cruisinon2

Welcome to the new normal. I have only set foot in a big box music retailer once or twice in the last decade or so. I threw in the towel years ago when, in need of a new MIDI foot controller for whatever rack unit I was running at the time, I ventured forth to Silly Huge Music to procure said item. The aggressively pierced and tattooed cretin behind the counter literally scoffed at me, and proceeded to tell me: "Uh...that doesn't exist, bro". After pointing out the item that was just behind the counter about 6 feet away, I walked out and didn't return for years. A sad state of affairs...

Best scam ever...particularly amusing when the register jockey at Giant Electronics Emporium tries to get you to buy a $19.95 insurance policy on an $89 item. It should be accompanied by the following speech: "The CEO and shareholders would just love it if you would agree to pay 20% more for this item than you should. To that end, I will now attempt to terrify you into believing that despite it being statistically unlikely, you are about to purchase a lemmon, and spending more money is your only defense against that remote possibility. Please do not allow your decision to be influenced by the fact that you are 99.97% more likely to drown in marshmellow fluff than to actually have an occasion to use this warranty. Thanks for allowing us to rob you today, while convincing you that it was all your idea."

Bump... Definitely interested. Any updates on availability?

Been using AKG 240S cans for many moons...last pair died after about 15 years of regular use. Neighborhood of $100-$120 depending on the source. Semi-open back, low impedance (55 ohms if i'm not mistaken), but I've used them with the 500X without issue. Pretty flat response, good for mixing too.

Never seen one in a store in my neck of the woods either, and I'm within a 10 mile radius of 3 "Big Box" music retailers. These guitars are niche items, like it or not. The masses mostly aren't interested, hence the indifference from the big retailers. If they can't sell 2000 of them between Black Friday and Christmas Eve, they don't care how good an item is.

I'd start with a new set of strings. I'm amazed that any of the strings still stay in tune after 10 months...and there's no telling how long they were on the guitar before you got it. I can get a couple of weeks out of a set of strings on guitars that I don't play often...but my two main every day axes...4 maybe 5 days and the strings are toast. Even if you don't play much the strings will begin to corrode and lose their ability to stay in tune just sitting there. Pick up any guitar thats been hanging in a store and hasn't had a new set in months...they're always disgusting to the touch, and tuning stability is long gone.

Permanently ruin it? I doubt it, unless you soak the neck in a vat of the stuff. However, conventional wisdom says no lemon oil on finished necks... most of the oil is just gonna sit on top of the laquer, unlike ebony or rosewood boards which are completely unfinished. On those the oil will easily penetrate the grain. There are oil-finish only necks...but they seem to be rather rare as they are more prone to warping. Warmoth, for example, will sell you a raw neck, but won't warranty it if you apply an oil-only finish.

Thats a new one...numerous complaints about the alt tunings...'ghost notes', 'warbling', lack of sustain, etc...but never seen anyone say that an alt tuning produced octave harmonies.

Only time will tell...but as is often the case, first generation anything tends to have issues. Caveat emptor...

Lol...backwards nuts. Takes all kinds I guess. As far as dealing with the "brains" of the guitar, there are few with any experience at all I'm sure. But the neck, if it were not for the hole spacing, would be a drop-in replacement. Any half-way sentient luthier...if they succeed in making a living wrenching on guitars, should be able to handle it without too much drama.

Aside from being a happy customer, I have no ties to Warmoth whatsoever. IMHO, they make quality stuff at reasonable prices. And while I do not proclaim to be an expert, the idea that a wider nut will make the problem worse really doesn't make any sense. How do 7 and 8 string guitars function then? If the neck is wider, the nut is wider. String spacing will vary accordingly, but the E strings shouldn't be placed any closer to the ends of the frets than on any other properly built guitar in the universe. Otherwise every wide neck guitar on earth would suffer from this problem. I have a custom piece I commissioned years ago with a very wide and nearly flat, almost classical radius...wider string spacing than any production guitar I've ever owned, and neither E string has ever fallen off the fretboard. Unless of course you meant slapping a wider nut on the stock JTV neck...but who in their right mind would do that?

