johnnyayyy

 

 

You realize that won't work at all because it's the ACTUAL PIEZOS that is your main issue, so just changing guts isn't going to change how responsive the piezos are to your tunings...

Either way, physically retuning a Variax is not really something you can rely on. Upping the gauges of your string to make up for lack of tension might help a bit, but ultimately the piezos are designed for E standard. Without that tension, the strings don't contact with the piezos good enough.

I have been playing my V300 and V500 physically tuned to D for many MANY years And never had any problems. True, I use a slightly heavier than average set of strings - 11-52 Dean Markley Misfits set with a .010 swapped in for the .011.

The problem began when I brought home my new JTV. When tuned to D is not warbling, it is randomly generating notes I am not playing, mostly on the D string.

I have zero fret buzz and the problem only occurs on the 12 string models as I recall (haven't dealt with it for a couple of years).

I understand your experience is different. This might be due to the resononce of the springs in your V600s trem - my V300 and V500 had hardtails and my transplants have Bigsbys with the strings damped at the trem.

My point being, in my tests the JTV guts behave differently than those of the Gen 1 Vax.

 

Anything I could do to make C# work?

The answer is NO.

I had the same issue with my JTV-89. This was reported as a bug by myself and others years ago, a support ticket was opened by a user here, Line6 looked into it and here are the results he PMed me:

"Well, they closed the ticket I did on the clash on the "D" string resulting when you physically tune down a whole step. I questioned it with them since it was in "Escalated" status.  They said it was mistakenly put in that status.  Anyway, they've updated their faq's webpage to include that tuning must be in E Standard to work.  They told me that that is how the guitar is calibrated and it's not tested beyond that."

There may be some magic elixir that will make a JTV work properly when downtuned but so far I do not believe anyone has figured it out. If they have I would be very interested in whatever solution they have come up with.

OK, there IS one way I know of to use a physically downtuned Variax with no issues: buy an older first generation pre JTV variax. My old Vax works flawlwssly tuned down to D with a 10-52 set of strings. Just do a transplant of first gen guts into your 89f and you will be golden :lol: , I can assure you this works well at least tuned as low as D - I have never tested my old V transplant tuned to C# but as I recall from earlier conversations in these forums there is a guy in some fairly famous band that tunes his early Vax that low or lower without issue.

WAIT, HOW ABOUT THIS COMPROMISE:

Physically downtune strings 2-6 one full step.

Physically downtune string 1 E 1.5 steps.

Physical tuning = C# A F C G D

Detune strings 2-6  1/2 step electronically to compensate.

You won't get too much glitching on most models when tuned down 1 full step on strings 2-5 and you get the tension you want on the E1, if the E1 works tuned down 1.5 steps it might work out for you. Slap a D-Tuna on the E1 and you can quickly adjust physical tuning on songs that use the mag pickups.

This assumes a D-Tuna will fit your JTV bridge and 2. A D-Tuna can be calibrated to drop a semi-tone instead of the normally used full tone.

 

Dustin Kensrue tuned his Variax to D standard and had no problem.

I have always tuned my Variax transplants to D standard and never had any problems. My JTV on the other hand does not like to be tuned to D standard and makes funny out of tune notes on some of the models, the 12 string acoustics and the 12 string Rickenbacker are the ones I had problems with but there might be more.

A support ticket was created by another user here with the same problem and the results were:

"they've updated their faq's webpage to include that tuning must be in E Standard to work.  They told me that that is how the guitar is calibrated and it's not tested beyond that. "

My JTV works properly when tuned down to Eb, and most models are okay when tuned down to D - but when tuned to D the 12 strings are mostly unusable, unless you are playing in a Japanese noise band or something.

The neck looks like it came from a 500.

Yep, the stamp on the neck was what made me think it was new - wasn't aware the 500s were made in Korea like the JTVs, in my memory all the older Variaxes were Indo except the 700 Japanese model - even though I had a 500 that I used as a donor for my transplant I guess I had forgotten about it being Korean.

