Anybody interested in doing a Variax bass "transplant" for me?

[Dave Muscato]

First off, my apologies to the mods if this is inappropriate, or in the wrong forum. It seemed to me the best place for it.

--

Hey folks,

I have a pair of Line6 Variax 705 basses, and I'm very happy with the tones they produce. However, I'm very dissatisfied with the power supply issue. (You can read about that in more detail here: 3 Months In: Line6 Variax 705 reviewed )

I'd like to have a magnetic pickup installed in the bass, in addition to the stock Variax electronics, as an alternative output (with a separate output jack, passive volume pot, and passive treble-cut). I've created a web-page with specifics about what I'd like to do.

The web page is here:

http://www.davemuscato.com/treasurej...ax_pickup.html

I live in Columbia, MO, and I don't think there's anybody nearby that would be able to do this sort of project, so I thought I'd turn to you guys and see if there was any interest. I don't know anything about lutherie and I don't have a desire to do this myself. I'll pay shipping both ways, of course, and a fair price for the work, plus supply the parts.

It may be necessary to create or use a new body for the bass, if there isn't an easy way to route around the wiring cavity for the existing electronics and get a pickup in the right place.

While I'm at it, I'd like to put a better neck on the thing - the stock neck is okay, but Carvin makes a 5-string bolt-on neck with graphite reinforcement rods and matching heel dimensions that I'd prefer.

If this goes well, I will probably want to do the same thing to my other Variax bass.

Please let me know what you think, or if you're interested in doing it (and a rough idea of a price!)

Thanks guys,

Dave

[fourstringbliss]

Originally Posted by Dave Muscato

First off, my apologies to the mods if this is inappropriate, or in the wrong forum. It seemed to me the best place for it.

--

Hey folks,

I have a pair of Line6 Variax 705 basses, and I'm very happy with the tones they produce. However, I'm very dissatisfied with the power supply issue. (You can read about that in more detail here: 3 Months In: Line6 Variax 705 reviewed )

I'd like to have a magnetic pickup installed in the bass, in addition to the stock Variax electronics, as an alternative output (with a separate output jack, passive volume pot, and passive treble-cut). I've created a web-page with specifics about what I'd like to do.

The web page is here:

http://www.davemuscato.com/treasurej...ax_pickup.html

I live in Columbia, MO, and I don't think there's anybody nearby that would be able to do this sort of project, so I thought I'd turn to you guys and see if there was any interest. I don't know anything about lutherie and I don't have a desire to do this myself. I'll pay shipping both ways, of course, and a fair price for the work, plus supply the parts.

It may be necessary to create or use a new body for the bass, if there isn't an easy way to route around the wiring cavity for the existing electronics and get a pickup in the right place.

While I'm at it, I'd like to put a better neck on the thing - the stock neck is okay, but Carvin makes a 5-string bolt-on neck with graphite reinforcement rods and matching heel dimensions that I'd prefer.

If this goes well, I will probably want to do the same thing to my other Variax bass.

Please let me know what you think, or if you're interested in doing it (and a rough idea of a price!)

Thanks guys,

Dave

I'd eventually like to do this as well. I love the sound but would rather have a different body and neck.

[TopJimmy]

Bump. I'd like to join the transplant gig. I've got a variax 705 and was thinking the same thing as Dave.

[Phil Mailloux]

What you're asking for really is a custom instrument with the guts of a Variax. Even if you supply the guts you'd still pay for a whole custom build to be done. At best you could recycle the neck.

You won't find a replacement body for a couple of hundreds bucks like on Warmoth for this since the design has to be engineered to fit all the variax stuff plus the magnetic pickups and its electronics add to that the costs of finshing your new body and fitting your spare parts to it, buying the pickups and electronics and I doubt you'd be in at less than $800 just for that custom body. that price probably wouldn't be enough to make it worth the while of the luthier.

If I were to do this I'd charge for a complete custom instrument plus the cost of the Variax. So you're basically throwing away the Variax bass and just keeping the electronics.

[Basshole]

Dave, peep this:

http://www.exit45.com/VaxIV

[neurotictim]

[Brian D]

Originally Posted by Basshole

Dave, peep this:

http://www.exit45.com/VaxIV

Originally Posted by neurotictim

+10000000000000000



VERY NICE!!

[TopJimmy]

That guy is spraying in his drumroom! Nice end product though.

Well i've got a spare stingray5 I wanted to use as the transplant bass. I love the variax's sounds but I hate the neck. And yes, I dont mind throwing away the variax body. It's really the electronics that are the important thing.

[Dave Muscato]

I've talked to midirose a few times... He's a regular on the Line6 Forum, but isn't interested in making a regular thing of it, apparently

I actually ended up having JC Cagle of HJC Customs do it (with a neck made from scratch), but I'm not happy with the way the neck turned out, and I'm considering going with a Carvin neck after all. The pickup is a Seymour Duncan SSB-II and turned out great, though!



Stock Line6 Variax 705 on the left, HJC Customs modified 705 on the right



The two knobs near the bridge are a volume for the magnetic pickup and a passive treble cut. There is an independent output jack for the magnetic pickup in addition to the two Variax outputs (1/4" + RJ45) on the bottom of the bass (all three are next to each other).

