Charlie_Watt

I like it narrow!

I usually use the VDI now but for several years I only used the batteries. I have two sets so I can swap when they are discharged.

The problem is that the USB interface cannot power the JTV so you have to insert a jack and turn the volume up for the JTV to power up. Glad you got it working.

When the batteries get towards fully discharged, the guitar abruptly shuts off. I get about 5 or 6 hours with my 2500mAH batteries.

It will not play through your laptop. You need to connect it to an amp or powered speakers. (or use headphones)

Not all rechargables are equal. Most of the store bought ones are not that great. I stick with Sanyo or Panasonic. With six cells at 1.25V you should have 7.5V and that should work.

As long as it's still solid between the neck connection and the bridge, you can fix the rest of the damage fairly easily with glue and clamps. Fill the remaining cracks, sand and repaint. if you don't care that much about looks, just glue and clamp the cracks and play the hell out of it.

I would double verify that only the Middle pickup is active in positions 2 and 4. It should be as psarkissian says.

All Nicads and NiMh rechargables are lower voltage than Standard Throw away batteries. They should work in a Variax though. Always have for me. The Variax electronics run on 5Volts (regulated) so you need over 5 Volts to power it. (somewhere around 7V I believe is the cutoff)

My old Variax is a 500. I use either 2200 or 2500 mAH batteries. (Sanyo NiMh) They get up to almost 1.5V fully charged and they are about 1.2V when they are discharged. I would not expect anything less than 1500mAH to work though.

I always use rechargeable NIMH batteries in my Variax. Yes the voltage is a little lower than the throw away batteries but I get plenty of run time with them. I get high quality Sanyo batteries and they work fine. I have had the sets I am using now for at least 6 years.

You also may find someone selling a body left over from a transplant.

You may be able to have someone repair it if it's just body damage.

http://www.diyguitarmods.com/guitar-pickups.php This shows the magnetic and coil phase for standard Strat single coils. The middle pickup should be magnetically opposite of the bridge and neck and it's coil is out of phase. This is why the noise should be much less when you select position 2 or 4. In those positions, the two coils are in parallel and out of phase. Since the magnets are also out of phase, the pickups are actually in phase with respect to the strings. BUT the string vibrations are very different at the two pickups so you get the Quack sound.

Sounds like maybe one of your pickups (middle) is wired backwards. I can't see how the switch would not act like a 5 way. Can you verify that you are only getting one mag pickup in positions 2 and 4?

To each his own. I happen to like my JTV 69S Neck better than my American Strat Neck. It's narrower and nicer for my very undersized hands. Nice job though!

Not really. Send it to Line6 for repair.

If monkey won't connect it is almost always a firewall problem. Your system isn't letting it connect.

If you are using the battery as a backup at a gig, I would keep it fully charged. Recharge every month or so. That may not maximize the life but it will make sure it's ready to go when you need it. Temperature extremes are a life limiter so avoid storing it in an extremely hot or cold environment. (Guitar case should be fine) I leave mine in the guitar even though I usually use the HD500x to power it.

Back when I bought my 69S from Sweetwater, I looked very closely at the pix of the actual guitars. Some of them you could see that the strings were not centered on the neck correctly. I picked one that looked good and I have had no problems.

I like my JTV69 neck better than my 500 neck. It's on the narrow side which suits my small hands nicely. My 500 neck is not bad either. Good build quality. I have no complaints about either of my Line6 guitars.

Only thing you don't get is Workbench. The 300 will work fine with the VDI cable on the HD500x. You can update FW too with it but you can't run WB.

It sounds like an electronics problem to me - not the battery itself. (Especially if it works again when you cool it down) The battery case has electronics in it to protect the battery from discharging too far. It monitors the voltage of the battery and cuts power if it's too low. My experience with Lithium batteries is that they lose capacity when they are cold. Cell Phones and cameras suffer this in the Winter. An outside temp of 105 should not stress the battery. (Stresses me though!)

IMO Any trem equipped guitar will need some setup after changing string Gauge. Variax is no different.

The neck looks like it came from a 500.