dezmoduo

A 3 year old post!! But I bought a vintage spaced bridge and of course the Variax trem block wouldn't mount up, so I bought a trem block and milled it to fit the cavity and the piezo PC board. The string alignment is pretty much perfect (except for the low E going over the bridge pole piece. The string spacing on the neck is much more comfortable (for me) and the high and low E strings to the neck edge seem more consistent. Sitting on my desk are a set of "Ghost" piezo saddles. They are going in next. Hopefully sooner than 3 years. Dez

Tight fit is an understatement. I left it attached, thats how careful I was feeling. When the time comes I'll deal with it. So far I changed the nut for the slightly wider spaced Tusc model. It was a slight improvement but a good beginning. I'm installing a vintage spaced vibrato, with all that entails. Most of my guitar are hardtails so vibrato use for me is a novelty not a priority. Good sound, action and playability are, of course, much higher on the list. Tonight I have the guitar strung up with 10's on a vintage spaced "AllParts" vibrato. I'm using the AllParts saddles right now. I had the Yamaha saddles installed just prior. They are the narrow spaced size but as a center bolt, straight pull saddle, they lined up very well. I also have a vintage spaced "BladeRunner" coming. That brand provides slotted pivot holes. This might save me from having to drill, dowel, drill the new holes. Easy will be good but I don't care if I have to do the dirty work. Which ever one I find works best, I still have to drill and clean up 6 holes for the piezo wire through the bridge. I also picked up a brass tone block from GFS, mostly because it's soft to cut, mill, machine, or drill. I'm going to copy the tone block profile of the Variaxe part and get in the ballpark with the brass one. Its a little tight in the tremolo routed area. I'll drill and tap the PCB mount holes which double as the ground. There are also individual ground spots on the PCB, I could run a dedicated ground wire if I wanted and just silicone the PCB to the block. Thats all down the line. Now that the guitar is strung (10's are not for me anymore, 9.5's are my latest faves), I've been playing it with the normal pickups and unplugged. I need this guitar to ring acoustically a bit more. Its a little dull in the resonance department. Mind you that I'm not using the Line 6 piezo pieces right now. Those saddle inserts just sit in the cradle and that in itself can provide a loss of string vibration, nut to bridge. I've got a 98 Parker Deluxe and its sharp and bright. The acoustic tone (electric) is really a treat in itself, while not a real acoustic. So my goal is the best acoustic tone I can get (unplugged), even if I have to block the bridge. And then there's always the "Ghost" system pickups. (two wire system, hot and ground for each string). I am not familiar with the Yamaha pickups but so far I haven't been knocked out. I'm ultimately going to play this with my band and probably use the standard pickups 80%+ of the time. (maybe that will change with good fortune), It needs to sound good plugged in and rockin'. Theres not much relief in the neck and once I adjust that I might have to shim the pocket. As I look at the heel profile at the neck joint, they left up to a half-inch of un-contoured wood in front of the pocket. The satin finish is nice but if I have to shim the neck I'll be tempted to clean up that joint. Oh yes, I retired from work this fall. LOL Dez NYC

Does anyone know if the white multi connector from the "brain" to the trem block is a press on or solder on affair? I don't see any locking tabs on it and gentle prodding produced little to no movement. https://pix.sfly.com/oomsvE

I'm going to keep the guitar. Piezo bridges , soldering, upgrades. This is all easy stuff. The online options are plentiful. Time to pull the plastic off this baby.

The neck is secure and straight. I believe its the bridge thats used. Its a 2 1/16" string spacing on a fairly wide neck. The vendor sent me pictures of the other standards, white, black, sunburst, and they all have similar issues to a greater or lesser extent. I've restrung it with 9.5's, lowered the action to a playable range, and adjusted the pickup height accordingly. I don't know what I'm going to do. I could fix this with about $200 in parts, and void my warranty on a guitar thats never going to see the stage otherwise. This guitar needs a vintage string spacing (2 7/32") with 2 1/16" mounting holes plus the wider cut nut. Its a shame.

I have just received the Variax Limited Edition Amethyst. (#265?) Whatever the number, I don't collect guitars but I did like the top flame and rich hue. I still do in person. Will call the guitar "Violet". But maybe not for long!! The string spacing across the neck is very compressed. The neck width is 1.63" just in front of the nut. The high E string, appears to be 3.4mm (string to fret edge) at the first fret and that space increases to 5.1mm at the 22nd fret,(last fret). That same string completely missed the corresponding pole pieces on the neck pickup and middle pick up and just clips the pole piece of the bridge pickup. If I push the string to where it should lay along the neck, it lines up better with the pole pieces but the bridge and saddles are fixed and pull the string back off course. The nut seems well cut and spaced although I'm going to do further measurement. Have any Std owner had this issue? Can it be addressed? (I don't see how because the saddles are piezo) As it exists, this guitar is a novelty item that isn't gig worthy. Looking for any constructive feedback. Thank you, Gary NYC