Line 6 Homepage | Line 6 Variax Page
Steve got this new guitar before the peep show tour, and it certainly is a cool one. I saw this one in Detroit but was unable to identify it, as I was Ed-side and didn't recognize the design. Thanks to Evan Kaufmann who was Steve-side at a christmas show, caught the 'Line 6' marking on the headstock and found the matching guitar. I owe you a Coke.
These guitars truly are unique. They do not have traditional electric guitar magnetic pickups, but instead have a special pickup system in the bridge similar to that on an electric double bass that picks up the vibration of each string and internally converts the signal to sound like one of 25 models of guitar programmed into the guitar (which is theoretically expandable in the future).
Line 6 has made a name for themselves by making equipment that models the sound of more expensive, rare and vintage equipment. From amps that model the sound of dozens of other amps, to distortion units that model vintage distortion sounds, comes this guitar that models the sound of over two dozen vintage instruments from Telecasters to Strats to Les Pauls to dreadnought acoustics to 12-strings to a banjo to a dobro and many more, all at the turn of a dial or a flick of the pickup switch. It really is amazing. I have no information on what settings Steve happens to use - the instrument has so many options it's really difficult to tell without asking Steve or his tech, or getting up close to the instrument dial. For more information, check the Line 6 page on the Variax.
Steve has the 500 model which is slightly lower class in term of the wood use and the inlays and the 700 offers a tremolo bridge, but is otherwise pretty much the same as the 500 model. I look forward to seeing what Steve does with it in the future. He only uses the guitar on one song (Aluminum) and I don't think he brings it anymore since they stopped touring for E2E and they don't play the song that much; he just uses another guitar, so photos available aren't great.
