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102 Comments
- tangofish, on 11/15/2007, -0/+41"Ever get mad trying to figure out why your version of "Voodoo Child" doesn't sound like Jimi Hendrix?" Maybe it's because he's much better at playing.
- WMD404, on 11/15/2007, -9/+33You could spend $5000 on this.. or you could spend 40 bucks and buy a ***** tuner.
If you need this guitar to try alternate tunings, then you clearly do not know how to play the instrument and are, in fact, a douchebag. - allaboutdatiki, on 11/15/2007, -1/+25Jimi is rolling over in his grave with the opener to the article:
"Ever get mad trying to figure out why your version of "Voodoo Child" doesn't sound like Jimi Hendrix?"
I don't think I've ever seen a picture of Jimi with a Les Paul ... he played Fenders mostly ... - DeskFlyer, on 11/15/2007, -5/+21I, for one, welcome our new self-tuning guitar overlords.
- stevenr21, on 11/15/2007, -1/+17the guitar isn't $5000.. it's $2500.
i could see how it would be useful during shows. instead of swapping out guitars for different tunings you could use just this one.. plus the led knob looks cool. seems pretty useless to the at home musicians though. - ChromaVita, on 11/15/2007, -0/+12Are some people going to use this because they're lazy? Yes.
Is it useful for changing tunings quickly between songs? Yes.
Is there an art to tuning a guitar? No. - MikeSD34, on 11/15/2007, -1/+10It's probably for those that need to switch tunings fairly quickly and don't want to keep a second pre-tuned guitar around. Imagine being on stage and tuning to drop D at the flip of a switch. Sure it's just as easy as grabbing another guitar, but it's less to carry and setup as well.
- JAK2112, on 11/15/2007, -0/+9there are already devices you can build into a guitar that allow it to tune itself, so this isn't as big a deal as gibson would like it to be.
Tronical Powertune: http://ralaudio.com/tronical-powertune-automatic-g ... - wybiral, on 11/15/2007, -2/+9I think it's meant for less standard tunings than drop-d, but yes, exactly. It sounds really cool to just hit a button and not have to switch guitars or waste time tuning.
To WMD404:
While were at that, why even use a tuner? Why not tune by ear? Because it's convenient and more accurate! - MikeSD34, on 11/15/2007, -0/+6Engadget has a video of this in action:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/gibson-gets-off ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WetVXbYRfWk - Acglaphotis, on 11/15/2007, -0/+6WTF? Cheating?
- crestfall, on 11/15/2007, -1/+7not to mention that those who play in different climates regularly have serious problems with keeping a guitar in tune for more than an hour. this is a great invention for bands on short-stop tours. It's also $2500, not $5000, so it's in line with other LP high-end models. I would buy it, if I toured with a band. I think it's ***** fantastic. Ever have a string drop a quarter-step in the middle of a song while you're banging away on the strings and totally lost in the music? I have... it sucks you right out of it, as well as everyone listening. Now they need one that generates a new string in 3 seconds.
- Brodels, on 11/15/2007, -0/+5"Gibson says the robot guitar is aimed at amateurs who have a hard time keeping their guitars in tune" If you are an amateur, don't spend $2,500 on a guitar just yet.
- capiCrimm, on 11/15/2007, -0/+5if it takes more then five seconds to tune drop d, you have a serious problem. Now, if you were going to do something a bit more exotic like Open A. However, this thing seems pretty limited with only 7 tunings preset.
Personally, I'd say use a tuner and learn to talk in between songs. - jcaino, on 11/15/2007, -0/+5Haven't you ever played Guitar Hero? Buttons, man, buttons!
- mike000, on 11/15/2007, -0/+4Tuning isn't even that hard. Well unless you have a whammy bar then you change one string a little, then it changes all the other ones, then you just get pissed off.
- Slash0, on 11/15/2007, -0/+4You just have to hammer on the whammy bar, it'll fix itself.
- mercurysquad, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3Or maybe just because you're trying to get a strat sound out of a les paul
- capiCrimm, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3if you have perfect pitch tuning by ear is much easier then a tuner. Most of us, however, don't, and at least for the first note need a tuner.
- Litespeed, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3Not really a fair comment. I saw this technology on TV years ago and they had Jimmy Page pushing it. He was saying it meant he could finally play some songs live which required different tunings throughout the song. You wouldn't call him a douchebag..... or maybe you would.
- sfrench, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3This is definitely not the first guitar to have this. I had the privilege of playing this guitar about 7 years ago:
http://www.kleinguitars.com/KleinGuitarLinks/trans ...
The really cool thing about this particular one is that you can program it to change tunings automatically while playing. - inactive, on 11/15/2007, -2/+5Tuning to drop D by ear should take NO ONE longer than 3seconds (and that's being generous)
Step 1: Strum top 3 strings open
Step 2: Tune top string down until oscillations stop and chord is clear and defined. You will know - even non-players will know. It's that obvious
Done!
However, your point is valid for up/down half/full/etc-step tunings and any others. Also good for staying in tune during performances - MikeXpop, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3Jimi mainly used the Fender Stratocaster, but used to play Flying Vs as well. The article was referring to the fact that he played it tuned down a half step, and how no one could figure that out without a self-tuning guitar, I guess.
- crestfall, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3Read the article.
- h2g242, on 11/15/2007, -1/+4I've dreamt about something like this for a long time.. I obviously don't have the means to obtain one now as I'm a college student but as a player of 10 years I think this is a great achievement. I don't like that they preset tunings for individual songs though. Anybody know if you'll b able to customize the tunings it takes?