The neck on my 500 WAS pretty nice, almost as nice as my 700 and much better than my Korean JTV... I wish the JTVs had the same neck quality as the older 500/700 Variaxes :(

can't see where a transplant could possibly be cheaper than a neck swap.

the luthier would have to router out new chambers and access ports and a access cavity for that dual input jack....

not to mention adding a floyd rose in there too.

there is no way a luthier is gonna do that for cheap ... and there isn't a real luthier anywhere within a 3 hour round trip drive from me anyway.

the local guy can't even thin down the neck .... parts changing , refretting or set-ups is just about all he can do ... 

i personally consider him useless , as we can all do that stuff ourselves .

 

lots of people can change parts on their car......

that does not make them a mechanic...

and my local luthier is nothing more than a glorified parts changing set-up guy (in IMHO}

 

and i bet a real lluthier who could do it .... ain't gonna do it for a mere $200 

 

because of my location and financial situation .... a neck swap is pretty much my only option.

Yeah, I did two transplants and the cheapest one cost me more than a neck swap, spent a couple hundred (had to buy a GraphTech bridge because the L6 bridge wouldn't work and bought some of that metallic paint for the control cavity, I think it was $26 for a tiny bottle) - if you were able to do all the work yourself and reuse all the L6 parts you could do it cheaply but that would limit you to guitars with the same type of bridge or require tons of work.

To have a luthier do a transplant for you is not cheap, I think Toasterdude will be along soon to testify to this fact.

I remember on the old forums a guy did a cost breakdown on his transplant of a Variax into an Epiphone 335 copy, and even with him doing everything himself he still spent well over $1000 by the time he was finished.

I believe that's the body from a Peavey Generation EXP guitar. Those guitars have an active piezo system with acoustic modeling, hence the battery slot and large cavity for electronics. Someone managed to stick an older Variax neck on there.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/351081663911?lpid=82

I believe you are correct.

Nice guitar. Weird that the control layout is the same as the Variax 500, that is what made me think factory job. And I KNEW that body looked too cool to be a one off. Now that I see it I remember someone did a similar Peavey Tele/Variax transplant in the old forums, a really nice one with a purple quilted top. The Peavey body was too thin so they couldn't get the rear control cover to close - had to put spacers and it stuck out of the body about 1/4", looked pretty bad... maybe that is what made them give up on the black one currently for sale on Craigslist.

Update: I just got an email from the guy selling it, he bought it in its current state and didn't know it was a Peavey - he thought it was stock or maybe a prototype.

Thanks for the info Phil!

It looks slicker, more stylized and more like a from-the-factory item than any Variax transplant I have ever seen. And the number of Variax transplants I have seen with pickups is very low...

Compare the shape of the top bout and the cutaway to the JTV59 - very similar, yes? And it looks like the same simulated binding on the top. Like a JTV59 and a Tele melted together. And that sweet "Tele-but-not-a-Tele" pickguard... really well designed IMO, I would say it was done by someone extremely talented. Enlarging the pics I do not see the typical LR Baggs markings and the saddles look like they have the newer Tyler designed piezo elements. Mighty interesting...

The whole thing looks exactly like what I would expect Line 6 to come up with if they designed the Tele people have been begging for for years, and if this isn't the long awaited Line 6 Tele style Variax it really should be IMO.

Is this a thing? When did it happen? Never seen anything like it...

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/msg/4556248314.html

Line 6 Variax Tele Body and Neck without electronics - Schaller tuners - $150 (berkeley)

Line 6 Variax Telecaster body, neck, and hardware. Made in Korea. Includes 2 pickguards, humbucker surround, back electronics cover, bridge, neck bolts, jack plate, strap buttons, and Schaller tuners (W. Germany). No pickups or other electronics. One pickguard is fits 2 Strat pickups and the other pickguard fits a neck humbucking pickup. Basswood body and maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. Very little wear with some light body scuffs behind the bridge. The frets show little wear. 25 1/2" scale neck. About 1 3/4" wide at the nut. Body 1 3/4" thick. Neck is fully adjustable. Guitar weighs about 6 lbs 7 oz. and has a well balanced, solid feel. Easy to bend string action. No case. Great project guitar with battery compartment and lots of room for on-board electronics.

