Can't Keep It In Tune? Check This Out!!

Gibson says the robot guitar is aimed at amateurs who have a hard time keeping their guitars in tune,
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Says it all really.

Gibson said the robot guitar is the biggest advance in electric guitar design in more than 70 years.
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Hmm if it's still around in seven years I'll reconsider and maybe accept it as a contribution to guitar development. I suspect not.
 
Keeping my guitar in tune... meh. But push-button access to alternate tunings is pretty cool. I wouldn't be surprised to see people sporting this on stage for that reason. It'd be way cooler if I could just add it to my current guitar, though. I see no reason to buy a whole new Gibson when mine works perfectly well (and has for 30 years).
 
muttley600 said:
Says it all really.

Hmm if it's still around in seven years I'll reconsider and maybe accept it as a contribution to guitar development. I suspect not.
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I saw Sonny Landreth play with a gizmo similar to this a few years ago (the servos are in the guitar body instead of on the headstock). Sonny is an incredible slide guitarist (no amateur he), and he uses a lot of different tunings. He used to have a rack of guitars onstage and his tech handing him a different one for nearly every song and tuning them during the show. Now he has the one "robot guitar" (although as I said, his is a different design) and one regular guitar as a backup. He has all his tunings programmed into it, and between tunes he backs off on his volume pedal, taps in the code for the new tuning, and the gizmo brings it to pitch in about 5 seconds. He watches the LCD display built into the top of the guitar to monitor its progress.

Sonny is not your typical guitarist, so he doesn't represent a large market for this sort of thing, but for him it's a major development.
 
OK now that I've read that article, I'm really REALLY curious: what alternate tuning is Voodoo Child in? I've always played it in standard tuning.

Kind of a cool gizmo though. I like the idea of it being built into the guitar but like somebody said above, I wouldn't buy a whole new guitar just to enjoy the technology.
 
Tadpui said:
OK now that I've read that article, I'm really REALLY curious: what alternate tuning is Voodoo Child in? I've always played it in standard tuning..
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Standard tuning, down a half step. Like a lot of later Jimi stuff. Pretty exotic.:p
 
Haha yeah real exotic there! I was wondering since its mainly all pentatonics.

Now if this gadget adjusts your truss rod as it fucks with your string tension, now THERE would be a robot worth having! Otherwise I think they need to rename it the "Fret Buzzonator".
 
Tadpui said:
Haha yeah real exotic there! I was wondering since its mainly all pentatonics.

Now if this gadget adjusts your truss rod as it fucks with your string tension, now THERE would be a robot worth having! Otherwise I think they need to rename it the "Fret Buzzonator".
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ROFL... never thought of that, and I wonder if THEY have.

You'd think that'd be the very first thing to rear it's ugly head, so maybe they got something in there for the neck.

On another note (no pun intended), a guitar like this would be VERY handy for cover bands. I face the most common problem in a band.... one single guitar. And although we can get by, and make things work if it's just a half step off (most 'average' people can't tell anyways), I simply can't avoid it when we hit a drop D song.

"Hold on a minute everyone..." BBBWWAAAAARRRRWWWIIINNGNNGNNG
 
ggunn said:
I saw Sonny Landreth play with a gizmo similar to this a few years ago (the servos are in the guitar body instead of on the headstock). Sonny is an incredible slide guitarist (no amateur he), and he uses a lot of different tunings. He used to have a rack of guitars onstage and his tech handing him a different one for nearly every song and tuning them during the show. Now he has the one "robot guitar" (although as I said, his is a different design) and one regular guitar as a backup. He has all his tunings programmed into it, and between tunes he backs off on his volume pedal, taps in the code for the new tuning, and the gizmo brings it to pitch in about 5 seconds. He watches the LCD display built into the top of the guitar to monitor its progress.

Sonny is not your typical guitarist, so he doesn't represent a large market for this sort of thing, but for him it's a major development.
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I'm sure it's going to suit a very small niche in the market. I have no doubt of that. I still don't think it's going to be any more popular in seven years but time will tell. My real issue is with the claim that it is the most revolutionary development in 70 years. That kind of implies it's more significant than the pickup, adjustable truss rod, most effects pedals or anything post Charlie Christian. Sure if the next guitar god uses one on a multi million selling album it may fly for ten years but I'm not holding my breath. I remember distinctly in the 80 we are all going to be playing synth guitars for generations. If I've learned one thing in the last thirty years it is that as a whole the guitar buying public are a conservative, traditional bunch. Only time will tell however. If it's a worthwhile addition to the guitar it will last in some form or other.
 
