cruisinon2

Everyone needs to learn the difference between a professional luthier with a love for their craft, and their friend who "likes to work on guitars". Would I leave the electronics in the hands of anybody within 6 feet of a workbench and tools? No. But installing a neck is well within the wheelhouse of any competent luthier..."competent" being the operative term. Lord knows there are guys out there who can't be trusted to tie their own shoes, let alone fix guitars properly. However, the guy who did mine is very good at what he does, yet had never been in the same room with a JTV before. It didn't bother me in the least, because I've seen his work...and nothing caught fire. Same guy did a g&p and set-up a year later, same result. Caveat emptor...

OK, you know what he has. I don't, and never claimed otherwise. For the record, neither myself, nor anyone else who participated in the discussion was suggesting the OP solve his problem by replacing the neck with another identical one...that would make absolutely no sense at all. He asked a question, said he wasn't terribly fond of the neck, and at least two of us offered the same viable alternative that many have managed without incident.

I don't have any pics at the ready, but on mine the leads from the piezos run to a small board on the front of the sustain block. Additional wire(s) go straight through the block itself to the main board in the other routed cavity behind the bridge. The older design had the wires wrapping around the sustain block...there are pics of it buried in old threads somewhere, I just don't have the patience to look for 'em. It was my understanding that they did away with that set-up...

With all due respect, he never mentioned a serial number, only that it was less than a year old. Stock sometimes sits in warehouses, or forgotten on the wall of some out of the way music store for years...so who knows what specs it has? And even if it is from a production run with "current specs", that certainly doesn't preclude a nut that was not properly slotted, or shoddy fret dressing...just because something isn't "supposed" to happen, doesn't mean that it didn't. A new nut and/or a new neck might very well solve his problem.

No, no. I replaced the neck with a Warmoth. Stock one went to the toothpick factory. ;)

Sure...if it's slotted too close to the edge, the string can slip off. New nut couldn't hurt.

There were lots of complaints early on about both E strings slipping off the fretboard. Imho, it's either an improperly cut nut, or an attempt to maintain a somewhat normal string spacing on the lower frets with what is a narrower nut width than on the majority of production guitars out there. I found it pretty close to unplayable for open position chords. It didn't last more than 2 months before I replaced it.

Lol...what a swell deal. Where can I sign up to have Ford start billing me now for the Mustang I plan on buying sometime next year? ;) Nothing on this earth is that good...

This they actually fixed. The wires don't wrap around the sustain block anymore, they go straight through it...pretty much solved the binding issue.

That is a distinct possibility. Depending on how old a build it is, wires catching on things was a problem with the earlier versions of the bridge. At some point they redesigned/rerouted the wires back there. You'll have to open up the back and take a look. I recall some old threads with pictures showing the two different designs. They're old though, you'll have to dig for 'em....

Well that will depend on what it is that you didn't like about the neck...because here's the rub; On the US version, maybe the frets aren't just pressed in by some guy on an assembly line, and maybe they're leveled, crowned, and dressed properly, the nut cut perfectly, etc etc....but the neck itself is still the same specs as the Korean one. So if you didn't like it because the profile is too chunky, or because of the hilariously narrow nut width, then it won't matter if the frets are polished by vestal virgins...you probably won't like this one either.

Everyone would save a great deal of aggravation if you just canceled your orders, and waited for the dust to settle...sooner or later, wandering over to your local Shredstraveganza Inc. and picking up a Helix will be as simple as acquiring a 6-pack (the drinkable kind ;)). Till then, why torture yourselves? It's either no Helix AND high blood pressure, or just no Helix....

I wouldn't buy a pick from a store with no return policy. Even if they can get away with it legally, it just ain't good for business...

I'll preface this by saying I've never seen any of the US Customs, so maybe they're the most wonderful guitars in the universe, I have no idea...and you'll know soon enough. What I do know is this...what is generally passed off as "custom", rarely is. Doesn't matter who's selling it. There are usually vague promises of more attention to detail, different/"better" cuts of wood, and a few more colors to choose from...and that's pretty much where it stops. And somehow this justifies charging 4x as much for an axe with the exact same specs as the "everyman" version. Having spent a significant amount of money on a boutique instrument a while back, I know what can be had for that amount of money...and when you find the right luthier, you won't be stuck with whatever specs they throw at you. You'll pick the wood, the neck profile, hardware, pickups...it will be exactly what you want, and it will be unique. When it's one guy who's livelihood depends on satisfying the customer in front of him, you'll get a superior product...no, it won't have the fancy electronics (unless you find a guy willing to do a transplant), but you've got that already anyway. Either way, good luck with it!

Ditch it now while you can still return it without too much hassel...unless you want to try the "raise the action by a gnat's eyelash" dance.

Your guess is as good as their's...;)

I really have no desire to make a federal case out of this, or hijack the thread even further. I was merely addressing the fact that I had been labeled "cynical". Apparently what you see as cynical, I see as realistic...and that's fine. Opinions vary. However, as you can see from this thread, "Pacifica variant" was definitely not the first explanation offered.... http://line6.com/support/topic/12019-variax-standard-april-11/# Here's a post from that thread: "I asked DI about which model Pacifica they used and he told me flat out that while it looks like one, it was designed by Line 6's industrial and product designers in conjunction with Yamaha's custom shop in Burbank, CA. He told me it's Line 6's pickup design, Line 6's neck design, Line 6's headstock and pickguard design, and the body style is Line 6's too (their industrial designer was obviously inspired by Pacifica, as they knew Yamaha was going to manufacture it)..." So you can read into that anything you wish. To me, it sounds an awful lot like someone going to great lengths to convince me that the cat in my lap, is actually a dog. If that makes me a cynic, so be it. Sorry for the interruption folks...we now return you to this week's episode of "Where's My Helix?", already in progress. ;)

Call it whatever you like if that makes you feel better, but there's not a company on earth that doesn't look for ways to cut overhead...especially when a larger entity comes in and buys out a smaller operation. Once someone else is paying the bills, the new benevolent overlords dispatch a squad of suits with clipboards, who scurry about demanding to know "what is this, and why are we spending money on it?" It's as inevitable as the tides...company I work for is in the middle of this delightful experience right now. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that a company like Yamaha, which already makes guitars, would show up and question why they should keep paying a third party to design their instruments...is this what happened? I don't know, I don't get invited to those meetings. But I do know that if you put a pic of the Standard alongside a pic of a Pacifica, they're damn-near identical. Coincidence? Maybe, but it would be an award-winning coincidence...

Well its the definition of EOL that matters...in my field (medical imaging), end of life means no more parts, no more paying their FE's to show up to fix something, even if it wouldn't require replacement hardware. However, they typically stop producing and selling a given model loooooooong before it's declared EOL. And thats what everybody wants to know....whether or not there are any more coming. Seems there are retailers saying 'no'...support and active production are two different things.

I think that's called "if we sell these instead we don't have to cut checks to James Tyler anymore"...;)

That's nice...but the question is do they actually have any units in stock to go with the promotion?

Retailers have been lying to customers since looooooooooong before Al Gore invented the interwebs...;)

I rest my case...

Haven't tried to pull that particular rabbit out of the JTV's hat, but as much as I enjoy the guitar, I suspect the "buy a cheap bass" approach will be infinitely more satisfying than asking the guitar to impersonate one...but who knows? You might get lucky.

Yup...in all likelihood, Yamaha is just a wallet. Day-to-day ops have probably changed very little, if at all.