Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
No,
Parking cars! What else do you do in a car park?
What else do you do in elevators?
What else do you do in elevators?
muttley600
Banned
You want me to stick my head in a bucket of water don't you? I will if you want I've got one ready.....What else do you do in elevators?
Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
You want me to stick my head in a bucket of water don't you? I will if you want I've got one ready.....
No, no, no.....just put on your peril-sensitive sunglasses and everything will be just fine.
muttley600
Banned
Do I need a towelNo, no, no.....just put on your peril-sensitive sunglasses and everything will be just fine.
Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
Absolutely. Never leave home without it.Do I need a towel
muttley600
Banned
Ok, I think I understand...Absolutely. Never leave home without it.
Just whatever else happens...
DON'T PANIC
Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
Words to live by!
G
ggunn
Crystal Flavolian
No, no, no.....just put on your peril-sensitive sunglasses and everything will be just fine.
No problem; just activate your Somebody Else's Problem Field and go on about your business.
G
ggunn
Crystal Flavolian
Seriously, though, I don't understand the animosity that some of you apparently hold for this device. The true test of innovation is survivability in the marketplace, and if this gizmo survives, it's an innovation and if it doesn't, well, it isn't. If nobody ever threw an idea out there that might fail, we'd still be riding horses. I don't see myself ever having a use for a Robot Guitar or anything like it, but (as I have said) I have seen the Transperformance guitar used in a live situation very effectively by someone who has a genuine application for it. Sonny Landreth certainly doesn't need to be taught to tune his guitar and he's more of a musician than most of us will ever be.
muttley600
Banned
I don't harbour any animosity towards towards it or Gibson. I've said before that some of their guitars like the L5 and the 175 have been an inspiration to me in the past. I've only been pointing out from the start that it is a solution without a problem.
The one thing I do raise an eyebrow at is Gibson's own claim in their release blurb and publicity that this is the greatest innovation on the guitar in over a hundred years or some such claim. Rubbish.
mwthompson
Croisaandwich
I seriously doubt any of us take this too seriously. I know I haven't lost any sleep over it. This is the guitar/bass forum, so why not discuss it?
I posted this after watching a video on the manufacturer's site. The inventor (or owner of the company, not sure) said something to the effect that "for many years guitarists have been plagued with the problems of their guitars going out of tune, and now we've solved it" which I found laughable.
EDIT: Exact quote:
"I always found it unacceptable that guitarists have to deal with this great disadvantage on stage, struggling with their instruments getting out of tune all the time."
Any guitarists here find their manually tuned instruments unacceptable? Any decent guitar that is properly set up will stay in tune unless you play it like a complete jackass.
Nicole_Rose
Great White North Girl
I seriously doubt any of us take this too seriously. I know I haven't lost any sleep over it. This is the guitar/bass forum, so why not discuss it?
I posted this after watching a video on the manufacturer's site. The inventor (or owner of the company, not sure) said something to the effect that "for many years guitarists have been plagued with the problems of their guitars going out of tune, and now we've solved it" which I found laughable.
EDIT: Exact quote:
"I always found it unacceptable that guitarists have to deal with this great disadvantage on stage, struggling with their instruments getting out of tune all the time."
Any guitarists here find their manually tuned instruments unacceptable? Any decent guitar that is properly set up will stay in tune unless you play it like a complete jackass.
well since every tuner is slightly different, i think if you get two or three of those guitars jamming together, or even jamming with other guitars tuned with a regular tuner, they're not going to be in tune together. and my guitar stays in tune just fine. i only have to tune it once a day unless i really play the heck out of it.
Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
I also have no animosity towards it and I don't think I've expressed any.
All I've said is that it doesn't seem likely it'll work well (and apparently it doesn't).
I base that on 35 years of tuning pianos and having top of the line Peterson Strobe tuners (my current one retails for around $1200) and even those expensive tuners vary from each other a bit.
If they can't get a tuner to simply read out the tuning perfectly, how in the hell can they add servos and gears and strings and then get that to be accurate?
My other issue is that it's a bunch of stuff to break where previously there wasn't.
Plus ..... now you've got cables running thru the neck. Will that affect sustain or such? Possibly since they have to make room in there for it. What happens when replacing that is the only repair option?
I think it's a possibly useful feature for an extremely limited number of guitarists IF they can get the thing to not ship with 2 out of 3 not working before it even gets to the customer.
All I've said is that it doesn't seem likely it'll work well (and apparently it doesn't).
I base that on 35 years of tuning pianos and having top of the line Peterson Strobe tuners (my current one retails for around $1200) and even those expensive tuners vary from each other a bit.
If they can't get a tuner to simply read out the tuning perfectly, how in the hell can they add servos and gears and strings and then get that to be accurate?
My other issue is that it's a bunch of stuff to break where previously there wasn't.
Plus ..... now you've got cables running thru the neck. Will that affect sustain or such? Possibly since they have to make room in there for it. What happens when replacing that is the only repair option?
