Bump. Fellow Belew Fly enthusiast
Browndog Owner shared the Belew RMC parts numbers and list prices in their own Belew Fly reproduction thread:
1 set PBPF14-6 Pow'r Bridge PF 6-string 14" leads $ 349.
1 P-D 1 K Poly-Drive 1 miniature poly preamp $ 379.
…
For anyone wondering: The only instance of these guitars I’ve seen outside Adrian’s and Vince’s videos is a gentleman from one of the Facebook groups sharing a photo of his DF842AB. Hence, I’m afraid this thread will continue to center around
Belew Fly Clone Projects:
Aside from Browndog, I and one or two others have been (very gradually) modding our Flys into a facsimile of Adrian’s, with one common deviation: No Variax.
For those unacquainted with the iterations of the Line 6 Variax, suffice to say there’s a great deal of overlap in ground covered between the COSM guitar models in Roland’s more recent hardware offerings (e.g. GR-55, SY-1000) and the most recent Variax 2.0 products (though a vguitarforums member named arislaf deserves a shoutout for painstakingly producing some lovely patch bundles that arguably improved upon the accuracy of Line 6’s circa-2010 guitar modeling still being sold in 2022).
Considering the Belew’s Variax integration was not full-featured (i.e. no interface/option for software editing tunings, banks, pot values and tapers, etc.), that aspect of the Belew Fly was unfortunately rendered obsolete before the guitar ever made it to market. Though due in-part to the Variax Workbench software not being available during the Belew’s R&D period, it is mainly owed to the “impossible” fit of components inside the Fly electronics cavity. When I asked Dennis about the omission of the Variax’s RJ-45 jack from the Fly, he claimed that he merely unplugged it from the main board in order to get everything to fit; and that the part could be plugged in with the cavity cover removed, if a Belew owner so desired.
Whether the Belew Fly’s onboard Variax 1.0 circuitry should stay in 2005 or inspire similar functionality through more modern means (e.g. a JTV Variax transplant to bring it into 2010, or just a heavier emphasis on 13 pin outboard gear to “future proof” it) is a topic that I feel shares much with the often-overlooked MIDIFly (an instrument some owners swear to be utterly irreplaceable as a recording tool). In my case, I own both a Variax and a Fly with full 13 pin/Sustainiac functionality, for the reason that I’d rather have two guitars than one and a half (though I admit the impending obsolescence of my Variax is leading me to consider selling it).
In the case of USM, Line 6, and Adrian himself, however, their individual decisions of where to go from Variax 1.0 paint a clear picture:
-The Variax functionality was dropped entirely from the second iteration of the guitar (the DF842AB),
-Line 6 reinvented the brand with the James Tyler/Variax 2.0 line (different hardware and expanded functionality), and
-Adrian had one or more of his Flys’ Variax components replaced with an onboard Antares ATG autotune kit (presumably to streamline recording). Note that Antares abandoned the Guitar Autotune product line so hard that the company currently pretends it never existed - Raising the question of what Adrian will end up having Andre Cholmondeley replace
it with.
Add to that the inelegant workarounds of how the power and isolation requirements demanded by the three interfacing products crammed into the same cavity rout were integrated, and we can see how easy it may have been to write the Variax 1.0 hardware and its compromised functionality off as being the guitar’s most expendable feature (some claim “gimmick”).
It was also arguably the guitar’s most
expensive feature: USM was buying Variaxes from Line 6
at-cost, and paying Dennis for the labor of transplanting the hardware with modification.
Those of us wishing to acquire a Belew Fly through reproductive means are therefore confronted with a question: Should the Variax 1.0 hex DSP circuitry that dates and relegates the Belew model to being a “product of its time” stay where it belongs in 2005 - or are the peculiarities of the guitar’s “kitchen sink” approach precisely what warrants preservation/reproduction?
I feel this vguitarforums post does a fine job of explaining the inherent shortcomings that relegated the Variax to being more of a novel concept than a successfully executed product:
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index ... ic=33898.0
Where are these guitars hiding? With the...let’s just say “eccentric” integration and signal routing of its circa-2007 gimmick electronics, I can’t imagine them being anyone but Adrian’s #1 guitar. Then again, some still play out with their GR303s.
I suppose if it was THE one and only bucket lister maybe but...
