dspellman

Next I'm going to work on a smaller pack for Variax users. My JTV 89 models has been customized to death, that should be fun !

Wait. What? Want.

 

$999 is just an educated guess at this point and is based on three required G70-level channels: Models, Magnetics, and a back data channel for remote capability.

Do you have one in the Faraday cage that I could try? You guys have already done this, haven't you. It's just not a commercial product yet, right?

It is known.

Don't tell Tesla that!!  :lol: :lol: :lol:

On our planet Nikolai is a god!!!!

I'm already hearing people pounding the Spider V thanks to the quality (or lack thereof) of the sound demos posted by Line 6.  Yikes!

They seem to be *immediately* judgmental about the amps based on little information, but this is something that the Line 6 Marketing team should, perhaps, have anticipated, no?

Gary Brawer in SF is my go-to guy for Sustainers. He also did the Neal Schon sig guitars for Gibson and I think he's installed all of neal's sustainers. The Fernandes requires some room (usually routed out of the guitar) and I believe the switches are on the PC board itself. So locating both optimally with the Variax goods taking up so much space might be difficult. Gary has also got some techniques that help prevent the whole thing from turning into a squealing mess, even when you're sharing the neck pickup ring with both a sustainer driver (single coil size) and wiring in a neck pickup that is NOT the sustainer driver (as it is in a normal installation).  If anyone can make the sustainer work with a Variax, it will be him. 

G&G's website doesn't load. It hasn't for the last several hours. Are they still in business?

They can be contacted at info at ggqualitycase.com

Their contact information (besides their web address) is:

G&G Quality Case

I got this from Sarah on the 29th: 

Unfortunately, we don’t keep an inventory of any cases. All cases are made to order. Lead time right now is around 6-8 weeks. Costs will be around $225.00. Since you live in la , you are more than welcome to stop into our factory. I have attached an order form for you to review. if you have any further questions, feel free to ask. 

So yes, they're still in business. The above reply was in answer to a query about a JTV89F case. 

This is the information they'll need (in addition to name, address, shipping, etc.) and these are the options you'll have to choose from (and I have no idea what "poodle" looks like, but "monkey fur" should be self explanatory. If you like, I can visit the factory and ask (and probably take some pictures)):

I think their default shipping may be higher but you have the choice at checkout to select USPS shipping. Mine came to $26 shipped. 

I'm comparing the standard Line 6 25' cable, so the btpa.com 25' cable came to (with shipping):

My guess is that the shopping cart web software they're using is calculating costs using the "if it fits, it ships" Medium Flat Rate 2 box.  How do places like MF, Amazon and B&H manage to offer free shipping for a virtually identical product?

Happy to hear your good results with the BTPA cables.

 

 

BTPA Cables are what Fractal recommends too, as they are consistently good quality !

I was all set to put a 25' btpa cable on the card when I noticed that it was $39+ and the shipping was another $11 (minimum). That's a fifty-buck cable at that point, and the Amazon/Line 6 one with free shipping (and I can get it even cheaper with coupons at Musician's Fiend) is still just $29.99. That makes the btpa cable 60% more expensive, even if there really is a 30% improvement in quality of the cable itself.   Backed away. Not worth it.  Unless someone here can convince me. 

I think someone should talk to btpa.com about their default shipping costs. 

Love the color the style everything, EXCEPT, that darn headstock logo. Blech!!! I'm trying some things. I'll get back to you on what works. (Starting with a Sharpie)

Ya know, it becomes a sort of gray, liney graphic once you get any distance from it. Trust me, you see it because you're two feet from it, but the audience doesn't know or care... 

Put a bag over it. 

It helps when the wife doesn't notice all the different cases....trust me.

THAT's what I've been doing wrong!  

I checked with G&G; they don't stock the JTV89F cases, but they will build you a case (or two or three) for yours. Probably around $225 (which is about what a Mono bag costs at the local GC). They've got an order blank that will allow you to select colors, etc. 

Just a matter of preference. I have a few cases with Tolex outers that match my Helix case and I'd like to keep it the same...

Never thought about that. I've got just over 50 guitars and I've never consciously considered matching everything. 

Though I *will* be ordering the matching luggage with the new Bentley. 

On second thought...