All JTV69 neck issues, be it simply a preference for a slightly wider nut, or to cure string-slip issues, are easily solved with a modest investment in a Warmoth neck, or any other replacement that is built to Strat neck pocket specs.

Only other thing to try is taking the battery out of the guitar when not in use...if it keeps a charge, then the problem is in the guitar somewhere and power is being drained when its not supposed to. Otherwise, its just a dead battery...either because its been through too many charging cycles and simply used up, or its defective.

An improperly cut nut or poorly dressed frets...either one could place the strings too close to the beveled end of the frets causing either E string to slip off. Wouldn't need much vibrato, if any, to make it happen.

Ahh...the good old days. When I was a kid I stood in line at a record store (remember those?) for hours to have Nuno sign my old Charvel Model 1, lol. Those are some great tunes...monster technique. His right hand was/is just as mindboggling as the left.

I seem to remember a post a while back from someone who claimed to work for Warmoth, who said that they did not make anything that would fit the neck pocket of the 89...don't know for sure though. Warmoth is pretty much the gold standard for replacement necks, but who knows, u might find an "off the rack" solution somewhere else. Failing that, you might have to find yourself a boutique shop somewhere and have one made that will fit the 89's specs.

I tried that combo...wasn't specifically looking for a VH tone, but I thought it sounded rather thin. But as always, your mileage may vary...

Yup, the official L6 VDI with the shroud connector.

Ok, so after an hour or so of playing the JTV69 thru my 500X, with the Lester-1 model in standard tuning, the guitar suddenly jumped into an alt tuning. At first I thought it was just me being sloppy, but quickly determined that this was not the case. I hadn't changed patches on either the guitar or the POD, and was nowhere near the alt tuning knob. Now the alt tuning knob itself was in the drop Db position...I usually don't pay too much attention to where it is, as each time the guitar is powered up it defaults to standard tuning anyway. Anyone else have this happen? I reflashed 2.1 just for giggles, and proceeded to play for several more hours leaving the alt tuning knob in the same spot, but playing in std tuning. Plenty of patch and model changes this time, but I could not get it to repeat the problem, so I'm hoping it was just a one-off digital fart...time will tell.

So I was playing around with HD edit on my 500X and my JTV69, tweaking as usual...noticed that on the MIXER page, under the Variax controls, where the tone knob position (percentage) is displayed, it maxes out at 98% even when I've got the knob wide open. At the same time, the POD's display reads 97%, and will go no higher. Moving it around, what's displayed in EDIT is often 1% off from what's displayed on the POD. I can set it too 100% either from EDIT, or on the POD itself, but not from the guitar. I never really noticed if this was always the case, or if it's a new "bug"...I usually don't have the tone control maxed out anyway, I'm used to rolling off at least a little depending on the tone. I tried the hard reset on the POD, didn't make any difference, and the guitar is otherwise functioning normally. Anyone else notice this weirdness?

lol...well I guess we can't have all those Amish folks buggy-ing home drunk, now can we?

1:30? What time do the bars close in your neck of the woods? I'm used to finishing the 3rd set around 2 or 2:30...usually strolling in around 4.

I don't see an issue with your proposed set-up. As long as you can hear yourself and like the tone you're getting, and the audience can hear you, who cares which cables are running where? And for what it's worth, it would never have occured to me to use the fx send as a monitor either, but it's probably not any more or less valid than your set-up. If it works, why not? I've always had one basic rule for playing live...if it sounds good and nothing catches fire, then all is well...get paid, hit the diner, go home and try not to wake up the dogs, lol.

I'll take the monkey off your hands if he can fetch beer... :D

Just as an FYI...I picked up my "regular" Strat last night for a while and noticed that she's developed some nasty fret buzz, particularly on the low E string. With the bridge pickup and moderate distortion, I was getting a similar sound to what you posted above...admittedly not quite as pronounced and "tinny" as what you're dealing with, but it got me to thinking...Is your 6th string buzzing at all? With the piezos as sensitive as they are, they might do some strange things with a nasty fret buzz. Just an idea...