The easiest and cheapest would be to transplant the Variax hardware to a guitar that you already have and like... :)

I have done two Variax transplants and they were not exactly easy... and the cost was much more than a simple neck swap (the Ibanez RG neck I bought for my JTV89 cost me $40)... but if you can't find a neck that you like that works with the 89 a transplant is definitely an option to consider.

could you tell me what  AANJ stands for

they are thin enough ... but my problem with the ibby and jackson necks ( and pretty much all shredder necks ) is the width and the flattened "U" shape of the barrel .... as opposed to a "C" or flattenned "D" 

what is the barrel profile of that neck you are refering to 

AANJ = All Access Neck Joint, on most Ibanez RG guitars the neck heel and the body are shaved away at the neck joint for improved access to higher frets. The JTV89 has a neck joint similar to the AANJ but the shape is different, I tried my RG550 neck on the 89 and the 89 body sticks out pretty far past where the Ibanez neck heel begins. I don't know how to describe it better than that buy if you compare the 89 and an AANJ Ibanez side by side it will be easy to see the difference. It would be possible to put an AANJ neck on the 89 body but it would look bad unless you shave away part of the body to match the Ibanez body, something I didn't want to do to my 89 so that I can put the JTV neck back on later if and when I decide to sell the guitar.

Jackson necks have a more traditional neck heel, as do certain year Ibanez RG120/170 and most other 24 fret 25.5 scale guitars.

If you want a shredder neck with a non-shredder profile I think you will need something custom built or heavily modified, tho there may be something out there I haven't seen. You could buy a bunch of different necks on ebay hoping something will work but in the long run it would probably be cheaper to have the original neck reshaped to meet your standards.

I am guessing that though you are not a shredder you bought the shredder model JTV because you wanted the Floyd Rose? If this is the case maybe it would be cheaper to trade in the 89FR for a JTV69 and have a Floyd installed, you have zillions of options when it comes to replacing the neck on a JTV69 but only a few on the 89.

I bought an Ibanez RG120 neck to replace my JTV89 neck. Ibanez made necks with a standard heel (not AANJ) for a couple of years, they can be found on the RG120 and RG170. I believe this is the "Wizard" neck profile.

I did a test fitting and the Ibanez neck fits the 89 neck pocket but will require minor modification to the neck to get it to work properly, will get around to it someday - for now will use the 89 as is.

Many 24 fret 25.5 scale  necks would work but most will likely require minor modification.

I think Jackson 25.5 necks would be a good option if you don't mind the pointy headstocks (I hate them).

In my experience the reverb always works best at the end of the chain UNLESS I am shooting for a surf tone - you can get a very convincing 60s surf sound by putting the 63 Reverb first in the chain, before the Twin amp, and then cranking everything way up. Single coil guitar is almost mandatory to nail this tone, Strat is best IMO.

Are nuances still emulated, like the Bigsby tone when you hit an E chord and kill it,

The strat tremolo springs ringing (Why would you emulate this though? I don't get it. No one wants this),

Sitar sympathetic strings?

 

In a video, Rich Renken explained some of this with the old Firmware (This also is emulated on Gen 1 Variaxes)

 

I'd hope they'd still do this, though it would be nice to have an option to toggle some of these in Workbench, especially the strat springs.

 

I remember enabling alt tunings in workbench even without changing the tuning from standard would turn these features off, but this was my 600 (Possibly to conserve DSP processing to alt tunings)

I can tell you that if the trem spring noise is still emulated on the Strat it has been turned WAY down, to the point it is no longer an annoyance on higher gain tones.

Did not know these details were turned off when engaging alt tune in the old Variax, will have to check that out.

A while back I made a suggestion on Ideascale re: adding the option to turn off the trem noise emulation or adjust the level in Workbench - the idea was immediately downvoted to oblivion. Not only do people NOT want the option to adjust this part of the tone, they don't want any of us to have the option. Pity.

I think the answer is yes but just want to confirm....

Save the original neck and put it back on if you need to have any warranty work done.

Was considering the idea of a 7 string JTV transplant ast night and realized something -

We all know there is currently no way to do the modeling over 7 strings, BUT why would I want to?

I don't need a 7 string simulated acoustic 12 string (14 string?), or a 7 string banjo, or a 7 string Strat, or a 7 string 59 Les Paul etc. All of those instruments are fine and accurate to the original as 6 strings (5 strings for the banjo).