I think it's a possibly useful feature for an extremely limited number of guitarists IF they can get the thing to not ship with 2 out of 3 not working before it even gets to the customer.
lpdeluxe
The Precision Bass Guy
I've been gigging for years (oh yeah, I was at Woodstock, you were just too drugged out to remember me, but I remember seeing YOU) and I have to say that the ONLY tuning problems I've seen were operator error (example: the lead player in my last band called up the bass range on his onstage floor tuner and subsequently embarrassed himself), not inadequacies in the guitar/bass. And if it was a problem with the instrument, what professional wouldn't find a solution before he ever got on stage?
MY OPINION (and I don't claim it's anything else) is that the Robot Gibson ain't the greatest thing since -- what, sliced ham? -- but if it fools some kids into buying it and keeping Gibson going, then it's ultimately to the good, right? The problem is that a lot of us perceive it as being marketed to those who are too stumblefingered/ignorant to do what any semi pro musician is capable of, which is to tune a damn guitar on stage, out there in front of God and everybody.
Honey, if you can't do that, go home.
-- but seriously, folks, this is a forum for opinions. If all we dealt with was the proven truth there'd be no traffic here to speak of.
MY OPINION (and I don't claim it's anything else) is that the Robot Gibson ain't the greatest thing since -- what, sliced ham? -- but if it fools some kids into buying it and keeping Gibson going, then it's ultimately to the good, right? The problem is that a lot of us perceive it as being marketed to those who are too stumblefingered/ignorant to do what any semi pro musician is capable of, which is to tune a damn guitar on stage, out there in front of God and everybody.
Honey, if you can't do that, go home.
-- but seriously, folks, this is a forum for opinions. If all we dealt with was the proven truth there'd be no traffic here to speak of.
G
ggunn
Crystal Flavolian
Oh yeah? Can you prove that? ;^)
famous beagle
Well-known member
I think this is getting way too much thought put into it.
It's just a gimmick---another "tool" that you can choose to use or not.
For all of the people defending their stage tuners, guess what? There was a time when those were new as well, and I'm sure there were plenty of haters then too. Just because we can all "tune by ear" (or at least you should be able to), that doesn't mean most giggin musicians don't use electronic tuners for their speed and practicality when on the gig. They get you pretty darn close very quickly.
And for all the people saying that all guitar tuners are different, so you're not going to be in tune with someone using a regular tuner if you play with the Gibson guitar ... WTF? You'd apparently have this problem with any 2 guitar players that are using regular guitars but different tuners, right?
Gibson (and Fender with the VG Strat) are just trying to stay ahead on the innovation curve and make some bucks. It's no big surprise. And of course they're going to try to market it as the new big thing and an incredible innovation and all that. They want to sell the stupid guitars.
It's simple. If you play in a band where you're covering Hendrix one tune, Rolling Stones the next, then Nirvana, then something else, a guitar like the VG Strat or the Gibson might appeal to you.
Obviously, if they're not working consistently yet, then that's certainly a problem. But that's not what most people on here were complaining about first. They were complaining about the principle.
If the technology sticks around, I'm sure they'll get self-tuning guitars to the point of reliability.
Remember, digital sucked a*s when it came out, but now everyone and their dog is recording with it (and this is coming from someone who prefers analog).
It's just a gimmick---another "tool" that you can choose to use or not.
For all of the people defending their stage tuners, guess what? There was a time when those were new as well, and I'm sure there were plenty of haters then too. Just because we can all "tune by ear" (or at least you should be able to), that doesn't mean most giggin musicians don't use electronic tuners for their speed and practicality when on the gig. They get you pretty darn close very quickly.
And for all the people saying that all guitar tuners are different, so you're not going to be in tune with someone using a regular tuner if you play with the Gibson guitar ... WTF? You'd apparently have this problem with any 2 guitar players that are using regular guitars but different tuners, right?
Gibson (and Fender with the VG Strat) are just trying to stay ahead on the innovation curve and make some bucks. It's no big surprise. And of course they're going to try to market it as the new big thing and an incredible innovation and all that. They want to sell the stupid guitars.
It's simple. If you play in a band where you're covering Hendrix one tune, Rolling Stones the next, then Nirvana, then something else, a guitar like the VG Strat or the Gibson might appeal to you.
Obviously, if they're not working consistently yet, then that's certainly a problem. But that's not what most people on here were complaining about first. They were complaining about the principle.
If the technology sticks around, I'm sure they'll get self-tuning guitars to the point of reliability.
Remember, digital sucked a*s when it came out, but now everyone and their dog is recording with it (and this is coming from someone who prefers analog).
mwthompson
Croisaandwich
Now, themz fightin' wordz around these parts! (Regardless of which side of the argument you're on!)
drstawl
Banned
Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
For sure. Between the SEP field, the Peril Sensitive Sunglasses, and your towel (which in this situation you would just drape completely over your head), you are pretty much invisible. You hope.
Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
Well, now, if that isn't useless.....