slockrem

Thanks for the clarification, the inclusion of the wraparound is what thew me. It's a shame that they don't, they really are a great combination

Really good stuff, looking forward to future videos

Are you using the usb hub, or through an hd 500/500x? I did have that fail message 2 times in the past...a reboot of all units (hd 500 and computer) and it went smooth

There were definitely some mods required to go graph tech on my 59, however on the 69 you may want to investigate. They state on their site: Can I replace the saddles on my Line6 Variax with ghost saddles? You can replace the LR Baggs saddles on your Strat-style Variax bridge with Graph Tech ghost saddles (PN-8000-00). These are made of String Saver composite material, and house pickups similar to the ones that came with your Variax. Unfortunately, at the present time we do not offer saddles that are compatible with the wraparound design. Even though the don't say JTV, I think that is what they are referring to since they mention the wrap around bridge also. Just a thought. If that is indeed the case, a very easy solder job would have you up and running. Email their tech support.....they were very helpful

Great Co. No question where future purchases will be made......unless I just have to have it right now of course :rolleyes:

Thanks clay-man, and well put! I can't say enough good things about Line 6, I am on my third product (XT, HD 500 and the 59), and likewise I have been thrilled with Graph Tech (previously used a resomax bridge on my Schecter). You're already using the Tusq nuts....let's complete the package. There are always going to be things that some will like and others won't, but this issue seems to be one that can be solved. Just out of curiosity....anyone with and 89F of those that have replace the saddles on their 69's having any issues piezo wise??

Congrats on the purchase and being happy with it. My 59 is honestly the best guitar I have played......the modeling (to me) is just a fantastic bonus. In all my research before my purchase, that was the one thing that kept bring me back to it....it's great just as a guitar. I should also say that I got it through Sweetwater, and they were excellent. Ian Angle followed up a couple times just to make sure everything was going well. Really nice to get that from an online purchase......glad you got to actually try out the options. Enjoy!

I am finding (so far) that the acoustics are the only thing I am having to lower

https://soundcloud.com/slockrem/lester-neck-test Here's an electric test. Lester/neck/Neal Schon type custom tone. I hit the A and Low E strings really hard during the chorus section.

Thanks! You keep everything around that 85% or just the acoustics? That's on your 89 right? I still need to go through patch by patch, model by model to really see where things are at now and adjust to taste. I should have a few electric samples up tonight

A mystery indeed. Glad you found your solution too.

I was never able to get rid of it. Sometimes it was less pronounced depending on the model and patch. I always wondered too if it had something to do with the piezos just sitting inside of the saddle holder (for lack of a better word). There is a tiny bit of play in there, and obviously that is how they are getting grounded. Maybe a combo of that and just being easily over driven. I tried a set of 9's once to see if that made a difference....I had seen a thread once on it being more pronounced with heavier gauges. Maybe I should have tried a set of Billy Gibbons 7's LOL. I think you hit it on the head. It's the inconsistency here that is frustrating for those of us having the issues.

True, but it was across most models in my case, or I should say all the ones that I used. I misunderstood and thought you were looking for something a bit more exact to your case. I'll be sure to include the Lester in the electric test though

Here's the wiring/bridge filing pics. In the circuit board pic, just in case someone wants tho know, top to bottom the wiring is Ground, Low E, A, D, G, B, High E, Ground. In the wiring pic, what you have on the piezos are 2 wires going to a small plug. I soldered a pin on some wires and plugged the pins into the piezo plugs and then used heat shrink to seal. Then it was just a matte of splicing/solder/heat shrink the wires to the wires coming off of the connector on the circuit board. All the splices are contained below the battery. I am sure I could streamline this a bit now knowing that everything is working....BUT...it works and now I just want to play. ;)

Thanks, much appreciated. Yes, I did turn them down....both at 50%. Now to be honest, do they have to be that low? I don't know....I just started there. They are definitely hotter though. Much experimenting to do :D

Well first off, thanks....one take...yeah right, I finally gave up and said good enough to hear. My kids are screaming at me to play something else LOL. Sorry, I should have added that...yes 2.10 firmware. Are you using the stock lester model? I can set something up similar to what you use Amp/Effects wise if you want to get a comparison. I have not come across any noises other than the sweet sound of the strings in any combination thus far.....here's hoping!! I think you are right on the Graph Techs, I am really happy with how this turned out

https://soundcloud.com/slockrem/ghost-rr-testwav Here's an acoustic test. J model to start, D 12 to finish. Only Plate reverb added 40% decay, 4ms pre delay, 55% tone, 25% mix. Recorded in Reaper

Makes life easy doesn't it?

