Don_

It is all the same for now, lost my job today so no new gear anytime soon.

I've seen several comments about the variax standard being a Pacifica with added electronics. As I was not familiar with the Pacifica series I did a quick search and found guitars from less then 200 £ all the way up to 700 £. I've got no idea what sets those different models apart, is it only different hardware or is it also the body and the neck? Reason I ask is if I know what model is the variax it will be much easier to find a local shop that carries Yamaha guitars so that I can test the guitar. For me the neck is a big deal. Often it comes down to if I like the neck or not when playing guitars. And it is very hard to find a local shop that has variax guitars. If I know what guitar from the Pacific model is the variax I can just look for a shop with that specific Yamaha and do all the testing I need, and then order a variax online if I am liking the yamaha.

Too bad this thread lost traction and momentum. Have you guys seen this? https://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/quick-tip-midi-translation-midi-to-keystrokes--audio-6914

What I am after is not necessarily a JTV or a variax guitar. It is more the variax experience I crave. If I could go out and buy only the variax electronics to transfer them into any guitar I would do that, and I would know that the outcome would be to my satisfaction because it was mounted into a guitar I know and love. And should I get bored with the variax, well hey I could just use the guitars original pickups and still be happy. What kind of witchcraft is actually going on in a variax guitar? Is the guitar itself without DSP? What I mean is that the knobs and toggles and piezo pickup the only electronic wizbang inside a variax guitar and the processing takes place like in a variax compatible amp, multi FX or pc software? Or is it more to it? What happens if just the standard jack is connected to any non-variax compatible amp? Only magnetic pickup working? Or will guitar still do drop D tuning with the turn of a knob? When using a variax amp you can go to town with easy tuning, sounds etc. So is the whizbang in the guitar itself or in the amp/multi FX pedal or pc?

Yeah I am gonna order neck at the same time. Get things shipped overseas is a PITA and delivery can be anything from a forth night to up to 12 weeks. Then there is custom and handling could be several weeks for that too. I'll be damned if I am gonna look up at a guitar on the wall for 12-16 weeks and not be able to play that thing comfortable. Hey it is only money, it seems to always find its way out of my pocket anyhow. Worst case I loose some money. Best case scenario the fat neck is perfect for me and I double the money when selling the unused neck. But I have not made up my mind yet. It could be that the slimmer profile neck on the Variax standard work out well for me. And it is made by yamaha so that should mean something. After all, Yamaha know guitars. And has decent quality on their builds.

Well I do have played fat nack guitars earlier and they don't really sit well with me. And everyplace I read about the guitar it seems they all mention the fat neck. So yes I am pretty sure neck won't sit well. And as I will need to order online both guitar and neck it would make sense to have them both arrive at the same time. That way rather then ending up not playing the guitar for however long it takes for a new neck to arrive I can just make the swap and be done with it. If it turns out neck does fit well then I am out 500 for a new neck. Still huge savings from a us custom. And most likely I can get some money back by selling the neck if I don't use it. Reason I asked about pickups is I read that us custom used different pick ups then the standard series. Usually swapping pickups is not that expensive and give you lots of value for money. So I figured if they had to save money someplace pickup would be sensible place to save as the guitar is made for being a variax first and foremost. If swapping pick ups means some gain it might be worth it if one need to play with using the variax modelling piezo pick up for some reason.

This thread seems to have lost traction, maybe it is possible to revive it? Sure would love to see more modded JTV guitars, what neck type people chose and how pleased they are with the new neck.

Reading on the forum it seems that many people are very pleased by going for the standard jtv's and then do a neck upgrade. Looking at prices for Warmoth necks that might be a very affordable way to upgrade a JTV and make it more into what neck I like and what best suits me. Heck i could save even more as that neck swap would work great with a used Jtv But there are issues to solve before diving into a replacement neck. Like what kind of tuners to get and what tuners will in fact be an upgrade over the standard ones. Should a neck upgrade also trigger upgrade of pickups? If so what pickups to look for? Never modded a guitar this way before so this is all new to me. I guess the neck swap will be fairly easy. Probably the pickups will swap fairly easy. Maybe a little soldering job needed? I will take a few days and think this over before rushing off buying stuff. I can get a little too eager when it comes to gear and I have in the past wasted money on gears that turns out not the be the right one for me. So while I think this over, let me know what else then the neck you would consider swapping out from a JTV guitar? This still leaves out the variax standard made by Yamaha. Has people compared that to a JTV or JTV us custom? Here is one short youtube on the standard vs Jtv.

So jumping into variax guitar I got problems making up my mind. Locally there is no store that sells Variax guitars. So I do not have the luxury of testing them all. I must by online. Afaik the hardware and the pickups and similar on all variax models, correct? Variax Standard.Made by Yamaha. How well does this guitar play straight off the show room? Does the guitar require additional setup and work done by luthier, or will it work well right out of the box? If you ever play your variax standard without the variax cable and functionality how did that go for you? Are pick ups good? What about the neck and the frets, does this feel like a entry level guitar for you or does guitar feel, play and sound like more expensive model? I am not after a direct comparison between this standard and a real strat from late 50's. It's more a question of the money saved by producing the body and neck in Japan really makes you feel that, and is that in fact a good thing as Japan have been doing great in manufacturing with low tolerances in production for the past 4 decades? How noticeable is to play a JTV's vs JTV Us custom? About 3000 dollar saved from one to the next. What does rectify spending that much more on a US Custom over a regular JTV? I mean I understand things will be different, and those differences can be nimble and hard to notice for someone. But how well does the differences between them present itself over a little longer period? Say you played both of the models over several weeks? Are JTV's guitars in the low range actually a guitar that suits players both for practice, jamming, and light gigging? We are talking small local events. Like in a pub or a small movie theater etc. Will a US custom be so much different in how the guitar plays, and feels that I will notice it immediately when comparing? Do you know someone that went for the US custom and so traded down to plain JTV?