leemh Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 im planning to transfer variax to custom guitar. some in my country did this and they satisfied. is there people in US satisfied and how about this forum's opinion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eenymason Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 It's the only way to fly.... :D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 On 7/27/2016 at 8:54 AM, leemh said: im planning to transfer variax to custom guitar. some in my country did this and they satisfied. is there people in US satisfied and how about this forum's opinion? It will depend entirely on whether or not the guy doing the work knows what he's doing...it'll either be the best thing since indoor plumbing, or a train wreck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 It has been done well for many years but only by a small group of people. It requires some expertise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 I took mine to a professional - not a Line 6 service center but an experienced guitar tech. He transplanted the guts of a Variax 300 into a Warmoth Variax body/neck. Worked out very well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshoenfelt Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 I would love to see some pics of these guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 On 7/27/2016 at 1:59 PM, silverhead said: I took mine to a professional - not a Line 6 service center but an experienced guitar tech... Blasphemer!!! Must have been one of the much-touted "4 or 5 in North America" skilled enough to pull it off...;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Yes he is. He knows I can do it too, but he also knows my bosses won't let me. Only done transplants for a couple of high profile endorsers as favor to them and the top brass here. One guy in Canada, used to be at a service center, transplanted to a Flying V,... he needed to, he's a lefty. I did Carlos Rios' who's also a lefty. Because of the different resonance aspects compared to the woods we use, the tone color in their guitars sounded different, but otherwise worked good. But yeah,... need someone who knows this stuff inside and out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Oh and, Stevekc is another one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eenymason Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 On 7/27/2016 at 2:59 PM, jshoenfelt said: I would love to see some pics of these guitars. Look up and to the left.... You could also google it - there are plenty of people who have upped details (and good pics), of vaxplants or variax transplants - whatever you wanna call 'em. Some are quite beautiful looking instruments, but not necessarily what I would choose to play. Mine were straightforward xplants into "Strat" style clones, since I'm a Strat player by default. My plan was to relic them, to look like old "players", so I wasn't fussed if I hacked up the wood a bit with a chisel or whatever. It may be different for you.... And the truth is as long as you use common sense, research as much as possible, and you're handy with some tools, it's totally doable. It all depends on the level of "customisation" you're expecting. Good luck with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 The whole thing that got my into Variax guitars was the singer/guitarist from Thrice's Tele Variax. Sadly he sold it, because 1) he used an old Variax 2) Was annoying to maintain as a heavy gigging musician. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemh Posted July 28, 2016 Author Share Posted July 28, 2016 what about transplanting jtv69 to 24 frets custom guitar? is it gonna make intonation issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 No issues if you keep bridge position consistent with the scale length. The margin of error has to be within the adjustable range of the saddles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Yes, what Charlie said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dspellman Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Not a JTV series. Series 500 transplant. New guitar construction (hand built): 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Very nice work!!!! Did you make the routing templates or did you acquire them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 What bridge did you use? That is not from the 500 for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Very good. Yeah Charlie, not a 500 bridge. Haven't had any of those for sometime. Have to do some fine wiring to the program board to pull that off. Not half bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicmannetje Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 its in dutch, but i made a rather extensive report (up to my standards, at least) of how I transplanted the guts of a variax 300 into a strat: http://gtrworks.nl/frankenstein-variax-transplant-strat/ it has pictures..:) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevekc Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Thermal Relief Guitar730 West Cheyenne Ave. Suite #120 N. Las Vegas NV, 89030(702) 395-7005 info@thermalrelief.comhttp://thermalrelief.com/tta002/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 On 7/27/2016 at 3:13 PM, cruisinon2 said: Blasphemer!!! Must have been one of the much-touted "4 or 5 in North America" skilled enough to pull it off... ;) Funny enough, there's no way Line 6 would ever do a transplant for someone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Clay,... actually, I have. But they were off-the-clock favors for guitarist Carlos Rios and a couple others. Haven't had time for any others lately though. And Stevekc's photo is of the older Variax insides. I'm familiar with and know of the work of Thermal Relief Guitars,... not half bad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Model outputs won't sound the same in a different body. The tone colour or EQ is affected, and it may or may not be a subtle, depending on the body it's in. Everyone I talked to with a transplant has told me that. It's something to be aware of before you delve into this. They neither like nor dislike that, they just confirmed to me about that. They were aware before hand that it would be the case. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevekc Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Quote But they were off-the-clock favors forguitarist Carlos Rios nest time you see Carlos Rios - tell him Steve Conrad from old Valley Arts days (circa 1979-1986) says "Hello! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 I will. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 On 8/22/2016 at 3:40 PM, psarkissian said: Clay,... actually, I have. But they were off-the-clock favors for guitarist Carlos Rios and a couple others. Haven't had time for any others lately though. And Stevekc's photo is of the older Variax insides. I'm familiar with and know of the work of Thermal Relief Guitars,... not half bad. That's awesome of you, but it's still off the clock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Yeah. I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quadcabby Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 On 7/27/2016 at 5:03 PM, psarkissian said: Because of the different resonance aspects compared to the woods we use, the tone color in their guitars sounded different, but otherwise worked good. No to start that whole debate...but are you saying DSP modelling tones are altered by the woods their electronics are housed in....really? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 On 8/24/2016 at 12:01 PM, quadcabby said: No to start that whole debate...but are you saying DSP modelling tones are altered by the woods their electronics are housed in....really? Somewhere there's a guy who will claim to be able to distinguish between woods that were cut down Tuesdays vs. Wednesdays (with or without a full moon), as well as which company made the chainsaw. Take it for what is worth, which ain't much. Just as a bunch of world famous wine tasters were recently embarrassed by this guy...: http://io9.gizmodo.com/wine-tasting-is-bulllollipop-heres-why-496098276 ...the idea of "tone woods", and the ability to distinguish between them is about as ridiculous. Perception is influenced by many things (appearance and price tag are often the primary factors), and changes from one day to the next for any of 1000 reasons. ALL of theses discussions are 100% subjective, and you'll never "prove" anything, either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quadcabby Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Loving the wine article... :D...and the Tuesday, Wednesday thing! I guess I can't get my head round how a bunch of electronics, particularly those that are modelled are going to sound different if you put them in another holder. I've transplanted a couple of 500s into different body shapes and woods, but they didn't sound any different afterwards!! As you say 10% subjective and a little like wine tasting!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 "No to start that whole debate...but are you saying DSP modelling tones are altered by the woods their electronics are housed in....really?"--- Carlos has an SG copy rigged for left handed, with JTV guts in it, he noticed a subtle difference in tone compared to his JTV-69,... as we expected when we A/B them. A former service tech in Canada (one of the 4 or 5 mod guys in No America), also a lefty, said the same thing when he transplanted JTV guts into a Flying-V. Oz Noy had JTV modified and customized by a guitar maker out here (yes, also one of the 4 or 5 in No America). Oz had me do a couple of mods to adjust the tone colour on it. He had the body further sculpted and one of the guitar maker's special fitted necks. It's a mix of electronics and acoustics. They all sound fine, play great, and yes,... a difference in tone. But in their cases it was a subtle difference. Transplants work,... just wanted you all to be aware of those subtle differences, so that if you go there, you go there with eyes open and ears aware. Enjoy. Rock-n-roll!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyton Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 Strat Transplant 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roscoe5 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 On 8/24/2016 at 3:55 PM, psarkissian said: "No to start that whole debate...but are you saying DSP modelling tones are altered by the woods their electronics are housed in....really?"--- Carlos has an SG copy rigged for left handed, with JTV guts in it, he noticed a subtle difference in tone compared to his JTV-69,... as we expected when we A/B them. A former service tech in Canada (one of the 4 or 5 mod guys in No America), also a lefty, said the same thing when he transplanted JTV guts into a Flying-V. Oz Noy had JTV modified and customized by a guitar maker out here (yes, also one of the 4 or 5 in No America). Oz had me do a couple of mods to adjust the tone colour on it. He had the body further sculpted and one of the guitar maker's special fitted necks. It's a mix of electronics and acoustics. They all sound fine, play great, and yes,... a difference in tone. But in their cases it was a subtle difference. Transplants work,... just wanted you all to be aware of those subtle differences, so that if you go there, you go there with eyes open and ears aware. Enjoy. Rock-n-roll!!! Apologies and I understand if you cant divulge this info, but are there different stock settings in the JTV Variax tech components to match the body/wood/construction of the JTV-69, 59, and 89 to deliver similar modeling results from the different guitar types? I ask because this may influence the decision of the Line 6 JTV donor and/or transplant guitar. I've never had the stock JTV's side by side to compare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshoenfelt Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Very nice Tyton! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 "Apologies and I understand if you can't divulge this info, but are there different stock settings in the JTV Variax tech components to match the body/wood/construction of the JTV-69, 59, and 89 to deliver similar modeling results from the different guitar types"---- Models are all the same on all JTV's,... it's the Alt Tune, switching configuration and a couple other things that determines which guitar is which (electronically). You can't take a program board from one type of JTV and put it into a different type of JTV. It won't sound right or fully function. 69 with 69, 59 with 59,... put 59 board in a 69 and you'll have problems. If you get a spare board it has to be for the correct JTV type you have, or it won't work right. That's as much of it as I get into. I've mentioned this stuff in other posts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roscoe5 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 On 11/1/2016 at 8:07 PM, psarkissian said: "Apologies and I understand if you can't divulge this info, but are there different stock settings in the JTV Variax tech components to match the body/wood/construction of the JTV-69, 59, and 89 to deliver similar modeling results from the different guitar types"---- Models are all the same on all JTV's,... it's the Alt Tune, switching configuration and a couple other things that determines which guitar is which (electronically). You can't take a program board from one type of JTV and put it into a different type of JTV. It won't sound right or fully function. 69 with 69, 59 with 59,... put 59 board in a 69 and you'll have problems. If you get a spare board it has to be for the correct JTV type you have, or it won't work right. That's as much of it as I get into. I've mentioned this stuff in other posts. Thanks for the info. Sorry you had to repeat it. I'm new to JTV and Variax HD and didn't dig into the old threads as much ad I could have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 "Thanks for the info. Sorry you had to repeat it. I'm new to JTV and Variax HD and didn't dig into the old threads as much ad I could have"--- No problem. I'm here to help. There are a number of my responses to postings on this subject, a lot to sift through,... if you're so inclined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toasterdude Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 On 8/17/2016 at 5:55 PM, stevekc said: Thermal Relief Guitar 730 West Cheyenne Ave. Suite #120 N. Las Vegas NV, 89030 (702) 395-7005 info@thermalrelief.com http://thermalrelief.com/tta002/ Bookmarked them. I go te vegas once or twice per year, so if I need any custom transplant stuff doen I just may look em up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 Yeah, I'm familiar with their work, they're pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTSC777 Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 I was intrigued by a transplant as well before I got my JTV69. The guitar is an absolute strat guys guitar.And I have some nice strats! Now all I want is to sell 3 or 4 of my guitars that sit most of the time and get another JTV69 lol! Great thread! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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