I think I've fallen for the Ferrari instead:

I didn't realize that the JTV-59 came with jumbo frets! I had read that the JTV-89 did. Is the JTV-69 the only one with medium frets?

Until yesterday, I thought that all of the JTVs except for the 89/89F came with medium or medium jumbo frets (the advertising material says medium-jumbo).

The advertising material for the 89F says Jumbo and they match the jumbo frets I have on other guitars. 

One of the techs from Line 6 here says that he believes ALL of the JTV series share the same fretwire. None of us are going to sleep until we get this sorted out. 

I'm sorta hoping they don't discontinue the Variax stuff. I hate when they do that. I'm still on the lookout for a 705 bass (the five-string) because it turns out it was/is a pretty good bass all by itself and the models work pretty well besides. I love the Acoustic 700 I have and wish there was an updated model (and by the way, the nylon string model lives there). 

I think the USA versions are silly, and I can't think of any way that I would pay that money for that guitar over the Koreans I have. But I am going to have to have G&G build me a case like theirs. 

I haven't spent a lot of time trying to reproduce the "flaws" that the Bedroom Boys have detected, though I appreciate their diligence. I appreciate what the Variax guitars I have DO far more than care about what they don't do well. When the drums come in, it's very difficult to hear the issues. 

Why not go to G&G in downtown Los Angeles? 

GGqualitycase.com

2025 E. 25th Street

Los Angeles, CA 90058

I think this is who makes the cases for the USA JTV-89F. 

I have no idea what it will cost you, however. Ask them. 

Standard Set neck. Glued. Not neck-through. 

Nice, though, and very comfortable for upper fret access. 

The old Ibanez AR-300s from the early '80's are like this, as are old Carvins (which became neck-through in the late '80's, but which had a virtually identical smooth neck heel when they were glued-neck). 

Take a look at the Gibson Axcess (LP), which has a smooth, carved neck heel, but which is still very much a set-neck guitar. It has been expressed that ALL Gibson LPs should have this same neck heel going forward...

Lol...it's nice to know that things haven't changed much since the last time I ventured into one of those pits of despair (gotta be at least 15 years)...the story is still amusing. I was in need of a new MIDI foot controller for whatever rack pre-amp and multi FX unit(s) I was using at the time. Walked in, told the creature behind the counter what I needed, and following the patented indignant huff and smirk, I was told "MIDI is for keyboards, man" and that such an item "didn't exist" for guitar rigs. Then I pointed to the display case 6 feet away that had 2 or 3 of them in it. Walked out, never went back. Can't imagine why they've been hemorrhaging money for years on end....

I have long since worn out my original forehead with palm smacks in those stores. 

"Dude, were you around when ALL the Beatles were alive?"

And when I show them guitars that I purchased new back when, I get, "Whoa, Dude, Vintage!"

Guitar colors follow trends and fads, apparently. Non-more-black has given way to matte finish black guitars with greasy fingerprints (don't they learn from their walls at home?). Line 6 has always assumed that the 89 and 89F will only be purchased by metal-based shredders. Hence the extra down tunings from the factory and the wide color palette. While I'm an LP fan (especially those with Floyds and 24-fret boards), I think the 89F maybe the best of the JTV bunch. I love the wide/flat neck profile, the fret size, the Graphtech piezos. I like having FOUR knobs with the master volume within pinky reach, and I like having a five-way (sorry, 59 fans). I like having 24 frets because it means that the 22 or so that I use are out in the breeze and available. 

But I could wish for more colors (no, I will NOT buy a USA version) and the same tunings as on the other guitars (and yes, I know I can set up my own, but then I have to remember that Drop B is actually Blues G or whatever...). 

I'm getting problems with sustain around the 12th fret and up. Notes dying way too fast regardless of amp gain.

I can't promise it will help, but you may want to superglue the frets. I've been doing that with a lot of my guitars recently (the cheapos and Gibsons). StewMac has a newsletter that deals with it. You wick thin superglue into the tang slots, eliminating the air gaps. At the very least, it eliminates flyer frets, but the cork sniffy thing it does is eliminate dead frets and increases the contact between string and fretboard and, in theory, it increases sustain. 

The larger sustain block would be part of a solution, but it seems that's not an available one. 

