I have made a few posts on other threads regarding the acoustic models and my issues with them..so I started from scratch and started taking into account my limitations, meaning hearing loss in the high range and a repaired left arm Bicep tendon ..Which makes it necessary for me to have low action and light strings in order to play with the least pain, So when I recieved my V.S. the action was good enough, I'd like lower but was worried about fret buzz , now it is very hard to impossible for me to hear this buzz unless amplified...At first playing I did not hear any buzz and all sounded fine except the acoustic and some reso models......so i ended up having a friend come over to tell me if he could hear any fret buzz (un amped) I felt silly when he said , " you can't hear that?, I couldn't anyway with his help we adj the action at the bridge/saddle till the buzz stopped at moderate pick attack (I play repetitively light) just to add the neck relief is spot on, right out of the box, so no messing with that for now at least. After us raising the action at the saddle I played the acoustic models and they sounded a lot better, I wish thy sounded better but understand they will never (to me) sound as good as a real acoustic. these will do with a little external help. Now my problem is the action is to high (for me, I'd venture to guess it might be fine for many other players) very painful to play for long..let me also add that the nut slots are a tad bit high and could be lowered but I would have to take it to a setup professional...I use to do this when needed on guitars I have owned but at my age and shakiness I dare not attempt that. I am now satisfied that there is nothing wrong with the "internals" "electronics" of my Variax S. such a relief!......but I still have to decide what to do about the action and buzz, I set it to where I'm comfortable with playing the acoustic settings are useless (it does not take much buzz to ruin those models), and a little buzz does not destroy the other models. I can always run at a livable lower action and go thru my Zoom A3 which does an excellent job along with the Variax sense I will mainly be using it for recording......when I play out it will now be the Variax and one acoustic. not several electric guitars and/or pedals. I plan on upping the string gauge slightly to see if that will help with buzz at a lower action...If I understand correctly the string gauges on the Variax are .010, .013, .017, .025, .034, .046 let me know if that's incorrect, I'm not sure what to try first a lighter gauge string and raise the action (and re setup guitar) or slightly heavier gauge strings and hopefully lower action?
Well that's my Variax Standard story so far, just writing this post helped me relax!
Mike