Variax tele - best option??

axisus

I'm having a go at transplanting a variax into a tele. I want to keep the controls simple, so I'm not going to use magnetic pickups as well. There is one thing that I am having trouble deciding though ........ I can't make up my mind whether to include 'dummy' pickups and retain the telecaster look as much as possible (even just having 2 knobs), or stick a cap on and go for that smooth sleek pupless look. I thought I'd throw it out for opinions?

So, either regular tele/scratchplate/pickups look, or something like this (although not necessarily a flame or quilt top - just the pupless look):

Opinions?

koneguitarist

I like either, but prefer the orange one, looks classier.

jd0272

I think I'd agree on the zero p'ups option, really looks well. Have a nice 'grain showing' finish. Be lovely.

TTony

jd0272 said:

I think I'd agree on the zero p'ups option, really looks well. Have a nice 'grain showing' finish. Be lovely.

Definitely.  IMHO.

monquixote

I think zero pickups. 

Tele OF THE FUTURE.

stickyfiddle

They're both [cat picture].

But a no-pickup Tele with solid colour and black guard might work. Maybe...

axisus

Hmmn .... having actually looked at the body I'm going to use, it's in a fairly relic'd sort of state, and it's not a great bit of stuff either, sort of laminated ply from the look of it! (although feels pretty heavy?) - which is pointing more in the direction of standard tele look. I kind of feel that the examples above need a really good, pro looking finish so I'd rather start with a really decent body for that. Against opinion I think I may do the 'with pups' look for now and just see how the transplant thing goes. Can always 'rehouse' the gubbins at a later date.

DrBob

If it's a fairly trad looking Tele body I'd go no pickups BUT Esquire plate just to break it up a bit

Sporky

Bear in mind that rehousing a 300 (if that's the donor) is very tricky if you're putting in dummy pickups - the electronics are laid out under the scratchplate.

axisus

Nah, it's not the 300. It's the next one up, but without a trem, so no massive box to fit in, it's a tidy circuit board.

Sporky

Then I'd have dummy pickups. And a scratchplate.

fatherjack

Dummy pickups.  That big expanse of blank wood looks wrong.

hywelg

Or a small scratchplate like this.

No way I'd be happy about relying solely on the Line6 electronics for a gig, I'd want magnetic pups as a backup.

axisus

Oooohhh! what a gorgeous tele. Is that an Anderson?

hywelg

axisus said:

Oooohhh! what a gorgeous tele. Is that an Anderson?

Nope same as you've been looking at, Warmoth
http://www.warmoth.com/Gallery/GalleryItem.aspx?id=4929

steamabacus

I think they'd look better with a 'dummy' sound hole, maybe oval?



(edit) Maybe a bit like this?

digitalscream

It's not strictly what you asked, but...for me, the fact that the guitar would be useless when the battery dies if you don't have mag pickups really puts me off. I'd at least have a second backup signal path, just in case, even if it's just a single pickup wired straight to an output jack with nothing in between.

That said...if you don't have any magnetic pickups, you won't have anything pulling on the strings...which can only be a good thing.

Sporky

digitalscream said:

It's not strictly what you asked, but...for me, the fact that the guitar would be useless when the battery dies if you don't have mag pickups really puts me off.

Surely you'd use the XPS rather than batteries if you were gigging?

ChrisMusic

As @hywelg and @digitalscream both pointed out, it is not a good idea to rely solely on the Variax electronics, if the battery goes or the system freezes or resets (which I have been told the older Variaxes do sometimes) you have to wait for a reboot (embarrassing silence), or recharge or battery change.  Real pickups seem like a good idea to me.  Then you can dial in your own sound and subtleties to go with the Line 6 sounds, and mix both if you want.

Sporky

Out of interest, do any of the people decrying the Variax's reliability actually have one?

koneguitarist

Mine allways worked fine when I had a 500,I used the powered lead and DI box, and kept batteries for backup.