How much does a body-swap really change the sound?

[FeralCat]

I've seen discussion here that dropping the electronics of a Variax into a different body will change the sound. Psarkissian mentioned this. This sounds reasonable.

 

I'm curious how much though? Is it the shape? The kind of wood etc? Would a regular person perceive it? Would it be easy to EQ the tone back into shape? Or is it beyond the ability of EQ to correct it?

 

I was surprised I hadn't seen very many transplant projects, now it makes more sense.

 

What would someone need to expect or listen for?

 

 

[psarkissian]

How, depends on many factors,... kind of wood, density of the wood, body shape. Models are matched to

the bodies they go into.

 

Also whether it's fixed bridge or tremolo. I can always tell when there's a mis-matched program between an 89 fixed

bridge and an 89F tremolo. Or a 69 main board programmed incorrectly as an 89F,... and so on.

 

In a non Line-6 body, not designed to to take a Variax board, the difference can be greater.

 

Would a regular person perceive it? That varies on how good the hearing is and how trained the ears are.

Some audio engineers complain that I have bat hearing and hear artifacts in poorly implemented HiRes audio,

earlier Sony version in particular, as they took the noise floor and modulated it into the 40kHz band. I could

hear bleed over into the audio band at 19.3kHz to19.7kHz, drove them nuts (this was about 6-years ago).

 

EQ can help a little. Carlos Rios' SG copy with Variax electronics in it is close enough to where EQ isn't perfect,

but it's where he's likes it. He does other things on his HD-500X for control-ability when he plays live with Stevie Nicks. 

 

Not many transplants out there because there are a number pitfalls to a project like that. Having done a number

of mods and transplants, I've seen my share, have the experience to know how to deal with it. Not something

to take lightly if you decide to get into that.

 

*And since mods and transplants are considered unsupported use, there is 50/50 chance I would have to

send it back untouched, should it land on my repair bench, since they pay me to deal with Line 6 product,

not someone else's. So be certain, if you tackle that, eyes wide open and aware.