Thanks, and I am! I am going to try to get some up in the next day or so. It wasn't that I was looking for a different sound tonally , it really was just that metallic plink on the 6th that was bugging me. There was something in the documentation that the saddles have natural compression and won't overload the input which gives you the plink. You could be absolutely right, is there really a warmer tone or am I just "hearing it" because something new is on the guitar? I really wish I had done some recording ahead of time to really A/B them for myself. Hopefully others can give some feedback on the tonal comparison with the stocks once I get something up here. No question on them being much hotter output though....maybe the 89's are compensated for them already?

Exactly! Short of that though, just thrilled with the tuning stability. Now......what else can I do to this thing?? :rolleyes:

You're very welcome. I am sure I will come across something, let's face it, nothings perfect. This does certainly seem to address one of the biggest complaints that I have seen though (plink) and honestly the only one that I experienced, so for me at this point it was well worth it. I know in the FAQ questions on the Graph Tech site it states that they don't have replacement piezos for the baggs wrap around YET...whether that means they may be coming or not, or just the way that they worded it, who knows. That would certainly be ideal as the circuit board under the bridge is already set up with ground pads (unused for the stock piezo) and would be a quick solder job to get it done.

Funny enough I did that just prior to the bridge upgrade. I went with the Planet Waves auto trim lockers. Really happy with those too....no more giving blood samples LOL

If that were the only reason that I switched, then I would agree. It certainly is a side benefit of the Graph Tech bridge however IMO

I will certainly keep you posted. On your points: Yes, Korean Graph Tech NW1 PN-8593-CO WH The biggest one (scariest) was that I had to enlarge the insert holes on the body as the Graph Tech inserts have an outer diameter that is larger. Basically I set it up on the drill press with a bit that fit the existing hole and just plunged it in (drill off) to make sure I was square. it was really close just lying on its back....just shimmed the body a touch on the low E side. Now to overcome the slight width difference of the bridge, I mounted the bridge pins in a drill and with a file a removed some of the inner section of both pins (the section that the bridge actually wraps around). I also sanded the chrome off the inner "U" shape on the bridge (the part that wraps around the pin)...just folded some 400 grit in a U shape and ran in through. You can't see this once it's mounted....it doesn't look modified. Finally on the underside of the bridge (the section below the U shape) was filed...again just removing the chrome. The last step there was done to give me enough wiggle room to have the action on the low E side higher (I have mine set 4/64 high E and 5/64 low E). I know what your saying...he did all that to a new bridge?? Yes, I could have plugged the existing holes and re-drilled, but I wanted this reversible if need be. I would rather play with a bridge than take a chance of ruining a good guitar. Again, none of the chrome removal shows. And as it is not steel, you aren't going to have any rust creeping up over time. I will include some pics of the filed/sanded areas so that you can get a better idea of what I did. As far as the wiring, again I think it will just be easier to take some pics for you, but I found an 8 pin connector that fit on the board and was able to just make a nice splice between the Ghost connectors and the board. The bridge I got through Music123.com, about $180 with shipping and maybe another $20 miscellaneous....wire, connectors etc. The bridge effects all the tones...higher output, and warmer. I prefer it No ghost notes whatsoever. I can't say that I had them prior to this either though I would agree 100% I found I had to cut back on the acoustic volumes more than anything. A warmer tone for sure. I'll include some of the wiring pics too...as you stated there is a signal and ground wire for each peizo. I found a way to keep the stock Graph tech connector intact as well as not disturb any Jtv wiring. It could be switched back relatively easily. I would just have to get new threaded inserts to match the new slightly larger holes in the body and metric threads to match the Baggs.

It did, it's been about a week now and I have not heard one plink. Yeah, I kept hoping I would see a replacement piezo come out from Graph Tech, but the other side of it is that I also like the look of the bridge better and the fact that the strings actually wrap around the bridge now. Not that the baggs is bad by any means, but it was always a PIA changing strings....keeping that ball end in. I will try get some sounds clips up for you today/tomorrow with whatever patch info so that you can A/B