Self-Tuning Guitars From Gibson

[WackyT]

Found this this morning.

Great news for ham-fisted guitarists: Gibson of Nashville, Tennessee, is launching a self-tuning electric guitar that uses piezoelectric crystals under each string to sense the frequencies of its vibrations. If a string needs tuning, a built-in chip sends an electrical signal to a tiny motor at one end, which tightens or loosens the string.

http://www.newscientist.com/backpage.ns?id=mg19626256.600

 

[Katastrophe]

Very interesting... A $1000.00 add on from Gibson, perhaps?

 

[SuperSwede]

This is really cool... but Kat is probably right about the price.

 

[Dreadman]

$900

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation/accessories?N=100001+304273&Ntk=All&Ntt=gibson+tuner&Nty=1

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

How accurate do they claim the system is?

In 5 years these'll probably be much cheaper & standard on certain axes.

It would be nice to turn a knob & have the guitar tune itself to another tuning system.

 

[Dreadman]

I imagine it's pretty damn accurate. Even though Gibson is the king of overpricing, $900 is still VERY high for what this is. I'd guess that indicates top quality.

Gibson claims that their system is the first onboard self tuner but there's another already out there. I forget the name but it's built into a bridge rather than the headstock. You've got to send your guitar to them for installation though. If I remember I'll post a link to it.

 

[marnold]

I REALLY hate how Gibson is advertising this. They did not invent this. These guys did. You can get the system from them for Fender too. I found a place in Europe that carries the system for 899 Euros, which currently comes out to almost $1300 US. The idea and the technical achievement are awesome. The price is not.

I also have to ask the following questions:
1) How it would work if you had a Fender with the tremolo floating
2) How usable some of the tunings would be due to dramatic changes in string tension
3) Will the fancy machine heads give the guitar a serious case of neck-dive

 

[Rocket]

How much lazier do you think guitarists can become?... and at what price?

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

How much lazier do you think guitarists can become?... and at what price?

Just as lazy as the general populace & apparently the price is currently 900 smackeroos .

 

[duhvoodooman]

Just as lazy as the general populace & apparently the price is currently 900 smackeroos .

Now that's some irrefutable logic there! :AOK:

 

[wingsdad]

How much lazier do you think guitarists can become?... and at what price?

It was probably invented by a Lead Singer :spank:

Nice to have ya around here, Rocket :AOK:

To add to marnold's questions: what about string bends/vibratos creating semi-tones?

Wot a crock..uke:

 

[marnold]

To add to marnold's questions: what about string bends/vibratos creating semi-tones?

Go to the site I linked and watch the demo. It doesn't adjust the tuning constantly. You have to put it in the tuning mode first.

 

[jpfeifer]

I saw an online demo of this self-tuning guitar. Although the technology is kind of cool, I really question whether people are going to see this as a must-have feature. I think that this was kind of a waste of time and money for Gibson to develop (IMHO).

I think that Gibson would have been better off to spend their R&D dollars to develop something else that musicians could use more than an expensive self-tuning guitar such as a kick-butt modeling guitar based off of a Les Paul design? (with the whole self-tuning thing done electronically) in the same way that Fender did with their VG-Strat. Now this I would pay extra $ for. Give me more sounds first and I'd be glad to tune the guitar myself.

-- Jim

 

[SuperSwede]

Gimme a guitar with laser beams instead of strings.