Hi, all!
I'm the proud new owner of a near mint 1980 VA900 won on eBay in July 2010:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:ITI've owned Fenders, Gibsons, PRS's and some of the other ususal suspects, but have never owned or played a better sounding or more flexible guitar.
Everthing seems stock on this guitar, though all of the hardware was extremly tarnish when it arived it, the switch selecter knob was missing, and one of the switches had a silver washers and nut, and the pre-amp did not work. Based on the fret wear, it looked like this guitar sat under grandma's bed for 10 years.
Used a rubber polishing wheel on a dremel for all of the hardware that was accessible, and non-toxic jewelry cleaner on the knobs.
Have a buddy at work who is an electronic whiz, and he diagnosed the pre-amp, and discovered one of the chips had gone bad. He replaced the chip with a socket and a TL082 chip. Found a OEM chip, and installed it and found the TL082 had just a little more upper mid-range, and decided I liked it better.
Currently playing this guitar through a Peavy Vypyr 30, all solid state amp simulator with some amazingly good on-board effects, (if your looking for a very credible Mutron III sound, this amp is your alternative to hauling that $400 pedal to gigs).
Back to the VA900:
This is the first guitar I've ever played that the coil split really can make the guitar sound like a single coil. There are some settings that I swear sound exactly like a Tele, (turn the pre-amp on with a slight boost and back the tone control from full on to about half way to the detent).
The VA900 came with some really grungy .009's on it, so I upgraded to a set of GHS Santana's (.0105 E string). Found the GHS's to be "too stiff" for my amateur hands, and swapped them out for a set of D'Addario XL110, (.010). The D'Addarios are easier to bend and "shake" chords, so I'm very happy with them.
I'm experimenting with an 'eNut', a non-invasive modification using what appears to be fret material with no tangs, that butts up against the nut that is supposed to help with intonation. The brass nut and string height made this installation a little time consuming as the 'smaller' eNut' did not touch the bottom of the strings, and the 'taller' one raised the strings, so a considerable amount of eNut filing was required to get to something that resembled what the installation guide recommended. I've put Earvana 's on a couple of guitars and am a believer in compensated nuts. Irreversible modificaitons to this guitar are not in the plans, so I'm hoping for the best with this.
I'm looking for a case for this guitar, but I get the impression that the extra scale length makes this guitar unique. There's a Vantage case on eBay, right now, but the seller says the interior length is 40 inches. I measure the VA900 at 41". Any ideas?
Anyhow, at 56 years old, I think I've purchased my last guitar. I know, that sounds like Lindsay Lohan talking to the judge, but...
Does any one know how many VA900 were manufactured? How many exist. Based on the infrequency these guitars appear on eBay, it seems there aren't that many left.
So, please, any and all comments and advice are encouraged.
Thanks!
Jammo
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Welcome here, man and as for the VA900, don't know production figures but they are a thing of beauty, eh?! Mine was gigged solidly for 25 years with no back-up; never needed it; great guitar!! All of the whingers and moaners in here ramble and rave on about their precious APII PE's, but we all know that they really want a VA900.... 
