Guitar maker Gibson thrashes out more robo-axes

Ok so we are now...

only a few years away until we can get guitars that can play themselves.

Mines the one with the Motorhead logo on the back

Won't be buying one...

I'd like to get my hands on one to test it out though. Digital tuners are nothing new, of course, but sticking them into the body of the guitar and linking them to the machine heads is. Or rather it was when they first did it a few months back. I'm sure the technology works, and works well, otherwise they wouldn't have done it. I'd like to see what difference, if any, the extra electronics in the body make to the sound of the instrument. I'd guess not much otherwise, again. they would likely shy away from it.

If they brought the SG out in cherry, like SGs should be, then I'd consider buying one but purple? Who the hell thought that was a good idea?

Seriously - who buys these?

If you can afford to spend £1k+ on a guitar - surely you can tune it?

Star Power?

Do they come with star power?

Is this what you want?

I can understand having a guitar that is alwas in tune whenever you pick it up, but to correct the tuning of what you are playing?

How will it cope with bending a note, or slides, or playing with a bottleneck?

You might as well put it it through a post instrument DSP dynamic tuning corrector between the axe and the amp.

There's more to guitar tuning than standard tuning (E A D G B E)

There's more than one tuning for a guitar, the Robot can instantly change to a preset tuning (i.e an open chord, or a drop tuning), it can also tune the entire guitar to a reference note, and you can design your own presets. It's a great bit of tech.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_tunings

£1k

£1k is about the starting price for a proper guitar

paris, she's sticking with a hohner rockwood

@Is this what you want?

It doesn't tune while you're playing. It's meant so you can quickly tune up between songs, etc.

The real benefit is to guitarists that use lots of tunings (e.g. standard, DADGAD, Open G etc.) on different songs.

The disadvantage is the extra weight of the motors changes the balance of the guitar. Not sure how stable the tuning would be - I always find it best to tune *up* to the correct pitch to balance the tension either side of the nut and bridge.

I say just buy more guitars for different tunings - you can never have too many, despite what the missus says!

(Skull as it's the most rock and roll)

But does it...

Automatically adjust the truss rod to keep the action nice and low, but avoid buzzing the frets?

Mine the one with the Ibanez logo on the back

It doesn't constantly tune!

The guitar doesn't constantly tune - looking at the video on youtube you need to pull out a knob and strum once and off it goes. When it's done you push back in the knob and off you go. Hence bending notes etc. is not an issue. Don't know what you'd do mid song. But I'll just stick with my Patrick Eggles and the locking Sperzels thank you very much :)

Guitar Robotic Tuner - No! Muppets! Not more extraneous noises to dial out on mix down?

April Fool this - surely ought to be!

30 years playing guitar and still don't need this foolishness. For £2K could buy a couple of ESP with EMG active pick ups or some great second hand Jap telecasters and a Takamine EN10C accoustic...

Yeah and how many guitarists does it take to change a light bulb - still 1 and 99 to tell you how good the old one was.

A £50 tuner and your palm digits (hand with opposing thumb add-on) will do the job nicely.

Peace out.

Heh, cheaper than real work

Either make the guitar correctly, or have cheap electronics correct the shit intonation from modern SGs on the fly. Eventually you'll be able to bash out Mexican/Korean messes with the bridge and neck attached by just throwing them, and it'll still correct.

Mine's the one with "Kramer" on the back in aluminium studs...

Locking Sperzels

Christ, mate- that sounds painful.

Hope they're better soon.

Mine's the one with the "Best of the Goons" in the pocket.

Self tuning guitar?

Yea,

Thanks, but I can tune my $400 Ibanez RG just fine. As a matter of fact, since my guitar utilizes the double locking Floyd Rose system, on the rare occasion during the changing of weather seasons when it slightly goes out of pitch, I can re-tune it easily. I tune by ear perfectly and have never even used a digital tuner. This is the biggest rip off in the music world. Gibson already sells the most expensive guitars on earth, rarely played by players in my genre (Heavy Metal). Leave these things to the no-talent "guitar hero" wankers out there. Anyone who can't tune their own guitar or keep it in tune shouldn't be playing one.

Cyborg toy?

I don't think so.

"Demand is high"? I guess all the wannabee guitarists who play everything but hard rock/heavy metal can't keep their guitars in tune and have more money than sense, so they need one of these. I doubt seriously that Zakk Wylde has trouble keeping his custom shop Les Pauls in tune. My Ibanez remains in tune after the bridge and nut are locked and I use my Tremolo often. If your stop tail bridge equipped Gibson won't stay in tune, you need to drop it off at a guitar repair shop. Any player who can't tune their guitar without the help of a robot should quit playing!!!

Waiting for the Jimi Hendrix signature model... (and @Pat re: guitarists vs lightbulbs)

... that not only tunes itself up before each song, but also sets itself on fire and smashes itself to bits at the end of your set!

@Pat:

"and how many guitarists does it take to change a light bulb - still 1 and 99 to tell you how good the old one was."

Nah, that's country and western singers. It takes ten guitarists to change a lightbulb - one to do it, and ten to stand around going "I could have done that."

Do all the negative posters understand what this means?

Your guitar is in standard tuning. Hit a switch, 2 seconds later its in Drop D, switch it again, 2 seconds later its in Open A, or a modal tuning like Dsus4, switch again and you are tuned to C, 2 steps down, etc. etc.

Play a note or a string, or tune a single string to the pitch you want, hit the switch and 2 seconds later the guitar has tuned all 6 strings to it .

I'd like to see someone change tunings on the fly with a Floyd Rose. You know, rather than spending ages with a battery jammed under the bridge, the back open and fiddling about with spring tension v string tension.

If you play live, and not all your songs are in same tuning, you can change your tuning of your guitar in the time taken to announce the next song.

Whiz - bang - thud

It's one of those good idea/bad idea things. Yes, it takes away a little musicianship.....but it helps folks like me (no, I don't plan on one) who never had a truly good ear and am suffering some hearing loss.

Besides synt guitars have been around 30+ years...this was a question of time and inclination.

The signal goes down the string?

Is this correct - the signal from the pitch analyser thingy travels down the string to the tuning motors? Using standard strings? I'd have thought the signal would travel down the neck.

The auto-tuning concept is great, especially on a Les Paul. The ones I've used have been bad at holding their tuning, so much so that I now play a good old reliable Telecaster (sorry, Gibson fans!). This new design would tempt me back if I could afford it.

one way to stop it tuning

I just don't think the thing would work as well once its been belted through a few drum kits, hammered over a couple of monitors and jumped on.

And lets face it, "unsmashed guitars just don't sound as good as their smashed brethren!"

The devil knows how to rock!!!

Purple Riff Eater

It seems Gibson still likes to crank out SGs with the awful full face scratch plate, instead of mounting the p'ups directly to the body like the '61 vintage model. Even in purple it reminds me of the awful Kyle I started playing on back in '75.

Mine is the Carvin windbreaker.