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I can’t remember seeing one on television and I’ve never seen anyone play one live. For what (in theory) should have been a ‘must have’ product, they never seemed to fulfil their promise.
Perhaps if the technology had been available in a pedal, with a retrofittable piezo bridge for a Strat and a Les Paul, Line6 would’ve had a winner on their hands?
I've tried a couple of Variaxes - one of the originals and one of @Sporky's re-housed ones. They're very clever, and do sound "good enough" but don't have that last 1% for me. Part of it is losing the feel of different guitars - a big box Gretsch is a very different thing to strap on than a Strat, which is quite different to a Les Paul.
Ultimately I think there are very few of us who need the utility of that many guitar sounds, but who also specifically want that to come from a single guitar. That said, I can imagine for something like a Broadway show, a Variax plus a Helix would be a phenomenal solution to get every possible guitar sound without any changes.
Edge
James Hetfield (Variax acoustic)
Steve Howe
Not an exhaustive list... my NDA prevents me from saying too much but a lack of artist relations development meant not enough product was put in famous hands.
The JTVs were superb - built by World Guitars (PRS, Schecter, etc) and designed by Tyler. I was heavily involved in that project including a lot of the work practices at the factory. Sadly some bad decisions regarding acceptable quality and releasing some guitars I'd rejected by folks higher up the food chain marred it slightly.
The Yamaha built 'standards' -basically a re-routed Pacifica were pretty good - a bit vanilla but perhaps the better for it. These were just arriving when Line6 UK closed and Yamaha took over.
I know I'm biased having been responsible for Variax in Europe for 10 years but yes, I think there's a good case for them being the last new development in guitar.
Evertune bridge - option to remove pitch arc from playing ie always in tune no matter how hard you strum/fret.
Fishman Fluence pickups - multiple voice actives, some models have 3 voices, most have 2. On some you can get active HB, passive HB, and single coil sounds.
I really want to try both, Evertune first because keeping low tuned notes in tune is a right pain in the backside with thinner better sounding strings, meaning you need to use thicker woolier sounding strings in place. I tune to drop B FWIW
That's really quite innovative in the way it uses different pickups and body sensors to give a hybrid electric/acoustic guitar. I can't say I was a fan of the way it sounded and felt though.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
I think the later approach where you had magnetic pickups as well was better. Having said that, you need to put it in a guitar that people would want to buy as a conventional guitar. That JTV just didn't fo it for me.
If Fender bought out an updated version of the VG Strat, or better still a VG Tele, I'd be very interested.
I would want the electronics to be modular though. You wouldn't want them to become obsolete and impossible to fix 10 years down the line. Ideally, when the manufacturer brings out a new version of the electronics you would want to be able to upgrade to the newer version by unplugging a box and plugging in a newer one.
The later ones look like proper guitars, and I would quite like one next time a space becomes available in my guitar rack. The only fear is that I would spend ages dicking around with settings and tunings and sounds instead of playing properly.
Even electro-acoustics suffer from this, which is one of the main reasons I don't like them. There are a lot of nice acoustic guitars which will become effectively useless just about at the point the guitar is starting to mature nicely, because the electrics fail or become outdated, and are hard to replace. Taylor are one of the biggest culprits.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Since Belew went Fractal, he may have abandoned the onboard PCB shit. (The Flux:FX tablet app is fun to record with but hardly practical for the stage.)
I had a 500 and was good when you just wanted certain sounds. Once set up it was actually very playable. Traditional guitarists hated the lack of pickups (rectified on later models). It was a good idea - I used to see quite a lot on the wedding band circuit. Handy if you need to switch between different tones quickly. Was also popular in the US with the worship band guys.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
I have a couple of Variaxes - a JTV69 and a Variax Standard - both of which are very decent guitars for the money (~£350 each used). I also have a RackVax board, which allows you to use any Variax electronics with a GK 13-pin equipped guitar.
Antares produced something similar in a floorboard design that was interesting, but they've not only stopped producing it now; they've withdrawn all support. I was tempted, but not now.