Line 6 JTV-59 Variax Electric Guitar  

I bought this guitar on a whim.  A bit pricy for a whim, but I honsetly figured I'd return it when I heard how cheesy the sounds were sure to be.  I was SO wrong.  OK, a couple of them need some tweaking, but then you have the Variax Workbench for that.  I have customized the heck out of mine using the workbench, both the tunings and the models, and I have the guiter set up according to my set, when I need acoustic and Strat in the same song, etc.  Really cool.  I did have some trouble over the first couple of days with both of the switching knobs but it seems to have cleared up on its own.

The finish is beautiful (I got the tobacco sunburst) and it's really a solid instrument while not being overly heavy.  It's made in Korea, but don't let that dissuade you. I should say, I own 18 guitars including a Strat, a 12-string Strat, a Tele, a Les Paul Deluxe, an Explorer, a Gibson Vegas High Roller, a J-200, a Martin DM-12, an old Gibson Marauder, an ES-335, a Rickenbacher 330 and several others.  I love them all and play them regularly, but there's only one that comes to gigs now.  Just the Variax. (OK, I bring the Les Paul as a backup in case I break strings or something).

Highlights - the resonator voices are REALLY good.  The Les Paul Custom voice is really good. The Tele voices are great, and so are the Les Paul Special voices.  For what this guitar is, I'd have to give a thumbs up to the acoustic 6 and 12 strings, too. They should replace the Danelectro with a classical.

Not as great but still impressive are the strat voices, the ES-175, the Rick voices, the Gibson banjo and the electric sitar.  But the best thing is customizing with the Workbench.  So cool.

I do wish there was a good nylon string voice on the workbench, basically it just gives you everything you already have on the guitar and allows you to mix and match and tweak like crazy, but nothing other than what you already really have access to.

By the way, programming custom tunings is so easy you can do it between songs at a gig (I did) and it is an awesome function.  Also, battery life is really good, and if you run it down during a gig, the guitar sounds pretty darn good all on its own.

I purchased the JTV-59 in early December 2011 and also purchased the POD HD500 at the same time (if you are going to do it, do it right).  To date I have been extremely happy with the both and because of same I am toying with doing the dream rig and puchasing the DT50 212.  The JTV-59 is a wonderful instrument and the emulations of the classic guitars are amazing.  Imagine going from your basic electric guitar sound to a varied choice of acoustic guitars, then a banjo, a sitar, a Tricone, other electric models such a Fender, Gibson, Gretsch etc.  Marry all the above with the diversity of options afforded by the POD HD500 and the variety of sounds one can create is nearly endless.  I don't play professionally but I can see how a professional musician could certainly lighten their load by having this all in one guitar.  I have heard some the purists say that the JTV is a gimmick instrument, but once you experience the sound quality and flexibility you will be convinced otherwise.  There had been some reports when the JTV first came out that the switching mechanism was problematic, but that appears to have been resolved, because mine is functioning 100% as advertised.  The one suggestion I would add to improve the guitar would be to have locking tuners as opposed to the standard tuners that come with the guitar (they appear to be similiar to the Gotoh tuners).

The JTV-59 build quality from my observation is excellent.  I closely examined my guitar and could not find any faults.  The appearance is beautiful.  I am going to have a luthier put locking tuners on my JTV as well as do a set-up and ask him to give it a once over to see if he sees any issues.  I am very happy with the quality of the guitar and its appearance.

If you pay the price for one well made instrument and get over 20 other quality instrument capabilities at the same time; I would say you got a real bargain.  Plus, if you marry the JTV with the POD HD500 and the DT50 amp you have a fully integrated system to generate all the sounds you could imagine.

I guess you have surmised that I am very happy with the JTV-59 that I purchased.  Try it, you will like it!  What would make it perfect would be to have locking tuners.  That is why I rate it as a 9.

If you are a gigging guitar player you need this guitar!  A great deal of music out today takes advantage of many different alternate tunings.  Your option is to have a full time guitar tech handing you guitars with the tunings set or use this amazing instrument.  At the twist of the knob you can be in any number of preset tunings or create your own tunings and store them along with a specific guitar model.  The combinations are limitless. Now imagine switching from an light acoustic passage into a full on electric guitar solo without switching guitars again.  How valuable would that be?  I have sold 5 guitars because I no longer need them.  I gig every week and this is my go to guitar now.  I cannot part with it.  I have another one on order in the event anything ever happens. That's how happy I am with it.

Just like witha new nameplate in the auto industry you can run into some first-run issues.  I unfornately experienced this but I was able to get it corrected in less than one day with the cooperation of Line 6 (Thank you Rich Renken) and a local Line 6 Service Center.  One the switch anomaly was correct this guitar has been spot-on perfect!

I was shocked about how well the guitar was set up straight from the factory.  After my tech did a extremely slight neck adjustment and only 2 of the strings required another slight intonation adjustment the guitar is perfect and probably one of the best playing guitars I have ever purchased.  I think Mr Tyler should be very proud of his design and the continued quality that Line 6 places in this instrument.  Even if the amazing Variax technology was not in this guitar it stands on it's own just fine.  I owned a Variax 700 for quite a while but I could never get it to play.  The way I wanted it to.

As I stated earlier, if you are a gigging guitarist you need this guitar. No longer do you have to switch guitars for different tones or tunings.  Whether you realize it or not it does slow the show down a little bit and it all adds up.  I am the front man so it is almost impossible to keep a good dialog going with the audience when you are constantly heading stage right to get another guitar strapped on.  It also allows you to go through a medley of songs without changing guitars as well.  I am extremely pleased with this guitar and would like to Thank Line 6 and Rich Renken for doing it again!