played any epiphone sheritons? they tend to be about as heavy as a les paul but get a good jazz tone and aren't bulky like the hollows.

if it's too big the other way(i assumed you had a problem with thickness), let me know and i'll look up some other stuff. for live purposes, i don't like the variax unless you have a pod to go along with it...and even then...it works much better in the studio than for live purposes.

what's amp do you have right now?