jzucco

I just put on a set of EB Cobalt .009 gauge and they seem to work fine. I had .010's on it and was getting weird transients. The .009's just seem to work better for me. Why you wanna work so hard??? I also changed out the medium frets on my Variax Standard to medium jumbo. Plays almost as well as the JTV59 that I had. That guitar was like your fingers were floating on air, even with a chunkier neck, but I'm a Strat guy and Standard fits my style better and I like the thinner neck and lighter weight. Also, I do prefer the 5 way switch. My friend immediately bought the 59 from me! I lost $200 on the deal but it covered the cost of the Standard which I think, on its own, is a great guitar! Sounds as good as my '91 Strat Plus!

I was having a problem harmonizing with an Em scale on my POD HD500X. It was not working correctly so I tried a G major scale (relative major) and that didn't work. I finally figured out that I was playing in a IIm7 mode (Dorian) so D major actually worked! Just try a bunch of the different key options and see if one works.

Ignore my last comment. As much as I know a lot of theory I didn't realize I was actually playing in the Key of D! Em is the IIm7 of D!! Doh!

My Smart Harmony feature is acting really stupid. Works fine with my BOSS ME80 but the POD HD500X is all out of wack. Playing the notes D, Db & B in an Em scale and the POD is playing Gb, F and D!! It should be playing Gb, E & D! Plus, it tracks real lousy. Any suggestions and yes, the guitar is in tune and the Smart Harmony feature is set to E minor a 3rd above.

I have both a Variax Standard and a JTV-59. The Standard neck is thin like my real 91 Strat Plus. Not sure why someone would think it's big? The JTV-59 neck is very chunky but actually is way easier to play than the Standard! You can fly around efforlessly on it and I hate chunky necks! I like the magnetic pickups on the Standard a lot better since I have always been a Strat guy. My solution is going to be replacing the Medium frets, which I hate, on the Standard with Medium Jumbo frets and lowering the action. I will, of course, have my luthier do that. I'll keep you posted!