scottjennings

Sweetwater and a couple other authorized dealers are basically closing out their remaining inventory as it comes in. So there are good deals to be had if you are persistent. I’ve even seen some scratch and dent Shurikens for less than the cost of a Standard. I see nothing that suggests that Line 6 is still building instruments. And no one I know at Line 6, or Yamaha, has suggested there will be updated models. I’ve been following this pretty closely, as I buy new Variax models to create left-handed conversions

I've done two lefty conversions for myself. One from a JTV-59 to a 20 year old neck-through Ibanez, and the other from a Standard to a custom lefty Standard body. I am slowly building a shop to make guitars, and the first ones out of the gate for customers will be lefty Variax conversions. Since Yamaha won't do it... The CAD & CAM files are done. I had hoped to be up and running earlier this year, but had an issue with a new CNC machine I bought (and waited months for) that I had to return. I'm building my own machine to my own specs, and hope to be running test cuts in September. My plan is to do my slightly more elegant Standard body, and Strat & Tele style ones to start with, and work up to the set neck models. If anyone has other ideas, I'm open to hearing them.

The US ones are much more expensive, so typically custom ordered, and rarely on the resale market. The quality of the Variax Standard is a little iffy, but the other import models are really well made. Particularly the JTV-59. I was really impressed by its fit and finish.

I am currently transplanting and converting both a Variax Standard and a JTV-59 to lefty. The ridiculous thing is that the lefty recipient of the JTV-59 electronics was built in the same Korean factory as the JTV-59. My longer term goal is to do a short production run of left handed Standard bodies, so it will be a reasonably inexpensive conversion. We’re probably 3 months out on that project.

The Standard is based on the Yamaha Pacifica models. A Pacifica neck will fit on the Standard, but since they are basically the same neck that doesn’t solve the problem if you don’t like the neck’s feel. A Fender neck won’t work on the Standard body. The scale length is the biggest issue, but they also have different neck screw spacing/neck plate sizes. No one makes replacement Variax Standard/Pacifica necks. I looked into it while researching the lefty transplants I’m building for myself and a few lefty customers. Your best bet at this time is to have someone dress the frets and the fret ends, and set up the guitar to get a more pro feel out of the neck and guitar in general. You’d be amazed at what a difference this can make.