Topaz

lol... I was just thinking of posting the same bit of 'sarcasm'. :D

Called Warmoth. Told me the vintage modern is the one that'll work and that's what I was going to get anyway. No holes drilled. If my local tech uses a drill press I'll have him do it I suppose so the holes go straight theoretically. Think my hand drill has a center bubble level if I had to do it. :D Can then always use the stock neck as a pizza oven paddle or a boat oar. :P Mr Line 6.... what pray tell are the hole sizes for the tuners on a new JTV69, or ya gonna make me pull one off myself in order to measure it?

Oh yeah... I love maple too, but the JTV neck gives maple a bad name. :D Line 6 should rebate owners $200 bucks for that disaster. :lol:

Thanks. :) Yeah, I was looking around myself. So many options. *confusion,lol*. Also I notice nothing about string trees...unless they design the head for enough downward string pressure, hmmmm I did a search of their forum and it seems that 3 of the 4 holes that are pre drilled will correspond to the 3 holes on the JTV but that 4th one will need be drilled out of course. If so, that'd save much effort I thought I'd like the maple neck on this guitar but on reflection I'm thinking it may be too bright a wood and probably go with one of the darker sounding rosewoods or equivalent. for the fretboard. I'm even wondering how a mahogany wood neck would sound as opposed to the maple. I'm thinking a darker wood would quiet fret rattling on the acoustic models I'm really hating the stock neck. Its impossible to get a decent action because any fret rattle, which is perfectly fine with a regular amp, is picked up and highly exaggerated on the acoustic models.... so its egg slicer territory to get rid of it. My D string sounds like a sitar fer crikes sake unless jaced up a half inch. What a POS neck. :lol: I have to try for a $200 - 250 ish priced neck

I was looking at stewmac or warmoth. will the warmoth...outside of drilling holes at the heel... be a proper fit, as well as for the tuners?

Popped the 'old' new one out, and the new new on in. Ahhh, who's zoomin who.... these necks blow, new nut or not. Who is James Tyler and why the heck was he allowed anywhere near a piece of wood? I doubted those who complained about this neck. Gotta get a replacement. What an incompetently designed P.O.S. :P

helix, shelix... they're both happy

Try when I get to it. Gotta lot on my plate for a bit. :) Earvana? I'll have a look if the two I already bought are duds, lol

Yeah. Of course there's always leaps and bounds to be made when tech is new but then, as you say, it reaches a peak. If you can't get perfectly enjoyable tones out of stuff like the 500, its more a psychiatric problem than a hardware one for you. :D . However, what I would think would be a major improvement, is the ability to get gainy-high gain tones without the accompanied noise of an analog circuit so that there'd at least be silence when not playing the guitar without having to involve noise gates. I know nothing of how modeling works but I figured if the noise that comes with high gain settings being due to the inefficiencies of analog circuits of real world amplification, that that noise could be eliminated while keeping the relevant tone intact when modeled. ......wait a sec.... the variax connected to the HD does that, doesn't it??? duh!

The 12" Alto is also currently 199. I have the 10" but will probably grab the 12. It is loud but personally could use a bit more oomph using the 10 with a band. Really nice sound for the money all around nevertheless I know going from an XTLive to the 500X I really noticed a huge increase in better tone. Listening to some of the Helix demos though....sounds like the 500, lol. Will it be a thousand dollar more difference in tone than the 500... I doubt it imo. :D We're weird... always thinking the new thing is going to solve all our perceived 'problems', :lol:

That's what I needed to know, thanks. :) You're right also... if the nut is more a tight fit no glue'd be really necessary. Hadn't considered that

The nut that came on my new 69 was bad in a couple slots and couldn't be fixed properly so I bought a couple of "official Line 6 graphtec replacement nut parts for the JTV69" from Full Compass. I'd like to know if anyone has any experience with removing and replacing the nut on this guitar. Is it glued? Does it just need a couple light taps from the side to loosen? If glued, what kind of glue would one use for the replacement? Thanks

That's why I got my 69 in black as it makes it a lot less noticeable. :D Here in the US dealers like Stewmac offer necks without the holes drilled. Probably Warmoth does as well I'm sure. A bit more expensive and tons of choices and everyone seems to agree on their quality. Stewmacs offerings are extremely modest by comparison and about a $100-150 cheaper than Warmoth's in stock supply of necks but people give them good reviews as well. I guess the bigeest issue is cost of shipping to Australia.

