I'm a Variax 500 owner, and I would HIGHLY recommend it. The first time I saw it in action was during Yes' summer tour, when the band opened with Close to the Edge. I saw sitting right up front, and was surprised to see the sitar passages played on something other than the Coral. Then, all of a sudden, in Mind Drive, it sounded like an acoustic! Had to have one, and I havent played my other guitars much since.

Theyre awesome live; you can switch guitars with the flick of a pinkie, in midsong. The Les Paul, strat, tele and hollow body models are especially amazing. Also, with Workbench coming out in the next few weeks, you will be able to program open tunings into the guitar without having to retune. Jump from slide to regular guitar in the same song!

That sounds very interesting. I will try to spend some time with my music dealer. Maybe the Variax will be my next guitar, let's have a try...

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Greetings from Frankfurt (Germany),
Sheriff ;-)