Custom neck

[DeepBlueWitch]

Hello all. I took the plunge last week and bought a helix. I only play at home but after 1 day I put my mesa boogie lonestar special and a number of designer pedals on fleabay. I guess that tells you what I think of the helix ☺️. 

 

I am now looking at a variax guitar - the jt59 looks just the job,however I would like to change the neck. Being in the UK I would probably go with a UK company. 

 

I have 2 questions

1) Any suggestions as to which company to use 

2) Just how difficult is a neck change and

3) Is there anything I need to be aware of

 

Maths was never my strong point! 

 

[specracer986]

You can't change the neck on a JTV59, it's set. You can change the neck on a JTV69 with any Strat replacement neck. I used Warmouth.

[cruisinon2]

21 hours ago, DeepBlueWitch said:

Hello all. I took the plunge last week and bought a helix. I only play at home but after 1 day I put my mesa boogie lonestar special and a number of designer pedals on fleabay. I guess that tells you what I think of the helix ☺️. 

 

I am now looking at a variax guitar - the jt59 looks just the job,however I would like to change the neck. Being in the UK I would probably go with a UK company. 

 

I have 2 questions

1) Any suggestions as to which company to use 

2) Just how difficult is a neck change and

3) Is there anything I need to be aware of

 

Maths was never my strong point! 

 

 

1) Can't help you with anything UK based

 

2) It's stupid simple, if you know what you're doing. (see below) 

 

3)As previously noted, it's not possible to change the neck on a 59, so forget that. Any Strat replacement neck will fit the JTV 69. However, because of the body's contoured heel, one of the holes for the mounting bolts is offset from the rest. If you're having one built from scratch, tell them not to drill any mounting holes, that way you can tap and drill them yourself in the correct spots... however, that's not always an option. If you end up purchasing one with the holes pre-drilled for a Strat body, you will need to dowel the one closest to the offset position, and then drill the hole you need. It's too close to the original hole's position to just drill without filling the existing one first... you'll end up splitting the wood and then the neck is garbage. It's not difficult, but it's also very easy to screw up if you're not handy with this kind of thing... tread cautiously. 

[BlueD]

On 3/28/2019 at 8:50 AM, DeepBlueWitch said:

Hello all. I took the plunge last week and bought a helix. I only play at home but after 1 day I put my mesa boogie lonestar special and a number of designer pedals on fleabay. I guess that tells you what I think of the helix ☺️. 

 

I am now looking at a variax guitar - the jt59 looks just the job,however I would like to change the neck. Being in the UK I would probably go with a UK company. 

 

I have 2 questions

1) Any suggestions as to which company to use 

2) Just how difficult is a neck change and

3) Is there anything I need to be aware of

 

Maths was never my strong point! 

 

I similarly love the Helix but careful, the Variax is not for everyone, try it before you spend a bunch of money on it. I never really gelled with it and ended up selling it.

[amsdenj]

I use a Variax JTV-69S for gigging with Helix floor and Powercab+. I changed the pickups to use SVL Daytonas and changed the neck to a Warmoth. Altogether this cost me about $1000 over the price of the Variax, which is quite an investment in Variax modifications. The end result is a very playable, very comfortable, very nice sounding guitar that has a lot of tonal options. I use it every gig, almost every song. The models don't sound that great, and I'd never record with them. They don't make me delight in their tones. But for live gigging in a cover band, they're impossible to beat. So what you do depends on what you're trying to do. This was a good solution for me, but your needs might be different.

[DeepBlueWitch]

Well I ended up with a new guitar, but many thanks for the help