Variax Standard neck profile and feel, reliability

[jamschad]

Hi,

 

I bought a B-stock JTV-89F in summer. The first thing I reacted to was the very odd feel about the neck. It simply didn't feel right. I was too "round", kind of semicircular in transverse section. The next thing was the electronics, where the variax mode simply stopped functioning after the first use! But that's a separate topic...

 

Now, my question is if any of you have had  any experience with Variax Standard you can share with me. The specs say it has a flattened C-shape. I haven't found any info about the shape of 89F, so I don't know if they share more-or-less the same geometry. Also please let me know if you also experienced problems with the electronics and digital features.

 

Cheers,

 

J

[cruisinon2]

Hi,

 

I bought a B-stock JTV-89F in summer. The first thing I reacted to was the very odd feel about the neck. It simply didn't feel right. I was too "round", kind of semicircular in transverse section. The next thing was the electronics, where the variax mode simply stopped functioning after the first use! But that's a separate topic...

 

Now, my question is if any of you have had any experience with Variax Standard you can share with me. The specs say it has a flattened C-shape. I haven't found any info about the shape of 89F, so I don't know if they share more-or-less the same geometry. Also please let me know if you also experienced problems with the electronics and digital features.

 

Cheers,

 

J

The 89 is a shred-mobile. Much thinner profile and flatter radius than the other JTV's. I've never played a Standard, but from your description it's much more of a baseball bat than the 89.

[gstew]

Hi J, if you are familiar with Warmoth Guitar Parts the neck back shape of the Variax Std I have is most similar to their standard thin profile. (You'll find those specs in detail on their website warmoth.com) As far a hardware/software, I only had a problem with the control knobs falling apart in two pieces; a little careful use of some super glue and it's like it never even happened. I did move one of the string trees on the pegface closer to the nut to create a steeper break angle for the high B and E strings; the down pressure of those strings in the bottom of their nut slots wasn't adequate to make a clear and clean open note. Did a fret level too. It's dialed in pretty well now.

[jamschad]

Thanks. I also found out that guys at Moses Graphite produce necks for Variax JTV-69 guitars made of carbon fiber! So I'm probably going for a JTV-69S and change its dreadful neck with a carbon fiber Strat style neck. The question is if JTV-69 necks are completely interchangeable with JTV-69S as they don't mention it in their homepage. My guess is that 69 and 69S are identical except for the location of the pickups, so the necks should be the same.

 

[Charlie_Watt]

69 and 69S have same neck.  Just different pickups.

[madmalcnoodling]

I've just bought a Variax Standard, I traded in a Yamaha Pacifica 112V for it.

 

I'm unable to tell any difference between the Variax Standard neck and the Yamaha Pacifica that I traded in.

[amsdenj]

I think they are essentially the same guitar with the Variax Standard having the modeled guitars.

 

I found using a wider nut spacing and a good setup makes a Variax Standard into a pretty playable guitar. And the single coil pickups aren't bad either.

[Lamont32]

I've only had my Variax Standard for less than two weeks, and to me, the neck reminds me of a 1971 Fender Stratocaster I once had a long time ago, in a galaxy far away (before children).   The neck radius was smaller on the Strat I had.  I haven't owned a Strat since about 1981, so I can't speak to current models.  

 

Regarding the neck on the Standard, I like it!  I also like the satin finish on the Variax neck.  I did change out the factory installed strings to my long time favorites, DR Strings Pure Blues 10-46.  Just changing the strings made the neck feel entirely different to my hand.  So far, the electronics seem to be working perfectly, and my only concern right now is to try to figure out how to eliminate a warbling sound on the acoustic 12-string models.  I've read something about it on these forums, but have to dig deeper to find if anyone has found a cure.  I've no regrets about this guitar, and expect to be keeping it for a long time.

[cruisinon2]

I'm unable to tell any difference between the Variax Standard neck and the Yamaha Pacifica that I traded in.

Lol...that's because there is none. Despite official proclamations to the contrary that the Standard is an "all Line 6 design", a blind man can tell it's a Pacifica with Variax guts. Whether or not that's a good thing or not is up to they player...but a Pacifica it remains nonetheless.