Charlie_Watt

Maybe the LED is out of place. The stuff lights up nicely on my JTV69S

That bridge looks like you could put Graphtech saddles in it. That would be a plus. I can't see buying one of these myself though. It looks like a step down from my JTV69S.

I would look for a signal short somewhere. Does it work normally from the VDI? It sounds like your signal is getting grounded out since the guitar electronics are working.

Very Nice!

That is definitely a different bridge design too. Looks much more like the older Variax bridge. (not the JTV69)

That may be normal. Maybe someone else with an 89 can pipe up here.

The neck is your interface to the guitar. If you do not like the neck, replace it with one you like. It's worth every penny to have the guitar the way you want it.

Saw your other post. You have tried the things that might recover it. Sounds like it's DOA. Return it if it's new. Otherwise, you will have to go through the repair process with Line6.

Check the VDI jack pins carefully and make sure that they are not bent. If you did not unplug it between working and not working that is probably not your problem.

You may be able to recover if it was a corrupted patch. Do the system reset that duncann outlined here. If not, it sounds like you will have to return it.

Many lefties learn to play a right handed guitar upside down. My cousin plays that way. If it were me, I would modify the guitar to pay left handed. The Variax is not a high volume product in the first place so I am sure that they would lose money if they made a left handed model special.

I have those Planet Waves Locking Tuners on my Variax 500. I love them. The locking tuners on my JTV 69S are ok but not as nice as the Planet Waves.

I agree. I personally like the JTV 69 neck. It fits my small hands better than most other stock necks. Warmouth will make anything you want so you can get a neck from them that will fit your fancy - and their quality is great. Bottom line is that everyone should get a neck that they like - and the advantage of the Strat like design is that it is easy to swap out necks. A good neck costs a few bucks but having a guitar with the perfect neck for you is worth it.

My experience with the Graph Tech Piezo pickups on my Variax 500 is that they are way hotter. I had to cut the string volumes down to 50% to prevent overloading as compared to the standard piezos. Once I did that the Graph Tech piezos worked well. Two wires per unit instead of 1 so I had to figure out a way to connect the ground wires. That is where they are much improved IMO. I would say that the one thing I noticed is that they are not as bright as the originals.

And I would call them on the phone rather than rely on email.

No. In modeling mode, each pickup position IS a different model. Some positions are a similar or same model like the Strat position. In Spank, all five positions are a strat model with different pickups.

The way it is works for me.

If it doesn't power up, reflash won't work. Sounds like you have a defective JTV.

Return it.

I am not sure that most realize that if you tune to non standard tuning you need to adjust the intonation. You should intonate to the tuning you are going to use most. If you change string gauge that also changes the intonation. For the alternate tuning to work properly you need your guitar tuned properly and intonated properly.

Since this is not a universal problem on all JTV69's I suspect that the nut slots were not properly shaped.

I'm surprised you are getting enough runtime with an 800 MaH battery. I think the electronics draw somethere around 400mA. I would expect to only get about 2 hours at most. I am pretty sure that it craps out somewhere above 6V based on my experience. The electronics run on 5V. There is a linear regulator that drops the battery voltage down to 5V. The JTV battery is 7.4V 2200 MaH.

What's the mA Hour rating of the Lipo you are using? The AA NiMh cells I use are 2500 and they run about 6 hours or so. The down side is that they self discharge fairly rapidly so if I don't use the guitar for a few weeks, they need charging. I don't use my 500 all that much since I have a JTV69S. I may convert my 500 to LiPo like you did though since I also have some batteries that I don't use much that would fit. The JTV has a Lithium battery but the battery holder has a built in protection circuit that shuts things off before the battery is drained too much. It also has a four LED voltage monitor which shows the state of charge. The old Variax shuts down at some voltage but It may be low enough that you could damage the Lipo. I think it works down to around 7 V.

Good work! Only problem with the Lipo pack is that you have to be careful not to run it down too far or it won't ever take a charge again. I too use them in RC planes and choppers. I use NiMh AA cells in my Variax 500 and they work fine. I get decent playing time and I keep a spare pack charged. I never use the power supply.

When I bought my 69S from Sweetwater, I asked them to update it and make sure it worked properly and it arrived updated and working properly. You can tell the build date from the serial number. Many "New" guitars are actually built in 2012.