Tadpui said:
Haha yeah real exotic there! I was wondering since its mainly all pentatonics.

Now if this gadget adjusts your truss rod as it fucks with your string tension, now THERE would be a robot worth having! Otherwise I think they need to rename it the "Fret Buzzonator".
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I doubt if the thing would cause too many problems to the truss rod or neck. People have been using different tunings on the same guitar for years without a problem. It would add a few compromises and considerations to the setup but thats about it really.
 
I would 'like' to have one, but I'll NEVER buy one based on the fact that, inevitably, shit breaks.

And I wonder how much it's going to cost to replace servos in that thing? :)

However, you could look at it this way - You could buy 3 or 4 high quality guitars to suit your gigging needs... or just buy one.
 
My pedal steels go to alternate tunings by just mashing pedals and bending knees....... no microchips required!
 
1. It's an expensive solution to a problem I don't have.
2. When was the last time you played with a guy who used a different tuner? You soon realize that different tuners have different tolerances.

-- So you're up there on stage with your high$$ LP Robot next to a guy with a Wanker Special fitted (poorly) with .008s who tuned up with the Radio Shack $12.95 tuner he got for Christmas when he was 10....

The REAL advance will be when the Robot can tune everybody to you.
 
muttley600 said:
If I've learned one thing in the last thirty years it is that as a whole the guitar buying public are a conservative, traditional bunch.
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typically, I'd agree with you... but I never thought I'd see the day when a stack of Marshall's was not the absolute standard for guitar. Now I see so many more with Boogie and Peavey (of all things)...

I can see pedals that auto tune happening much more quickly with less cost, but they typically drop the entire thing a step. Betcha the pickup will eventually divide each string and it can do the changes electronically without having to drop the strings.
 
TheRockDoc said:
typically, I'd agree with you... but I never thought I'd see the day when a stack of Marshall's was not the absolute standard for guitar. Now I see so many more with Boogie and Peavey (of all things)...
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Watch out I feel another of my looong posts coming on...:D

The classic amps that I see and use most often are the Fenders, Vox etc and Boogies have been around for years..I've actually never owned a Marshall. Not that my playing is in anyway trend setting.:(

Two things here, musicians are less fussy and more inclined to change or try new amps than they are a guitar. The guitar is a very ergonomic thing it's very hands on, very personal. An amp is to a greater degree just an amp. You can replace like for like very easily. Secound, the developments in solid state and the silicon chip has driven the audio industry in many new directions. This has been reflected in the quality and price of equipment available to the musician. In a nutshell the Guitar industry has been around for years and much of what we accept now has been fiddled with for hundreds of years. The electronic industry is relatively new. In the electric guitar the two overlap but much of the ground work has been done especially the ergonomic thing and the physics of the instrument is well understood.

The whole subject interests me, so why do I believe that the self tuning modification will not become COMMON, apart from the obvious statements I've made. When I was involved in academia and research into musical instruments and acoustics, one of the first questions students were asked to examine is "what drives change to musical instruments? The musician, the composer or the maker?" This is a fascinating question. Without getting to involved it nearly always comes down to the composer. Without a compositional need an instrument doesn't evolve and slips into decline. The Composer has a vision, he approaches the musician in an attempt to realise it and he in turn approaches the instrument maker to make him something he can play it on. The other thing that drives change is the arrival of new materials. The former is much more common. So, in this case gunn naming Sonny Landrath is closest to the real deal. Sonny has a unique approach to guitar playing which a few share but it is far from mainstream. For that reason alone I can't see this being a common option in the future. If composers/.songwriters want it it will catch on, if they don't it won't.

The other common question new students are asked is to go away and invent a new instrument. This is done to prove that most things have been tried and most new stuff is a development of existing ideas. You wouldn't believe the number of students who arrive thinking they can change the world of music over night. The first realisation they have is that everything has been done before or their new ideas are in reality simply "one trick ponies" The robot guitar fits into the latter for me. I could be proved wrong.

I'm not saying all this is correct or in anyway meant to stifle the development of the guitar, on the contrary If you start with these basic understandings real and valid development can take place.

Wow what a long post...Hope I haven't bored you all too much....
 
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