Could I put variax electronics into this guitar?

thecolourbox

http://www.guitarkitsusa.com/m7/1JTW--jetsons-res-o-glas-wlt-semi-hollow-guitar-body-vintage-white.html

So I'm on a whim to make one of these guitars once I've sold a couple things. And I thought maybe due to the way they are put together (comes in two halves that you stick together, so all wiring can be done in the one half before you put the back on) it might make transplanting variax electronics rather easier than in normal guitars.

Notwithstanding the need to measure both the variax routing etc and the airline dimensions so as to check it can all for and avoid the centre wooden block of course. I'd still like a normal pickup in it to use separately, so probably would have two output Jack sockets, one for each.

I'd have to use the bridge from the variax I guess for the piezos.

I've a chance to get a very well priced 300 model variax. I think they are normally deemed a bit awkward for transplants due to everything being on a circuit board, but presumably this is less of an issue of all I'd need is dropped holes for the knobs?

Thanks all

olafgarten

You can probably have a single 3 position switch for the magnetic pickup and the variax system.

WezV

Main two questions are whether the electronics will fit in the space you have and whether the bridge will be tall enough.


Those resoglass kits need a high bridge

thecolourbox

WezV;844057" said:

Main two questions are whether the electronics will fit in the space you have and whether the bridge will be tall enough.


Those resoglass kits need a high bridge

Oh yeah, damn it. A good point. Ah I shall crawl back into my box again

GuitarMonkey

You can use an LR Baggs (or other piezo) tunomatic in place of the Variax bridge.

thecolourbox

Hmmm I wouldn't know how to do that, the attraction of the idea was that it's just a case of drilling some holes to slot it all in, I've no other technical skill so I'd be better just keeping it as they come I think

impmann

Point of order - yes you *can* use any piezo with the Variax circuitry, but the piezos used in the Line6 guitars have a lower output than most commercially available piezo bridges. This *can* (depending on pick attack) overdrive the op amps ahead of the A-D converter - this manifests itself as horrid square wave clipping (not nice smooth overdrive on an analogue/valve circuit).

Some players don't notice this issue as they have a gentle pick attack - for example the one-off guitar we built for Steve Howe has a Graphtec equipped wrap-around and it's not given him any problems that I'm aware of in that regard.

In the JTVs, Line6 had to find a work around for the 89F which features standard Graphtec saddles on a Floyd. As a result there is a little daughter board plugged into the bridge cable input with some attenuators. It works but isn't foolproof.

As for using a V300 as a basis - not the best for such a conversion as all the electronics are held in a Faraday's cage inside the guitar for interference rejection (we used to call them coffins due to the shape). You can take the electronics out but there is a 24way ribbon cable that connects the main board to the user interface, and outside of the coffin that can be problematic - it's bad enough inside. The coffin assembly works best in Strat style conversions.

The V500 is (aside from the JTVs) best *still* for conversions - even though it is incredibly long in the tooth. Bear in mind that Line6 have next to no new parts left for the old guitars so if you break anything doing a conversion you may be up shit creek. Especially watch the bridge cable connector on the V500 as its bespoke and there are NONE left.

If you want any help/parts etc, get in touch. I used to help folks out doing this when I worked at Line6 and have done a few conversions myself. I also have a few bits and bobs I rescued from the salvage bins when the UK operation closed down.

Hope that helps.
:-)

Andyjr1515

thecolourbox said:

Hmmm I wouldn't know how to do that, the attraction of the idea was that it's just a case of drilling some holes to slot it all in, I've no other technical skill so I'd be better just keeping it as they come I think

Hi

If the basic electronics physically fit that body (and that is not a foregone conclusion...) then yes, it may be possible.  However IMHO, it would take a significant amount of experience / skill and a reasonable number of power and hand tools to get it to work.  I think it is highly unlikely that it would be as easy as drilling the top and popping it all in.

There are some articles I think I've seen on the web of putting a  Variax into a custom body.  They are worth a peep.  Not for the faint-hearted...

Now, if you wanted a wonderful JTV59 and save all the aggravation... I might just happen to have one at a bargain price....  

A5D5E5

I did a variax transplant a few years ago.  I got the idea when I was given a V300 for nowt and so I started by trying to disassemble the faraday cage / coffin that impmann refers to because if you don't do that, it is very hard (impossible in many cases) to fit it into a guitar with pickups (which I wanted).

Disassembling it would be just about possible - you probably need to find a 24 way ribbon cable (which didn't seem trivial) as the one supplied is only just long enough as it is and you would probably want to separate the main board and the board with the controls to make them fit better.

Another issue is that the controls are mounted onto a PCB and so if you want to use any other configuration (for looks or practicality if you also need controls for the magnetic pickups) you have a problem.  I got as far as wiring new pots (10k from memory by the way, not normal 250k / 500k guitar pots) onto wires and then back onto the PCB.

At this point though I thought - it was just getting too clumsy and there were too many "weak points" to ever be properly reliable.  So I bought a cheap V500 from ebay and used that instead.  Much, much easier to work with.

A few other comments:

You can use the same output jack for both variax and magnetic pickups - I have a push / push pot that lets me switch between them.  You just need to cut one of the wires leading to the jack (continuity test to find out which one) and wire it to the switch alongside the output from the magnetic pickups to chose which one is sent to the jack.

Similarly, you can use the same five way pickup selector switch - there is an unused pole you can wire the magnetic pickups to.

Finally, you might be able to use the piezo elements from the variax bridge in a tune-o-matic type bridge in place of the normal saddles.  I didn't look into this at all, but I'm sure when I was doing some research on my conversion I saw pictures from somebody who had done this with a Gretsch type guitar.  If not, there is plenty of information about the pros and cons of using graphtech ghost bridges instead on the net as impmann mentions.

thecolourbox

Ah yeah all good points and well made as always, thanks. Was a bit of a whimsical idea certainly, it seemed too good to be realistic when I was thinking that basically being two shells stock together might make it easier than routing a wooden guitar! But I think it shows my lack of skill and knowledge that I would consider something like that...

Lol I did see your variax Andy but I've got my heat on one of those funky shaped instruments, not an LP style fan I'm afraid. Was just trying to find ways to make my hopefully cool fit guitar a bit more funky.

Back to the drawing board (which currently has an Led emblazoned headstock and a DI Jack out on it)

Andyjr1515

thecolourbox said:

Lol I did see your variax Andy but I've got my heat on one of those funky shaped instruments, not an LP style fan I'm afraid. Was just trying to find ways to make my hopefully cool fit guitar a bit more funky.

Well - if it doesn't sell soon, then with just 10 minutes on the bandsaw, it could be any funky shape you fancy   )

thecolourbox

Haha make it look like this (closest airline model to an LP) we might have a deal!
http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/items/images/30N/MAP1-WHITE_body-front.jpg

Just kidding, would of course be a travesty to wreck a guitar that pretty

Andyjr1515

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