cruisinon2

That is definitely a VDI cable...not sure what's giving you the trouble, but you've got the right item. You can't just grab it and shove it in like a 1/4" though. It only fits in one specific orientation. I'm guessing you've just got it turned the wrong way...

5 or 6 years in, and we're still fixing new $1000 guitars with little wads of paper and cardboard. Inspiring.

It will depend largely on the headphones. A good pair with a flat response, and all is well. Crappy cans will result in patches that don't translate well to studio monitors, or an FRFR amp.

Huh? Yes, I was goofing around...but only a little. This has nothing to with software, or a specific bunch of settings on Helix, the POD, or any other modeler in existence. I have no idea why the OP can't download anything...not the point I was trying to make. It's about the fact that there are WAY too many variables to ever expect any continuity when trying to use someone else's patches. The guitar that was used matters. The rest of the gear in the rig matters. The player matters. The room the player was sitting in when he built the patch matters. The list goes on...and it all contributes to the sound. And since the only thing everybody has in common is (in this case) Helix, and everything else changes from player to player, expecting a patch to sound the same for everybody who downloads it, is basically an appeal to magic...with predictably disappointing results. Don't waste your time.

Sometimes this is how the Tone Gods let you know that Customtone is a fabulous waste of time...consider yourself lucky, for they have chosen to smile upon you, and intervene on your behalf. You've just been spared days to weeks of aggravation, trying to find useful tones amidst a sea of cringe-inducing awfulness. ;)

I forget...you may be right. My neck didn't stay on long enough for me to care about the nut one way or the other. ;)

Lol, there's a "tool" for this now? Unreal. Well, anything that helps us all get fatter and lazier generally sells. God forbid we burn those 4.5 calories tugging on guitar strings ;) The "string-stretcher thingamewhozits" guy is probably a millionaire...

You need to connect a 1/4" cable to "turn it on". You can't monitor the sound through Workbench though. It's just an editor, there are no amp sims in there, and no output. You gotta plug into something else to evaluate the changes you make.

Wow. And an emphatic "no". Do you enjoy waiting a week for the strings to "settle in" so that you can play in tune? Frankly, that's ludicrous. Stretch and re-tune until no matter much you yank on it, it doesn't go flat anymore (or very little, anyway). Takes all of 5 minutes...if that. And you might find that the problem goes away. In fact, if you're not doing this, I'll bet you $20 that you don't need a new nut. Stretch the strings before you pay somebody for a nut install. You'll be able to buy 10 sets of strings instead... Like I said...9/10 times, this is the problem. Never ceases to amaze me though. It's as basic as it gets.

I'm sure Luther is an all-around swell guy...just make sure he knows something about guitars. ;)

Instead of worrying about whether or not the nut meets some arbitrary/theoretical definition of "correct" slot depth that you read online, just address the problem. A cheap plastic nut, is exactly that. Sometimes the strings bind in there if it's not cut properly and there are little jagged burrs for the string to catch on. Have a new one fitted. Also, and forgive me if this is not the case, but numerous times over the years I've had students complain of the same issue, and 9 out of 10 times it's a newer set of strings that were not adequately stretched when they were put on. Might wanna give that a try first. But if you're gonna obsess anyway, consider this: You might get the wound strings to protrude a bit above the top of the slot, as their diameters are considerably larger than the plain steels, so there's still plenty of string in the slot to keep it in place...but your gripe is about the G and B strings. These are tiny diameters we're talking about. In order for those strings to not be "buried" in nut, it would have to have slots so shallow, you'd be lucky if the string didn't fly out altogether when you bend it. And, with the resulting higher action, fretting anything on the first few frets would become really difficult.

Well according to this handy little converter, http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/note/ 425 Hz is G# + 40 cents, or a little more than a 1/4 step flat. I've had a million students over the years. I've seen every cheap tuner on earth...never seen one that bad. 60 cents flat is abysmal, but you certainly don't need a strobe tuner to get closer than that. Hell, the $9 clip-on that I bring to lessons is better than that. One (or both, but that's rather unlikely) of his tuners is suffering a glorious malfunction, or is just set incorrectly.

