If I could get those unique electronics I listed I would like to have Paul Reed Smith build it. In that blue moonstone color like the Santana model. I have always liked PRS guitars and he'd be the guy I would have confidence in to be able to design those electronics that allowed tonal setting memory.

There was a guy in the Cleveland area that touted himself to be this luthier at a level where his guitars would be the next Les Paul. He built about 20 guitars. I knew the owners of 8 of them. They all said the electronics were (they used words like) "sloppy" and the necks constantly needed adjustments. When I think that I almost bought one.....

I was also taken by the Variax for a while, but of the half dozen people I know that have them, at least 5 report that the motherboard does not hold up well to humidity and they were very prone to erratic behavior, where in the middle of a song 2 or 3 strings just stopped responding. One of the others has a newer James Tyler model and he has had no issues, so maybe that was just a story of growing pains. I can say in their favor that the acoustic sounds were great on it and the ability to switch tuning in mid song by turning a knob is great. You can suddenly be in dropped D or open G just by selecting that setting. I like that.

I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.

1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.