I bought a Variax today at a sale of studio stuff. Unfortunately the owner had passed away and his wife was doing her best to sell his stuff off.

I have no idea what I bought. Maybe you guys could help me out. It would be appreciated.

The serial number is 06XXXX06.

*Q1.  Does the 06 stand for 2006 and the two XX fields represent the day and month? eg. If it was 06150706 would it be 15th of July 2006?

*Q2. It has the Buzz Feiten Tuning System and Planet Waves locking tuners. Did they come stock?

Here is a picture. I am thinking it's a 600, but it has open tunings on one setting on the rotary knob and I see nothing about that in the manual.....which I found online so I don't know if it is accurate.

The names of the model presets are worn off the knob but there seem to be two settings ( 1st and last ) that are different models.

*Q3. Do I have to have a POD or some Variax equipped hardware to do updates, flash memory, set sounds etc? I don't......only a POD 2.0 and a Line 6 pedalboard. Neither have USB.

Here is a pic of the guitar. It's a great player. I was surprised. The frets are worn here and there but the intonation is super and the setup/action is very nice. I felt right at home on it even though I don't like shiny maple fretboards. I have maple on my MIJ Squier Tele, which I rub rough with steel wool at string changes..... and my USA Nashville B-Bender Tele which is a silk/matte finish. This makes them tolerable. But I usually cannot play glossy lacquered maple fingerboards but for some obscure reason, I am fine with this one. Maybe it is the skinny neck...radius etc.

Q4. I tried going direct into my DAW because into an amp with a tickle reverb, I noticed this sort of swooshy sound on some patches....especially on the 12 strings but overall I noticed it. Phasing perhaps? Well straight into Pro Tools it did the same thing. Not bad but it makes the patches sound obviously modeled. I also thought it could be latency but it was there on playback....I recorded some patches to listen back to them. Is this normal?

Q5. Has anyone successfully added a regular pickup to a Variax with piezo's only?

The only bad is the batteries were left in and they leaked and corroded the battery box connections. I was able to get it to work with a 9V battery. Also, the whammy bar is not with it. I might try get that from the seller.

Also, it has a Restriction of Hazardous substances sticker on the back of the headstock, directive 2002/95/EC. (ROHS 2002/95/EC) I reckon since it was shipped from Korea?

Any information will be much appreciated. Thank you.