I agree...as long as this doesn't blossom into full-blown uselessness, I'm inclined to leave it alone. Certainly not going to pursue a repair at this point, because quite frankly, I suspect I'd get it back with the exact same issue.

No doubt. Everything is a racket. You can pay coming, or going...but pay we shall, lol. Good times! ;)

Well that wasn't my idea, lol. ;) Loss/theft insurance is one thing...probably a good idea of you have significant $$ tied up in your gear. Home owner's insurance may or may not be sufficient. Depends on the policy, I suppose.

Indeed. The very same advice I give for similar issues. The well has run dry, though...actually the can's not empty, but the nozzle decided to crap out too. Nothing coming out. Gotta pick up another can. When it rains, it pours, lol.

Sure...as long as it just happens to sh*t the bed during the first year. There are certain things you buy, knowing full well that in a couple of years, they're gonna crap out on you. Cheap appliances, budget printers, universal remotes, etc etc. But a $1000 guitar shouldn't be that fragile, imho. If I'm not swinging it around my head, or setting it on fire, I should get more than 2+ years from a volume pot. I have guitars that cost half as much, with pots that have outlasted this one by decades. Yeah, yeah it's wired up to fancier stuff that a normal guitar...but nifty technology is only worth something if it's sturdy and reliable. If I wasn't 99.97% certain that my car will stop when I get on the brakes, I'd be walking everywhere.

There's a reason that the phrase "they don't make 'em like they used to" endures...

You can assign it to any foot switch you want, and turn it on or off, same as you would any other effect in the chain.

Build quality of the guitar itself is generally not the issue...the electronics on the other hand, can have any number of issues anywhere from day one to never. Mine just started misbehaving after about 3 years of "all good"...see the other thread I started today, re the volume knob. "The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to clog the drain." - Capt. Montgomery Scott ;)

I thought about that, but I checked and the controls are "unlocked". I prefer to be able to adjust them on the fly. Thanks, though...

Yeah, I dunno...it seems to be losing track of the knob's position somehow, and defaulting to "full throttle". I'll have to try it with the battery and 1/4", and see if the same thing happens, as well with the mags, and other patches on the POD. Didn't have the strength to go into a full-blown analysis the other night, lol. We shall see...but it is a fairly minor issue, and so far has not manifested itself while actually playing, so until the volume starts jumping all over the place mid-tune, I'm inclined to not poke the bear too much. This absolutely reeks of the kind of problem that my friendly neighborhood "authorized service center" would have trouble reproducing or diagnosing, as they're half-listening whilst I describe the issue...

Lol...odd, ain't it? Further troubleshooting is definitely required. Not sure if it's confined to one patch or not. I was recording at the time, so I was just using the one tone, levels all set, wasn't messing with the POD once I had everything where I wanted it, so that remains to be seen. As for the behavior of the volume knob... With the knob at zero, sound returns...if I then roll up slowly from what should still be "zero", as soon as I move the knob just a little, the volume drops to what I'd expect for the physical position of the knob at that point, and normal functioning returns. I can go up/down from there, and everything is fine. But as soon as I back off to nothing again, the problem repeats itself. I tried rolling off to about 50% and letting everything sit, and nothing seems to happen. Still functions normally when I pick it up, and the volume is where I left it. Seems to only be associated with backing off the volume completely. Bizarre.

My 69 is 3 years old now (well I've had it for 3 years. It's a 2012 build). Was rock solid until just recently...the problem is minimal, but annoying. If I roll off the volume completely, and don't touch anything on either the guitar or the POD for a couple of minutes, the volume mysteriously returns, as if I had rolled it back to 100%. Weird. I'm always connected with VDI...never use the battery. Was using models at the time, not sure if the mags do it, as I don't use them much...just started in the last couple of days. Discuss...

It's a longshot given that the models work OK, but the only other thing to try is another VDI cable. Don't think it's the POD, because all is well with the 1/4". Pretty much has to be either the guitar, or the cable.