moonman - you sound in much the same situation as me with an abundance of instrument! One of the reasons I bought the Variax was to save that line up of instruments on stage (and vehicle space) and hoping our lead vocalist decided to do a long verbal intro so I have enough time to change instruments.

Just spent the last 4 hours trying it through the AER I use for backline still very impressed, some expected limitations e.g.some of the guitars are happy to go down up to a full octave below standard pitch others lose some character other don't like being pushed too high above standard pitch - all open/alternative tunings work well.

The Dred and Jumbo are great likewise the twelve stings - mandola fair for picking and partial capoing good for strumming and driving a song on.

Like the Sitar for ubiquitous Norwegian wood and surprised how much I liked it on Matty Groves, feel a new arrangement coming on.

Being able to go from Standard to alternative tunings at the push of a button (you can set any alternative tuning or your own string key change to any instrument then just press the button to change to it)is a God send and can be done mid play (who needs Scruggs Pegs?)

Don't worry about how many guitars you've got (I had 84 at the last count) just look in the average mechanics tool box - he's far more tools than us :-)

PB

"Too many Strings Not Enough Fingers"