The only time I ever need a 7 or 8 string is when i am doing heavy or Djenty bits and even if I could make the JTV modeling work on 7 or 8 strings it will mostly sound like poo anyway due to the JTV's inherent palm mute issues.

So my idea is to transplant my JTV 89 electronics into a nice 7 or 8 string Ibanez or similar, using a 7 or 8 string bridge with 6 Graphtech piezo saddles connected to the modeling inputs and the guitars magnetic pickups running through the JTV mag input.

This will give me the ultimate Djent-Djent-Djent on the heavy strings and with the touch of a footswitch the standard JTV modeling on the 1-6 strings and muted 7th and 8th string.

Line 6 or Toasterdude, feel free to take this idea and run with it  :)  I might do it and I might not, depends on how I feel about things when I get around to pursuing the idea.

Hi, I just bought a POD HD PRO X and im using one 1/4" cable from the unbalanced right output to my Scarlett 2i2 input which i use as my interface.

I use headphones to listen and when i have the pod on without any DAWs, I can only hear the sound from the left ear and it's like a 0.5 second delay.

Even with Direct Monitoring turned on on my interface I still hear the delayed sound but it's just coming from the left ear. 

 

tl;dr: Sound coming from left ear only with latency. Even with Direct Monitoring turned on I hear the sound normally + latency hard panned left 

Unplug the cord from the HD PRO and plug it into your guitar - is the latency still there? Still panned hard left?

If the guitar straight in is centered with no latency: crate a new blank patch in the HD PRO, no amp, no effects. plug the guitar into the HD PRO, and plug the PRO output into the interface. The sound should be the same as plugging the guitar straight into the interface.

If not I would exchange the HD PRO for a new one.

 

Midcourse update. I'm feeling bullet-pointy today :-)

• I finally got the Graph Tech Left Offset set yesterday - roughly a week after I had ordered the original incorrectly pictured set. Was definitely a hand collected set of 6, although Gray did say they tested them for balance.
• Installed them. A bit more work than I thought as the intonation screws are larger on the Graph Tech and thus the holes in the back of the bridge had to be drilled out slightly. No biggy, but the heads of the screws don't sit in the pockets like they did with the original hex head screws.
• Striping and soldering went quite fast. There are two separate leads - one with a slightly bluish tint. I chose that one as "hot" for the pickups and I seemed to get signal, so either I chose correctly, or neither lead is grounded through the body of the saddle. The blue is definitely a bit hard to see. I used a soldering iron to melt the insulation slightly for "finger stripping"
• Re-assembled the guitar and am still tweaking the bridge height, etc... I haven't gotten into Workbench yet to adjust the sensitivity.
• More soon.
•  

 

Pretty exciting! Could you post some pics when you are done?

Looking at pics of the 69 saddles and the Graphtech saddles they look so different i am interested to know about stuff like string angle over the piezos, did the height adjustment screws line up with the originals... I already know they sound great.

After reading the saddle crosstalk thread I am thinking I will experiment and compare the crosstalk on my Graphtechs and my JTV, I am having some problems with the JTV that I am pretty sure are caused by crosstalk but have never had any problems with my Graphtech equipped guitars so in addition to the Graphtechs superiopir tone and noise rejection i am betting the crosstalk is much lower on the Graphtechs.

The old 500 bridge is fixed and just screwed to the body and the strings went all the way through the body.  Maybe you could attach a 2 point Strat bridge but you need to be able to route the piezo wires through it and attach it to the trem block. The 69 bridge also supports the ends of the strings where most Strats have the strings going all the way through the trem block.   I don't know what is available that would work.  It was a true statement by me since I did not say there was no bridge just that I know of no bridge for the 69.  I am not crazy about the saddles that mount from the side.  From what I have seen of the Graphtech saddles, it would not be hard to drill and tap the opposite side of the ones that are mounted on the wrong side rather than buy two sets.  If I start having any trouble at all  with my piezo's on my 69 I will consider trying the Graphtech saddles. 

Ooops, my bad - what I meant to type was "it looks like the old 600/700 Baggs bridge would fit", i realize the 500 had a fixed bridge.

Yes, if you used a regular 2 point Strat bridge you would need to drill holes for the piezo wires to pass through or have someone do that for you - there used to be lots of info on how exactly to do this on the internet but much of the Variax transplant info has been removed. Pretty simple really, drill 6 holes and pass the wires through.

