, you'll just have to use virtual capo and use your assignable built in tunings

The high E and B string act as chorus strings as opposed to octave strings. In workbench, I could change the secondary string's pitch on the model preset. I'm not sure if you can do that on a JTV though.

Thank you. Would the ground also go to a screw in the tremolo version guitars?

That was exactly my problem as well. 600 with a D string getting quiet/buzzy. Sadly the piezo's wire got cut off and I had to replace it in the end. But yeah, If someone does have specific instructions in installing a ghost system, please post. Also, if there's any comparison videos between lr baggs and graphtech, that would be nice too.

Ah, sorry, misread that. I'm not sure how different the original 500 is from the other Variaxes, but if it's not that different, he shouldn't have trouble sending it in for repairs. I know what he means though about it being ridiculously expensive. I would of had to pay 60 dollars minimum for a basic solder job, and I bet you that they would have charged even more just because they can, even though the job only costs like 10-15 dollars to do. (tools to disassemble and solder kit)

That's really strange, because some guy turned his Acoustic Variax in and they fixed it for him. I really don't get it too much, maybe it depends on what's broken.

Are you talking about the ground noise on a guitar? I too really appreciate the absolute silence of a Variax. I hate floor noise.

I agree. I think the JTV guitars are pretty visually unappealing as well. I love how my 600 looks, even if it is missing pickups. The 69's body is ok but the neck and headstock really push me away. I'd maybe get a 59, but as much as I'd love a LP style guitar, I'd think the 3 way switch would get annoying. In the end, I wish there was a tele JTV. By Ghost I do mean Graph tech, yes. Graph Tech's ghost system piezo saddles. They make an immense improvement in build quality AND sound. I believe they're very close to the quality of the JTV piezos, which is why people say the JTVs and ghosts on a V1 Variax sound better. Ghost saddles also get rid of the unwanted quack of when you pick hard on most of the single coil and acoustic models.

I got mine in January, the guy said it was in great condition. By the time I got it, it was fine until I tried to adjusted the intonation which sent my piezo into a road of flickering in and out of being quiet and buzzy. I tried to fix the grounding by stuffing copper wire between the piezo and the saddle, which worked until I moved something on it. During that time I had a new piezo but tried to use the old one as I was afraid it would sound different from the others (I ordered mine from LR baggs because I heard a rumor that Line 6 is ceasing stocking Variax parts). I accidentally broke the old one's wire off when I tried to push it out as the copper wire jammed it in there really hard. A few days back I finally soldered in the new piezo and it's perfect now.

Very nicely done.

A lot of us experience piezo malfunction. They were poorly designed and die over time because of how they sit in the saddles. A ghost system would be a good idea if you want a permanent fix. I believe the JTVs addressed this problem so they should be void of random piezo malfunctions.