snhirsch

If the Maglok is letting things go flat on bends, then it is not properly adjusted. When setup properly the guitar behaves like it has a fixed bridge until you manually push on the bar. Before tightening down the screw that holds the Maglok body to the guitar, you have to be absolutely sure that the guitar is at pitch and (they don't mention this) oriented as if you are playing it - NOT laying face down on the bench. With the hook seated in the bridge block, pull the mounting bracket back until it JUST touches the sliding pins on the body of the Maglok and tighten the screw down firmly. You have to be very careful to take up all mechanical "slop" before tightening the screw or it wil allow some dive. It's very easy to accidentally be touching the strings or bridge when you are doing the setup and that throws it off. Maybe have a second person brace the guitar on its edge while you tighten it up? I have Magloks on both my JTV-69 and Roland / Fender Strat. Both are rock solid in terms of string dive under any bending you might imagine.

The HD-500 has virtual impedance selection, which strongly implies they are also modeling cable capacitance.

Who is going to help me clean the coffee off my monitor?

It's a little hard to tell from your posting exactly what you were trying to do. Were you trying to play the guitar with modeling active, update firmware or modify settings in HD workbench?

The first time I removed all the strings at once from my '69, the upward force vector from the bridge plate lifted one of the pivot screw inserts out of the body. Quality control on these instruments can be hit or miss.

Maybe I'm just too fussy, but I've yet to see a floating tremolo that stayed in tune without a positive return point (Maglok, Hipshot, etc.). Even with that, G string goes sharp after dives due to catching at the nut slot. A Graphtec nut helps quite a bit, but doesn't completely eliminate it. For almost 40 years, I routinely blocked the tremolo on any instrument I used for playing out. Two years ago I started working with another guitarist who used it to great advantage, so I took the leap and left the tremolo on my JVT-69 active. After the Maglok and the Graphtec nut, I'm no longer afraid to use it on stage. Just needed to condition myself to bend the G string or give it a quick tug after using the bar. I'll accept the fact that there are folks out there experiencing terrific stability on a stock setup, but I've never personally experienced it. Then again, I'm one of those lucky (?) folks who in the first five minutes of using a new piece of code, trip on the software bug that no one in test caught. And, back in the days of mechanical wristwatches, mine never kept time :-).

There are a couple of things you can try: Give the bent section of wire (part that pokes into the block) a very small bend with a pair of long-nose pliers. If you get it just right it will create enough friction to hold it in place without affecting operation. If you don't want to go that way, try sticking a plastic or wood block to the inside of the rear cover. The idea here is to space it about 1/16" from the wire so it keeps it from falling out. You don't want it in contact with the wire all the time, since that will affect tuning stability. You might also try contacting SuperVee. They seem like a very responsible bunch and may have other ideas to fix the problem. BTW, I cannot imagine what routing out the body would do for you. I've had a Maglok on my JTV-69 for a couple of years and it really tames the tuning issues.

I think you are talking about two different things. Serafimbob appears to be describing the programming cable, not the gig cable with Neutrik RJ connectors in shells. The programming cable that came with my JTV-69 has a bare plastic RJ-45 plug and requires that the release tab be pinched to remove it.

Really... Wish I'd known that two years ago :-). They are not doing themselves any favors with the setup of their web site. I do not recall seeing anything about "in stock" when I was poking around. It was a while ago, but my definite impression was that everything was custom.

Even the (less expensive) Mighty-Mite replacement necks make quite a difference. Compared to the Warmoth offerings, maybe more like "night and early morning" than "night and day" :-) I looked longingly at the Warmoth necks, but between the long lead time and price I couldn't justify it. For my fingers and playing style the stock '69 neck was a disaster.

That type of relay is not a good bet for switching the raw piezo output. The voltage and current levels are too low to punch through even a small amount of oxidation, and oxidize they will. If you want to use relays, look for hermetically sealed units. Something like an Omron G6A series (check Mouser, DigiKey, etc.). They all appear to be DPDT, so you'll need three.

Yup. My JTV-69 was officially new, but had been on the wall at GC Boston for so long the strings were rusty.

And, the cheap bridge-piece transducers used in the JTV-69 (let's call them what they are) are prone to degrading over time. After installing ground wires on my 69 to eliminate wandering string volumes I'm now hearing a harsh "smacking" sound when picking the low-E string. This weekend I get to disassemble the guitar for the second time and replace the transducer outright. I'm guessing the ceramic elements develop internal fractures as a result of vibration and age. Before anyone asks: Yes, I was very careful to avoid thermal shock to the element when soldering the ground wires. I've been doing this type of work for over 40 years and know to solder heat-sensitive devices. Line6 has some great concepts and convolution software behind their modeling guitars, but chintzing on the build quality and critical parts like the transducers does not serve them well. In particular, the engineering decision to omit a direct transducer ground wire was penny-wise and pound-foolish.

They didn't have any problem with the wording you used? There was a notice about trademarks / brandnames on their website.

FWIW, I had a lot of tuning stability issues with a bone nut on my JTV-69. They work great for guitars with a fixed tailpiece (I have one on my Les Paul), but tend to "grab" the string on tremolo bar dives, causing it to come back sharp. Finally swapped it for a Graphtec lubricated nut and haven't had a problem since.

Birds-eye Maple? What brand of neck of is that? Very nice!

Already posted. Mine is the one in the rightmost thumbnail at the top of this thread.

Have you not seen the AC power adapter? Line6 has made a couple of different types over the years. I picked up a little stomp-box sized unit on eBay. It powers from a wall-wart and connects to the guitar with a TRS "stereo" cable. The current model is a larger unit with a foot switch to direct the guitar output to two different amplifiers (think: FRFR for acoustic and combo amp for electrics). Either way, you never worry about batteries again.

Good choice. I have a Mighty-Mite on mine and it's a huge improvement over the OEM neck. Is yours a compound radius?

If the six batteries are connected in series, that means the 500 is expecting a 9v supply. JTV batteries are 7.2v.

Yes, works fine. I have a 5-string Telecaster programmed into position 1 under T-Model.

That picture looks good - and no ski-jumps at the ends of the frets! The OEM neck on my JTV-69 had really poor fret dressing. One more reason there's a Strat neck on it now.

Yes, all two-point bridges are prone to this. However, I haven't seen many where the torque starts pulling the pivot inserts out of the body! That happened to me the other week when I had to remove the bridge outright to work on the transducers. This was with a sheet of plastic under the back of the plate, BTW. It was quite a dance getting it back together and strung up to pitch. If the net force vector isn't at or very near a right-angle to the pivots the inserts start climbing out.

According to SteveKC, the string volume adjustment happens in the digital domain after A-D conversion. If that's the case, I'd be concerned about hotter pickupts overrunning the A-D stage. I assume you're not hearing any such ugliness?

I considered the Ghost pickup route, but another user (was it you? Don't recall...) mentioned that the height adjust set screws did not align well with the milled grooves on the bridge plate (JTV-69). Also, I believe that a set of (6) with the proper offset was a special order from GraphTec.