cruisinon2

I'm too old to mince words...;)

Quick, look up! You'll see the point sailing right over your head.

Ooh, ooh! Tell the story about your credentials again. I haven't been awed yet today...;)

Oh, they absolutely have finished necks in stock, and you can't un-drill a hole...what's done is done. And an up-charge for doing EXTRA work, outside your SOP is fair. But less work, even if that's "not how we do things here", is still less work. I'll bet money that those holes are the last step anyway. That being the case, for Bob's order, when it's time to drill holes...just don't. Presto! All done, box it up and give it to UPS...;)

"Special handling"? A post-it saying "Don't drill holes in this one" would suffice. And unless you're the Jesse Owens of the drill press, in terms of man-hours, I don't see how drilling 4 holes is less costly than writing a 6 word note. Hell, you could use the same note a thousand times...

Those videos are the worst yardstick in the world to compare your tones against. Claims in the "notes" section notwithstanding, you have no idea how it was actually recorded, or what was or wasn't done to it after the fact. Your rig is never gonna be exactly the same as the guy noodling away on the screen. And yes, there are growing pains for pretty much everybody when moving to an FRFR rig. It's a totally different head space...you can't treat it as you would a guitar amp, because it just isn't. In fact, I'd say that if you had instant tonal bliss right out of the gate, it's either dumb luck, or divine intervention.

Lmao! Good luck. Ask for a foot rub while you're at it... They've been steadfastly refusing to divulge those very specs for years because we mere mortals can't possibly be trusted make the adjustments correctly (do I use the pointy end of the screwdriver, or just bash at it with the big red plastic part? ;) )... Allegedly, "too many guitars were ending up on his bench" when the specs were publicly available.

That is baffling, isn't it? "We're going to charge you more money to NOT drill holes". The world is an odd place.

This reminds me of a shooting range I went to once...they were trying out a new promotion: "Point It Anywhere You Want Tuesdays". So many ambulances....I never went back. ;) This is what sound checks are for. Without a soundman, somebody needs to take charge and stand out front with a nice long cable and actually listen to what's going on. If your singer has been crooning away in Chinese this whole time, that might be something you'd wanna know...

Yes, I know...I've done it, lol. When I said they'll all fit, I was only referring to the heel and pocket dimensions. The offset holes obviously need to be dealt with.

A "best" amp/cab/mic/string(s)/pick(s)/toothpaste/chainsaw/canoe/hip waders/ or fondue pot, for any given application....wait for it....doesn't exist! If something works for you, congratulations, you're done. If not, try others until you find something that does. My "best" might be your "worst". Maybe you'll hit it on the first try, or maybe it'll take a year and a day....

All of Warmoth's Strat replacement necks will fit...the aesthetics of the headstock don't matter, just the heel dimensions, and those haven't changed since 1954. Order anything you like...those giant headstocks make it look like your guitar has a pituitary problem, if you ask me. Unless of course you're looking for it to double as a field hockey stick...;)

Planet Waves Auto-Trim tuners...you'll thank me later. But if not, you may have to actually pop one out and measure the hole. L6 is famous for not divulging info like this. "Since you can't be trusted to replace the tuners on your own without screwing it up, we won't tell you how big the holes are", or something similar is usually the rationale.

The mixer is superfluous...for what you want to do, you just don't need it. Any DAW you see fit to use (and until you get up into Pro-Tools territory, they're all essentially the same), Helix, plus a minimal investment for some decent drum sounds are all you need...That Boss thing was cutting edge somewhere around 1985...you won't believe what's possible now.

Reaper...$60 http://www.reaper.fm/

Send it back...it ain't new, and it's gonna be an albatross.

First, invest ~$150 or so in EZ Drummer 2...that old Boss machine is an abacus. And if you're a Mac guy, the version of Garageband that comes with the newer machines is a very capable DAW for getting your feet wet. Forget the mixer for now. Just use the Helix as your interface.

Could it be done? Sure, with enough time and sufficient knobulating... You could also run a marathon in ski boots and an old brass diving helmet, but why would you? It'll take 10 times longer, and you'll be crippled when you're through. It's hard enough to get theses things to sound good when you're only concerned about one amplification method, let alone two that are polar opposites, running simultaneously. It's a whole lot of wasted energy. If you really love a tube amp roaring away, great. Do that, and mic it like we've all (many of us anyway) been doing for years. Gigging is enough work without giving yourself extra obstacles.

Retail is a cesspool. Returned and/or "demo" items get pawned off as "new" all the time. Invariably, stuff is missing. Send it back. Order one from Sweetwater.

Ahh, quality control... Glue. Preferably something that you might actually be able to remove again, if need be...I'd stay in the rubber cement family, rather than Crazy Glue. Those knobs sometimes require a small shim inside. If you wake up one day and pushing down on the knob doesn't engage the models anymore, it's usually because the shaft can't travel far enough to trigger the switch...hence the need for a shim. Common problem. Those knobs are...well let's just say "not terribly robust" parts.

You don't need anything fancy...just play out of tune and then blame it on the reed (well...strings in this case, I suppose). ;)

"I'm not good in groups. It's difficult to work in groups when you're omnipotent." ;)

That's a separate issue. Amps and headphones are two very different animals, with wildly different frequency responses. Getting a modeler (in you're case, two modelers) to sound good through both almost always requires extensive editing from one to the other.

Yup. I probably should have said that initially...boosting the mids is only one way to get more. Pulling down the lows and highs a bit accomplishes the same thing, and sometimes works better. EQ is quite often about ridding yourself of frequencies that you don't want, rather than boosting the desirable ones. You can easily end up with too much of everything..."sonic vomit", if you will. ;)

It's gonna be a nightmare to tweak those patches. You'll end up with two very diffrent tones...what you're hearing on stage and what's going out front are never gonna sound the same. Get one sounding good, the other one likely won't.