Here is a guy who did it, though the bridge drilling process is not shown step by step as it was on other pages:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.langwade/

You could also get a new Baggs piezo Strat bridge but that would be pretty expensive after you add the Graphtech saddles.

And drilling and tapping new holes on the Graphtech saddles is another possibility, but I would be too scared of damaging them to do it myself. I think I would be way more comfortable drilling new holes in the Tyler bridge plate to match the available Graphtech saddles, but only because I have never drilled and tapped graphite before...

I know of no bridge that you can swap into a JTV69. It is fairly custom and part of the Trem design.

How is the 69 bridge design different than a regular knife edge or 2 point Strat style bridge? It looks like the old Variax 500/700Baggs bridge would fit.

Is there some reason you couldn't use something like this with some Graphtech saddles?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wilkinson-Electric-Guitar-2-Point-Knife-Edge-Bridge-with-Black-Block-/360863498815?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item540524023f

Looking ahead to various changes myself. I have a couple of other question, if ya don't mind. Do you plan to swap out the entire bridge on the 69 (and if so, does Graphtech make an entire compatible bridge), or just the saddles? Also, do you know if anything else is required, electronics wise, for the Graphtech piezos to work with the rest of the JTV hardware (like their Ghost preamp, for example)? Thanks...

I do not have a 69, I have the JTV 89. I will have to swap out the entire bridge with a Graphtech wraparound bridge.

For the 69 I would wait and see if Graphtech will offer the correct set of saddles, short of that it would be worth it to buy 2 sets of the mixed saddles to get a full set of the ones with the screws on the correct side.

Also, you could buy a regular knife edge Strat style bridge with the saddles that have the center mounted screws ($20 and up on Ebay) then buy a set of center-screw Graphtech saddles.

There seems to be a lot of inconsistency in the JTV bridges, many people are reporting saddle slop and noise and some have no problems - it might have something to do with the thickness of the plating/finish on the bridges, the thicker the plating is the tighter the saddle fit would be.

Do you have them in a JTV, or an older Variax?

I currently have Graphtechs in my Variax transplants, will be adding them to my JTV after my warranty expires in June.

My JTV is getting very little use at the moment due to the noisy/clicky-clacky piezos, after I swap in a Graphtech bridge and replace the neck I expect the JTV to be my #1 guitar for recording.

Graphtechs are looking better and better as the days go by...

Graphtechs are a neccessity IMO.

You know what would have secured you guys from NEVER having to buy a replacement piezo piece? HAVING A GROUND WIRE.

 

Well, that AND a better way of securing the piezo so that it does not flop around and make noise - the Graphtech piezos are sealed inside the saddle, all Variax piezos lay loose in a hole on top of the saddle. I never had any problem with the old Baggs saddles flopping around and making click-clack noise, that development came with the Tyler bridge and seems to be causing quite a few people here noise problems.

I'm particularly referring to the model packs that used to be the norm for Line6 before the HD series

"Norm"...?

Line 6 has sold lots and lots of different products over the years, how many allowed us to purchase/add model packs?

I can only think of a couple...

Johnyay or anybody else, how can I put the electronics of the Variax 300 to a hollowbody? Requires drilling and wood cutting or can I transfer them by ungluing the glue from the body?

Well lollipooooooooop... most of the info on Variax transplants seems to have disappeared from the web over the years, once upon a time there was a site that showed a hollowbody conversion step by step as it was being done.

For my White Falcon copy I cut a hole in the back of the body, I put all the V300 electronics into a small project box from Radio Shack, then I made a rear cover plate for the guitar and screwed the box to the cover plate. I cannot access the switching or the knobs as they are sealed in the box, all tone selection is done by VDI/HD500. I could have easily put the knobs on the body but I didn't want anyone to know it was a Variax, the only giveaway visually is the jackplate.

It was an easy conversion and took only about a day of work start to finish, wouldn't take much longer if I had installed the pots and the switch normally.

For the bridge I used a GraphTech Tune-O-Matic.

I don't know how to open the body and reglue it to avoid cutting the hole in the back of the body, a luthier could probably tell you that.