A Variax IS the most versatile guitar

SteveRobinson

but uncool

merciful-evans

Useful studio tool. Especially when you dont have a banjo handy.

skullfunkerry

merciful-evans said:

Useful studio tool. Especially when you dont have a banjo handy.

Or a sitar

ICBM

merciful-evans said:

Useful studio tool. Especially when you dont have a banjo handy.

Only for studios with an open fire.

soma1975

Bez is a useful studio tool. No idea about a Variax. 

ThePrettyDamned

Peach did a thing on Instagram where they demoed a guitar and asked people to guess what it was. It was a strat (well, the prs silver sky) but the guesses were strat, tele, prs, les paul, sg, firebird, thinline, 335 and more.

Does anyone know what they sound like? 

koneguitarist

To be honest in my opinion and use of them, I think they are the best tool for any guitarist in studio or playing in a varied cover band. No other guitar comes close to what it can do. 

However the software while brilliant was let down by the guitars themselves. 

Part of why a guitar sounds the way it does is how the player approaches the instrument and what he expects to get. When I play a tele I play it differently to a Strat and differently to a Les Paul. When I played my Variax I couldn’t get the lack of feel of any of the classic instruments out of my head and struggled to impart myself onto guitar. 

Yet listening to @firepaulmusic when he borrowed it for a gig I was gobsmacked at the tone he got out of it doing a Gary Moore song. I used it for alternate tunings and also very distinct specific tones and it worked. 

But I hated the guitar. 

merlin

merciful-evans said:

Useful studio tool. Especially when you dont have a banjo handy.

Or a Cümbüs. 

Fretwired

The most versatile guitar ever made, in my humble opinion, was the Adrian Belew signature Fly guitar - Sustaniac and DiMarzio pickups, Variax guitar modelling and a Roland GK MIDI pickup for synth access.

Check out the video:

sweepy

Lusted after one of those for yrs

impmann

Because Line6 at the time refused to assist a “rival” company, to build each Adrian Belew Fly, Parker had to buy a Variax to take apart for the electronics.

True story! 

Incredible guitars, and properly bonkers - so many different sounds, so many options... I’d love one! 

Jez6345789

See I loved mine in the end I redid the neck but they are versatile and here is what I found you have to focus and be motivated by the sound and then you don’t fall into the issue Kone had where your mind is going this feels nothing like a Strat or Tele. Most of the guitars built in at that point I had never owned so for me being able to dive into sultans of swing then straight to a passable Gary Moore tone was no hassle as my mind was not referencing the physical aspect just focussing on getting a nicely nuanced sound but I get why people never bonded with them

ICBM

impmann said:

Incredible guitars, and properly bonkers

Indeed... why make such an amazing guitar concept but then put it in a Fly? Completely bonkers.

Fretwired

ICBM said:

impmann said:

Incredible guitars, and properly bonkers

Indeed... why make such an amazing guitar concept but then put it in a Fly? Completely bonkers.

You've obviously never met Adrian Belew .. :-)

Steve Howe, Adrian Belew, and co on the Variax:

ICBM

Fretwired said:

You've obviously never met Adrian Belew .. :-)

No, but I have played several Flys. (Flies?) One of the most uncomfortable guitars ever.

I’ve also tried to put one on a guitar hanger .

sweepy

ICBM said:

Fretwired said:

You've obviously never met Adrian Belew .. :-)

No, but I have played several Flys. (Flies?) One of the most uncomfortable guitars ever.

I’ve also tried to put one on a guitar hanger .

That’s odd because I found my old Fly Classic incredibly comfortable and one guitar I definitely regret selling 

ICBM

sweepy said:

That’s odd because I found my old Fly Classic incredibly comfortable and one guitar I definitely regret selling 

You must hold it differently from me... the point of the ‘hook’ on the body was literally painful when it dug into my ribs. Trying to avoid that put the neck at an awkward angle which gave me cramps. Just awful, and totally unnecessary.

The Dragonfly looks like a vast improvement, but I’ve never played one. You can at least put it on a hanger too .

koneguitarist

Jez6345789 said:

See I loved mine in the end I redid the neck but they are versatile and here is what I found you have to focus and be motivated by the sound and then you don’t fall into the issue Kone had where your mind is going this feels nothing like a Strat or Tele. Most of the guitars built in at that point I had never owned so for me being able to dive into sultans of swing then straight to a passable Gary Moore tone was no hassle as my mind was not referencing the physical aspect just focussing on getting a nicely nuanced sound but I get why people never bonded with them

That's exactly my point, I had owned vintage tele's strats and Les Pauls etc and my mind was against the guitar. 

Voxman

ICBM said:

merciful-evans said:

Useful studio tool. Especially when you dont have a banjo handy.

Only for studios with an open fire.

+1!    

normula1

I actually like the "guitar" part of my Variax, but like all my others I played quite a few before choosing it. I also put my head in the space of the instrument being modelled i.e. I play a real 335 differently to a Strat so that's how I play the Variax. To be totally honest I don't think the neck "pickup" on the Strat model comes very close, but there's plenty of others I enjoy, especially altered tuning acoustics.

Caffeine_Vampire

Kill me now...