blackburncustomguitars Posted June 18, 2005 Report Share Posted June 18, 2005 Hi everybody, I've tried everything I can think of (?!!?) and I was wondering if anyone out there knows how to buy the variax electronics. A potential customer wants one of my customs but with the variax stuff in it. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I've already looked on the Line 6 website. Peace, Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedoctor Posted June 18, 2005 Report Share Posted June 18, 2005 I tried, though not very hard, to get the basic set from Line and my best advice would be to buy one of the under $600.00 models and part it out. The necks suck rather large and the bodies are very nonimpressive but you would then know what the electronics are gonna cost you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted June 18, 2005 Report Share Posted June 18, 2005 (edited) You really have to look at it from Line 6's perspective - if they start making the electronics available separately, the odds of them ever selling another one of those rubbish-bin guitars rapidly falls towards zero. I'd imagine cannibalizing a working unit is going to be your only option. Edited June 18, 2005 by lovekraft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted June 19, 2005 Report Share Posted June 19, 2005 You should check this chap out: http://www.guitaristjeffmiller.com/mods.htm Hes done this, and I dont know how he got the electronics, but the results are v cool. You can download his playing of them as well John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 You should check this chap out: http://www.guitaristjeffmiller.com/mods.htm Hes done this, and I dont know how he got the electronics, but the results are v cool. You can download his playing of them as well John ← From the thread he links to, he's gutting working variaxes to do it. Looks like an interesting idea, but the cost of entry is pretty steep if you have to buy a Variax, gut it, and then build another guitar. I don't know why Line6 doesn't license the Variax to Fender, Gibson, or any other guitar maker, or outsource the building of the guitars to someone else. I think the variax is a great idea, but the feel of the units leaves a lot to be desired. And Warmoth has pre-routed Variax bodies licensed from Line6. It adds $100 to the body cost. http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/line6/line6.cfm Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 (edited) If you're ever up for a trip to Kansas City, or just want to call 'em up, Musician's Friend has a clearance warehouse full of broken down guitars. You can usually find a Variax with a smashed up body or neck for half what a shiny new one would cost. If it's been red-tagged, which means the guitar isn't worth repairing, the cost is usually much lower, too. I keep going there hoping to find a red-tagged Floyd Rose or BC Rich equipped with the speedloader so I can build my travel guitar. Edited June 21, 2005 by crafty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 If you're ever up for a trip to Kansas City, or just want to call 'em up, Musician's Friend has a clearance warehouse full of broken down guitars. You can usually find a Variax with a smashed up body or neck for half what a shiny new one would cost. If it's been red-tagged, which means the guitar isn't worth repairing, the cost is usually much lower, too. I keep going there hoping to find a red-tagged Floyd Rose or BC Rich equipped with the speedloader so I can build my travel guitar. ← Interesting. I'll give them a call first thing in the morning. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 OK. Musician's Friend has none that are red tagged in stock of either the Variax 500 or 700. Reading the Line 6 site, I found this and this, which states: How difficult is it to remove all the electronics from my Variax 500? We recommend that you consult a guitar repair shop for advice and assistance before removing and reinstalling the electronics from your Variax 500. Disassembly of your Variax and/or installation of third party, non-Line 6, parts may void your warranty. What happens if I break my Variax electronics or hardware during the installation? Installation of these Warmoth or any third party parts could result in your warranty being voided. Disassembly of your Variax could, as well, void your warranty. Installation of these and any third party parts are done at your own risk and Line 6 offers no guarantee on the quality or workmanship of these parts. Line 6 is in no way liable if the parts that you install are defective. Line 6 will not warranty any damage incurred while installing these or any third party parts. So, it looks like they use "may" an awful lot instead of "will" when talking about voiding the warranty. My guess is, if you actually spent the money on a Warmouth body/neck, they'd have a hard time voiding the warranty since it's a licensed product. The only area where they could get you is if you fry the electronics while installing them or you don't get a "guitar repair shop" to do the work, but how many of us do guitar repair work? If I can get my hands on the electronics for around $200, I definitely would do this. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluespresence Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 ^^^^^ That's pretty standard warranty text. Basically they want you to buy their product, leave it intact and never mess with it or the warranty will be void. It reads like a million other warranties from others. I've been surfing eBay for a busted up one so I can build a similar project but the very few that show up there go up too high in price. This may have to wait until the "newness" wears off the product and then be approached again, at least for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedoctor Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Crafty, Crafty, Crafty!!! What are you doing, man??? Do not tell everybody about your good, backdoor sources!!! If that broke Gibson 335 is not there when I go to buy it, you are in a world of crap!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted June 22, 2005 Report Share Posted June 22, 2005 (edited) Crafty, Crafty, Crafty!!! What are you doing, man??? Do not tell everybody about your good, backdoor sources!!! If that broke Gibson 335 is not there when I go to buy it, you are in a world of crap!!!! I haven't seen an actual red-tagged Gibson 335 over there yet, but they usually have a shat-ton of busted-up Casinos and other assorted semis, especially those Washburn OE-30s. I think I saw a couple of scratch 'n dent 335s over there once, though. There's so much crap over there, though. You have to wade through a lot of utter crap before you find something worth fixing up. Okay, this is starting to sound like an MFCC ad, so I'm going to stop it before I get accused of shilling for The Man. As for the warranty thing on the Variax, any time you disassemble something like that you can expect the warranty to be void unless one of their authorized repair shops or a qualified luthier does it for you. But hey, what's there to break that you can't order a replacement part for? Edited June 22, 2005 by crafty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedoctor Posted July 3, 2005 Report Share Posted July 3, 2005 Graphtec offers a system called Ghost MIDI pickup system. Might wanna give it a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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