The LP on its own is a standout model though, so I'm sure this will do well. Also I custom my guitars with sperzel locking tuners, which if you have never used them, make restringing a breeze. I guess I wouldn't be able to replace these. - thelatemail, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3It's got practically nothing to do with knowing how to play the instrument. For those of us that can't afford to own multiple guitars kept in different tunings, it would be really handy to be able to play a standard tuning song, then for example instantly switch to an open tuning to play slide and then back again. With only a tuner, this is a real pain in the ass.
If the price was more in my range I'd certainly be interested. - vat0r, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3Drop D is not a good example. There are much more difficult tunings where this could be useful. Possibly even switching tunings while playing a song would be sweet.
- deryk, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2The article claims that this is the first guitar to tune itself, but I'm pretty sure the guitarist from The Tea Party used a system like this a few years ago. The Discovery Channel did a special where they followed him around and they showed how his guitar automatically switched tunings on the fly.
- brokentone, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2Wow, a Reuter's reporter quoting a guy on a message board, by his handle no less. Talk about lazy and poor journalism.
- jvnn, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2 These guys have been making them in my town for ..oh 15 years or so. http://transperformance.com
- HastyBoom, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2Dood. This is every drummers dream come true. I've lost hours, days of my life waiting for guitarists to ***** tune up between every song. (been in allot of bands.)
- mercurysquad, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2"Gibson said the robot guitar is the biggest advance in electric guitar design in more than 70 years."
Seriously? What about humbuckers? Floyd-rose tremolo? - ChromaVita, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2No, it won't change tunings if you play a wrong note, or bend the string up or anything, just changes to different tunings between songs and stuff like that.
- djbon2112, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2Solution: don't let nu metal kids play guitar. We don't need more nu metal bands! :p
- inactive, on 11/15/2007, -1/+3I bet Van Halen could have used this at his recent Greensboro concert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjx_GjyXCs4 Starts about 45 seconds in. - yournightmare, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2Six touch-sensitive sensors running straight down the fretboard. 6 lasers between the end of the fretboard and the bridge. Press harder on the sensor for string bends, move finger faster through the laser for louder volume. Sampled and/or synthesized sounds. If they don't already have something like this, they will.
- Litespeed, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2Which is why I always blocked mine off.
- capiCrimm, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2you missed the part about "first note". You might be in tune with yourself, but unless you can hear 440hz(or some other note) by ear, you won't be able to walk up to another instrument and start jamming with them.
- chaos7, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2i think it's a cool idea
- yournightmare, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1I'm confused by the way you guys are using the word "intonation" to refer to the pitch of the strings while tuning. I thought that intonation generally refers to the sound of fretted notes, because if the guitar (nut, saddle, and neck) isn't set up properly, notes fretted closer towards the soundboard will go sharp. When someone says the guitar has good intonation, they mean that the pitch is accurate at each fret. So using a tuner to tune the guitar or even tuning by ear using the fifth fret really shouldn't point out any problems with intonation.
If you guys talking about intonation are saying that tuning by ear will allow a player to more easily recognize when the intonation of their guitar is off, then I certainly agree. Sorry to be nitpicky, but I just didn't want anybody new to guitar to get confused. And if I made any mistakes in my post, please feel free to correct me. - ocgstyles, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1"Gibson says the robot guitar is aimed at amateurs who have a hard time keeping their guitars in tune, as well as professionals who now use technicians during concerts to keep about 100 guitars tuned to different keys."
OK. I understand the professional part, but what amateur idiot is going to drop $2500 for this?!? - hushtown, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1If you watch the video it shows that the system has an intonation mode that checks the accuracy of fretted notes and tells you how much to change string length at the bridge. This in addition to auto-tuning.
It seems the commenters referring to intonation are talking about this feature. - Disease, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1Welcome to the new millennium.
- Cerebral, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1What you mean like a tuner?
- CancerBomb, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1As a guitar player for over 10 years I'm skeptical as to just how great this thing really is. But according to Gibson's website (http://www.gibson.com/robotguitar/story5.html), Billy Corgan, and Matt Bellamy both use this thing (along with others, including possibly Steve Kai and Pete Townsend, although the exact quote is a bit ambiguous when it comes to those two). Say what you will about the music they produce but these guys make a decent living playing music, so if that's what you mean by a "real" musician you may need to tune the elitism down a bit.
- Ripple, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1If this thing "allows players to access six nonstandard tunings at the push of a button" then I hope it does a bit more than tune itself - it had better auto-adjust its intonation too. This guitar being a Les Paul, maybe the intonation issues aren't quite as bad as on Fender-types, but hopping between tunings usually gets things a bit out of whack, hence the need to separate guitars for different tunings.
- inactive, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1yea because voodoo chile is Eb
also tuning a guitar is not hard at all it doesnt that long by ear or tuner. A tuner costs less than 20 bucks, and this guitar probably costs more than the tuner and guitar.
And what about robert fripps New Standard Tuning
cool achievement but not worth it - REUYL, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1I've been playing the guitar for years and I find this undeniably awesome. If Gibson starts offering this guitar in less fugly colors, I may just go for one.
- juniorcosmonaut, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1Nah, with antares you could sing out of tune and it would digitally alter the waveforms to be in pitch, with this it justs sets the correct tension on the strings to begin with versus playing an out of pitch guitar and altering the signal
- Disease, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1Have you not been paying attention for the last 2 years? Every controller has been based off a Gibson.
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