Gibson Robot Guitar
I was reading my copy of the February 2008 Maxim and came across an article about Gibson‘s new Robot Guitar. This is the first guitar Gibson has made that can actually tune itself! It has a tiny CPU in the neck of the guitar that can pick up individual string data from the body. It then distributes it in real-time to that string’s corresponding tuning pegs. A ceramic insulated tailpiece minimizes vibrations that allow senors to transmit accurate pitch data to the CPU in the guitar’s body. Wala! Self-tuning! Granted, any self-respecting guitar player should be able to tune his own guitar, but hey, a little help never hurt, especially when you’re in a hurry!
Even though this guitar has state of the art technology built into it, it still looks like a vintage axe you’d expect from the folks at Gibson. The Stroke’s Albert Hammond was quoted in Maxim as saying that the guitar is a work of art, but he can definitely tune his guitar faster by ear. But it’d be good for beginners who’re looking to get into playing the guitar. The only problem for beginners? The $2,499 MSRP price tag. I know when I started playing I wasn’t spending more than $300. Even know I only have maybe $1,000 worth of equipment as a hobbyist. Anyway, it looks cool for sure!
I’ve read a lot of reviews on this guitar, including the one in Maxim with Albert Hammond’s comments on the guitar being “good for beginners” and that he can “tune faster by ear”.
First of all, I’d love to see that pompous d-bag race the Robot Guitar in tuning to open E. Secondly, to claim this guitar is for beginners is completely ignorant. It doesn’t play songs for you or show you what notes to hit. It simply makes tuning quick and easy (as well as restringing and adjusting the intonation.) When playing a gig, you can quickly change tunings rather than switching guitars or having the crowd wait while you tune. And when you’re writing, it provides a quick way to experiment with different sounds.
Shelling out $2500 for this guitar is not going to make you any better at playing, and you should definitely learn to tune by ear. But you shouldn’t feel inferior to Albert Hammond for owning one just because he says so.
Comment by Greg — February 18, 2008 @ 12:52 pm