There's always a Fernandes Sustainer, but lord knows what kind of electronic hijinks might be involved to keep that from squealing like a pig. I'd guess that Gary Brawer in SF has probably done at least one Variax/Sustainer installation (he's the guy for this), and it would be worth talking to him about it (though you're talking a chunk of bucks to buy the kit and have it installed). 

Yes I sort of suspected a special setup for slide, besides the tuning.  Now that I use the JTV59 almost exclusively, I suppose I could set up my strat for slide, but it definitely looks like a significant time investment to be any good at it.

I have two of the old Variaxeseses; one of the Acoustic 700's and one of the series 500 originals, and both will work for slide (there are different models on the Acoustic from the Electric 500 series). It does help if you crank up the action a bit. 

We used to call it "Gorilla Grip." 

I have friends who, to this day, believe that if the string doesn't touch the fretboard, there's something wrong with how you're playing. I was taught to use a light touch and to fret just enough so that when you pick, the string doesn't bounce off the fret. So my fingers tuck up *just* behind the fret. 

Now I understand how those fretboards with the big divots happen. 

Huh.

Matter of fact, I think I've met you -- you may be the one who swapped the Alternate Tuning and Modeling knobs on one of my 89Fs when they arrived transposed and thank you again. I believe you when you say it...but:

The OneSheet Line 6 publishes on the JTV59P states "22 medium-jumbo frets." 

The OneSheet Line 6 publishes on the JTV89F states "24 jumbo frets." 

Better whip those marketing folks into shape. 

I'm the guy that at Line 6 that works on JTV's. I have all the drawings 

and specs. All JTV frets are the same, that's the spec.

 

The spec is that they all have the same frets. Early Variax frets are different

from JTV frets.

When I think of IR I think of being able to customize cabinets and mics in the POD, not the variax guitar.  The 500 series doesn't allow that. Does Helix?

Yes.

You can't use IRs to customize cabinets and mikes in the POD ("mikes" is how I learned it, and it's just as valid as "mics", so there). There's no place for them. You can only use IRs if you've got something else to load IRs into (like the Two-Notes Torpedo C.A.B.) separate from the Pod. IRs are native to the Helix, however, and this is a major advance and one that puts the Helix up there with the Kempers and Axe-FX II's, etc. 

And yes, you can use an IR to change the sound of a guitar. But it's not JUST the Variax guitar. Essentially any guitar. 

Pull up Pete Thorn's Wednesday Q&A #20 from YouTube and check at about 4:37. Oh, wait, found it. 

I've been told that the JTV89F works with the Pod XT Live on a "limited" basis (using the VDI cable, that is). 

What are the limitations? What should I expect will work and what won't? 

I've got two JTV89Fs (Graphtech saddles) and no plink. I have no idea why. I'm just crossing my fingers that it stays that way. 

Besides, given the way I play, I suspect that most of my listeners assume it's Yet Another Clam...

I ordered the red because I have a few black guitars already

They need a few new colors for those guitars. When I ordered mine the choices were black or "blood red." I have too many black guitars now, so I ordered the red. I ordered through GC as well, and they didn't have them in stock then, either, and honestly that's a good thing. When mine arrived it was fresh off the boat (from Calabasas to Kentucky and back to LA, go figure) and perfect. 

A year later I was playing it so much I decided I needed a backup. I still have too many black guitars and Line 6 still didn't have any other colors, so another "blood red" one it was (there's now a "1" and a "2" on the Floyd sprint cavity covers). This time the silly Koreans transposed the "Model" and "Tuning" knobs, so I drove it out to Calabasas where they graciously transposed them (I was leery of tackling it myself for fear of breaking a circuit board or some such nonsense) in about 5 minutes. 

There are NO Variax guitars at the Pasadena GC, and the people that work there know nothing about them at all. I just this second ordered up a VDI cable (we'll see how long THAT takes to get here) at Pasadena and had to explain what they are and what they did, and now I have to take mine into the store to assuage the curiosity of several of the "associates." And yes, they DO have a Line 6 rep and no, he's apparently not interested in taking a guitar with him to educate them himself. 

Don't assume it's Line 6 creating the holdup. Guitar Denter has serious financial issues and quite a few vendors will not ship them gear on credit and will not let them hold inventory on credit. I can't say that Line 6 is one of those vendors, but I will guarantee you that most Guitar Splinters do NOT have a lot of inventory behind the boxes on display. Aside from the $500 and under gear, it's pretty much all special order.