If the insides of these JTV's are anything like my Godin xtSA, there are various circuit boards so I'd suspect many line 6 authorized shops.... like the couple in my area.... just deal in electronics servicing and wouldn't know a fret from a bridge saddle (like the one I called to ask). Basically they'll hook up test equipment, find the faulty board and replace the whole thing. The weird thing about these computerized guitars is that either you may be going to need guitar work, which is the domain of the typical luthier/guitar tech, or sophisticated electronics servicing where those kind of shops have nothing to do with guitars in and of themselves. You may be lucky to be near an authorized service that does both. However I'm not sure how many luthiers use anything more than a multimeter for typical simple guitar wiring situations in their line of work or conversely, how many electronics service shops that are going to be bothered to be also in the guitar luthier side of things.

Thanks guys. I've heard the name but never bought from them. They're a good legit outfit, yeah?

Geez, that full compass place has like 7 pages of arcane line 6 parts, lol. Its probably the only place on the planet that does outside line 6 itself!

Holy %$... I had no idea there'd be a specific item named for that specific guitar at a dealer. Thanks! :)

Yeah. I'll call them I guess and see whats what. :)

My new 69 needs a new nut and I'm debating whether to have one installed by a local tech or get a few (extra for backup) pre-slotted ones from graph tech and do it myself. So I was wondering if anyone knows whether the nut slot on the 69 neck has a curve to it or is it flat. Thanks

Haven't looked in the guts of my new 69, but as long as, hopefully, Line 6 doesn't have the pots all soldered onto some circuit board, replacing a pot theoretically is easy enough to do for someone who's worked on their own guitar electrics before. Otherwise best bet is to see if there's an authorized service (with a good rep of course) and have them deal with it when its under warranty. I just had a bad volume pot replaced on another brand guitar that's brand new too by a luthier near me who happened to be an authorized repair. "F" hole hollowbody.... I did not want to deal with that myself since its warranty, lol Personally I have big concerns about computerized guitars needing to be warrantied for many years longer than standard warranties.

Yep, you're right about that. :)

Thanks David The instruments I've managed to accrue are all pretty much disparate , in that I haven't acquired multiples of the same model, so virtually all my necks and string gauges vary depending on the guitar. When I haven't pulled out a particular guitar in a long while it might feel a tad weird at first but after just a few minutes its fine, lol

Thanks fellas. :) This guitar just came yesterday. All software & firmware the latest. Too bad there aren't workbench audio preferences like when using standalone soft synths where you can choose the audio interface thats connected to your monitors. So right now for me to hear the variax and HD I have the HD's output to a separate powered pa speaker. Being on mac I probably can create an audio aggregate device and make the HD's output connect with my Audio 6 interface I use for my DAW if I ever get to go and figure out how to do that. (problem...way too much software, way too much info to absorb and grok) :D

Is there any particular special way to connect a JTV to your computer to use it with Workbench? Right now I have my JTV into my 500X via the optional VDI cable I bought with the guitar. Live Monkey sees it and Workbench says its connected. Or, do I need to connect the guitar directly to the computer with the usb adapter and cable that came with the guitar and not thru the 500X? Before I go further I just wanted to know. Also, even though the VDI powers the Variax do I also need the battery inserted as well? Thanks

I've plugged it into the 500X with the VDI cable I also purchased. Immediately I heard horrible dissonance when trying out the altered tunings. So I scoured the forum for this issue. Turns out the natural acoustic loudness of the guitar itself was clashing in my ears to the alt tunings, lol. Once I focused them out I realized the alt tunings sounded correct. lol I haven't yet checked the firmware on this yet or opened up workbench. I have noticed another complaint in threads.... weird noises, string gauges, fret buzz, piezo sensitivity, being all related. With that in mind I tried some acoustics and some acoustic variax presets on the HD and the sound was a bit 'splatty' and not as narural sounding as I've heard in demos. This however I will attribute to the fact that 9's on this guitar feels good to me (more like a set of 10's would actually feel) and I like low action. So there is no way I'm gonna jack the action up and put heavier strings on to alleviate any fret buzz and be miserable, lol. Perhaps when I get to the workbench there are piezo sensitivity settings or whathaveyou to help make a better tone Howeeeeeverrrrrrrr, if I find more value in alt tunings and acoustic models, which I most likely will in the long run..... I mean I already have the modeled electrics in their real form....and I won't be using the 69 as much of a shred/string bender, Ill put 11's on it.