oleus

Musicians friend has the sunburst and red jtv69s on sale new for 899. Very tempting at that price point given they have a good return policy and it's not b-stock.

i really appreciate everyone's input. i'm thinking a JTV from a reputable retailer who accepts returns (Musicians Friend, etc) will probably be the way to go. As much as i like the look and reviews of the 700, i can't afford taking a crapshoot on a used item I can't return that might need piezos at the drop of a hat.

I created a monster with this thread! It went from convince me to buy a jtv over an old model to making me doubt whether I should buy any variax right now. I don't want to be soldering piezos or changing necks - I'm actually leaning towards buying the cheapest eBay variax I can find in decent condition to use with my hd500 until new models come out.

what kind of knobs problems? at least with the help of this thread, if i do pull the trigger on a JTV, i know to immediately check the neck out for its ability to hold the strings!

ok, now i'm as undecided as when i made this thread!?? How long until the Yamaha JTV's hit the market?

since i'm probably getting a JTV59, can i ask why you held the FW at 1.9?

I am getting a jtv , thanks to all who helped nudge me :-)

I do not currently own a variax. I owned a variax 500 (sunburst with the dark pick guard) that I was very happy with but sold when I found myself not playing much and chose to sell. I very much appreciate the responses in this thread - I'm intrigued by the old 700's, love the look and build of those , but buying a jtv isn't much more expensive at the price point especially considering 700's are all used. I guess I should narrow my question to - what exactly is different about the modeling in the jtv's? I am less concerned with strat modeling as I have a strat - I liked the rickenbacker modeling in the 500 I owned, the Gibson modeling seemed muddy so I'm curious about those two in particular. I'm definitely getting one I'm just weighing between a lightly used 700 and a new jtv at this point.

I'm considering any of them except for the 300. I had a 500 a few years ago matched with an x3 live and was very happy with it. I thought the actual modeling was identical across those models and the main difference was the guitar build quality itself. Is this not correct? I'm mostly curious about the modeling improvements in the JTVs.

since i'm not big into alternate tunings and don't really need a guitar with pickups (have some good ones already) - is the advancement in processing in the JTVs a huge jump over the older Variax models? I liked the idea of being able to overwrite ALL of the banks on the old Variax models, while still being able to re-access the original untouched model banks. so someone please convince me, i am taking the plunge on a variax very soon (my HD500 needs one!)