Put Variax electronics into a another guitar

prowla

I've picked up a Variax and it's got some interesting sounds, but the gutar itself may not be the greatest.

I'm wondering about putting the electronics into another guitar - maybe a Strat or doubleneck.

Has anybody done this?

TTony

@Sporky ;

Sporky

That's me! 

Yes. Did it with Sporkaster 1, which has a Variax 300 inside it. Not helped by being a bit undersized, but it's perfectly DIY able. 

sweepy

@impmann has done a few too, i'm sure it can't be that hard, I pondered hooking the variax main board to a Roland GK back when I had time 

Kebabkid

TTony beat me to it but I tried Sporky's conversion at a gearfest and it all worked very well and that was a nice guitar, Andi.

Does this help and as you've probably seen, there's quite a few things out there on the internet on this

https://shop.rall-online.net/Guitar-Making/Neubau/Variax

I can't remember if Charlie Chandler had done one
Jonathan @FelineGuitars - Have you ever done one?

Sporky

I should have some build pictures, I'll see if I can dig them out. 

impmann

It depends on the model of variax as to how tricky it is. The v300/600 has a large metal ‘coffin’ inside that has to be accommodated but once the chopping out has been done, the rest of it is easy.

The JTV system is probably (imho) the easiest especially if you intend running pickups as well.

Bear in mind that Warmoth can make you a body pre cut for the variax bits (Tele or Strat shaped). Not the cheapest but a lot neater and easier than some!

SteveRobinson

I believe that Warmoth haven't made the Variax bodies for a few years now.

prowla

Wow - thanks for the info!

It's a 300 I have; there are some good sounds in there, including 12-strings which are great when strumming chords.

The previous owner replaced its neck with a Strat copy one which needs a bit of setting up.

But then I got to thinking about options...

I've got a Mex Strat with a Roland pickup on it, but having Strat plus synth plus Variax might be a bit OTT.

A doubleneck would be cool (bass on top and Variax guitar on bottom).

axisus

I'm doing it at the moment. It's a bit of a pain though as I think I will have to extend most of the wires to achieve what I want. I'm having a bit of a timeout whilst I scratch my head a bit.

Sporky

I'd say keep it simple. Integrating magnetic pickups is tricky, integrating a GK is going to be horrible.

I had to have custom ribbon cables made up for mine. 

ADP

I have the guts of a 300 (or a 600), which I've removed from the coffin and connected to a rare DIY RackVax interface (picture below). This way, I can get all the Variax sounds from a Roland-ready guitar. It's not as handy as having all the controls on the guitar, and at the moment it's just a bunch of bits looking for an enclosure to live in, but I'll get around to that one day soon.

The version I have also works with the newer JTV/Standard electronics, but unfortunately they're not readily available without sacrificing a guitar.

Sporky

Ooh. That's nice. 

normula1

I looked at the RacVax a couple if years back, but as @ADP mentioned they seem to be rare

ADP

I struck it lucky with mine. It came with all the hardware - Variax gubbins, cables, power supply and even a Workbench interface - for just over a hundred quid.