[TopJimmy]

Dave, what is it about the neck that didnt work out? I can see it's a bit wider..is that a pao ferro fretboard? Your custom variax gives me an idea. Besides the neck, I also had an issue with the variax having no pickup to "reference" my fingers. Im now thinking I can keep the humbucker on the stingray5 as a dummy. Im going to do some measuring this afternoon and I might end up taking a stab at this myself...

[Dave Muscato]

It's a lot wider actually, 2.125" at the nut... I'm happy with the width, but it seems that there are some measurement issues... the intonation is pretty bad, even after two local setups, rendering the bass unusable for recording, and the dots on the fretboard are off-center (inconsistently so). Also, the thumbrest is not tall enough to be useful - your thumb slips right off of it because it's so low, but it's covering up some routing (Line6's design, not HJC's), so I can't just take it off. I don't really use a thumbrest (I use floating-thumb technique), but the Line6 original plastic thumbrest was quite a bit taller. It is pretty, though - it matches the chechen rosewood fingerboard.

I originally wanted a new neck because the stock Line6 neck was a little chunkier than I like, and I had planned to just order one from Carvin. Carvin's build time was quoted at 2-3 weeks. I was leaving for Boston over the summer and I wanted to take the finished bass with me, and the builder told me he could build a neck from scratch faster than that, so I canceled the Carvin neck order and had him build one for me instead. It ended up taking 3 months (I ending up just buying a used Korean-made MTD from eBay to take with me to Boston instead), and when the rebuilt Variax arrived, I actually had to send back the neck because the profile wasn't what I wanted; the new neck was even thicker than the stock neck. The entire order took close to 5 months (4~ longer than quoted), cost $736 (for installing the pickup & building a new neck), and I still don't have an instrument I can use out or sell out of it.

I also wish I'd gone with slightly bigger frets and a slightly more rounded radius (I wanted it flat), but those are both things that are entirely my fault, haha.

Anyway, not trying to air dirty laundry here, but that was my experience with a Variax mod. There is a local guy who builds 5-10 basses a year that might be interested in trying to make a new neck for this one, but I still have to call him about figuring it out. He's actually a TBer too, but I understand that he hasn't used his account in several years (his name is Bill Rowe).

[asad137]

The Carvin neck may not work -- even though the neck pocket may be the same, the Variax has a 21-fret neck while the Carvin has a 22. Unless the Carvin fingerboard extends past the end of the neck (which it doesn't), it won't be a direct replacement. You'd have to move the bridge toward the headstock in order to get it to intonate properly.

EDIT:
Indeed, from the Line6 website:
"The Bass was designed to accept a wide range of replacement necks. Any neck that will fit in a traditional four-bolt neck pocket will work in the Variax Bass 700. We suggest that you have any new neck installed and set up by a qualified repair person."

The Carvin neck is NOT a standard fender-style replacement neck.

Asad

[Dave Muscato]

The neck pocket won't fit a Carvin 5-string anymore... the pocket is wider on mine now, since he built a neck with a wider nut, also. I was thinkin' their 6-string neck-through necks:

https://www.carvinguitars.com/produc...p?product=NT6B

You can get it with a blank, oversized & undrilled headstock, so it wouldn't be hard at all to route that down to a 5-string shape instead of 6 and put a 5-string nut on it. Just an idea, though... I'm not opposed to having another neck built instead.

[bassrique]

EDIT:
Indeed, from the Line6 website:
"The Bass was designed to accept a wide range of replacement necks. Any neck that will fit in a traditional four-bolt neck pocket will work in the Variax Bass 700. We suggest that you have any new neck installed and set up by a qualified repair person."

Is there a reason an USACG or Warmoth neck won't work? I'm kinda tired and must'a missed something.

I can't wait 'till Line6 [or someone] gets their act together and produces a smaller next gen kit that can fit into just about any bass.

[Marcus Willett]

If you're willing to drive a couple hours (or you could just ship, but I like to be there) you could head up to Dave Wendler in Lawrence, KS. I think he's Dave251 on TB.

Dave has done a lot of custom work for me over the years including many one-offs and unusual stuff. Easy to work with too...might be worth a shot.

[dewbass4]

Dave, can't you find a mechanical or electrical engineering grad student there at MU that could do the work (probably for a few beers)? If not there are a several great luthiers in the Kansas City area only 120 miles west who could do the work. PM me for their names and phone numbers if you're interested.

[Dave Muscato]

Thanks, Marcus! I appreciate the tip.

Dew, I'd rather have a luthier do it... I've had just about enough of "almost right" necks, haha. I'd love to hear who you've got in mind in KC.

[Marcus Willett]

Originally Posted by Dave Muscato

Thanks, Marcus! I appreciate the tip.

No sweat.

Of course you could always just get a custom bass exactly the way you like and then outfit it for the V-Bass

If you talk to Dave, tell him I said hey

[Dave Muscato]

If anybody else is interested in checking out this guy's stuff, his website is:

http://www.electrocoustic.com

Pretty neat idea for a design, if you ask me... combination between chambered & hollowbody acoustic, with a jazz guitar influence.

[Marcus Willett]

Dave's an old friend from when he used to live in Branson. He's got good ideas, knows his stuff and is not afraid to try unconventional approaches...like the two necks he made for me out of douglas fir.

My Wendler 5 string is actually the first 5 string bass he ever built with the MagPi system.