Jeepers from Gibson...

[NancyJohnson]

Have a looksie at this link: [url="http://www.gibson.com/robotguitar/index.html"]Gibson Les Paul 'Robot' Guitar[/url].

Scroll to the video page and down to the instructions button. Christ! Soon to be appearing on a bass or are guitarists just too anal?

P

Edited November 17, 2007 by NancyJohnson

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' post='89982' date='Nov 17 2007, 07:03 PM']Have a looksie at this link: [url="http://www.gibson.com/robotguitar/index.html"]Gibson Les Paul 'Robot' Guitar[/url].
Soon to be appearing on a bass or are guitarists just too anal?

P[/quote]
The latter I hope

[Buzz]

Beaten to it by a day or so:

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=8599"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=8599[/url]

Even so, it's more stuff to go wrong mid gig.

It's also a cool 1300-1400ish, so not exactly in the beginners area of funds, which is a good thing, as it'll mean you still have to learn to tune properly first, rather than letting technology do it for you.

Edited November 17, 2007 by Buzz

[BigRedX]

But they hadn't thought to automate the intonation adjustment too? What a load of cr@p! ;-)

[s_u_y_*]

[quote name='Buzz' post='89990' date='Nov 17 2007, 07:14 PM']Beaten to it by a day or so:

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=8599"]<a href="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=8599" target="_blank">http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=8599[/url]</a>

Even so, it's more stuff to go wrong mid gig.

It's also a cool 1300-1400ish, so not exactly in the beginners area of funds, which is a good thing, as it'll mean you still have to learn to tune properly first, rather than letting technology do it for you.[/quote]


Beat it by a few months.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5674&hl=self+tuning"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...;hl=self+tuning[/url]

I think it is a useful tool. I though I agree itself brings an extra level where things can go wrong, I think it can solve a lot more problems than it brings. No more changing guitars for alternate tunings. If your string breaks on a floating trem, a simple 2 sec re-tune and you're back. Also, one can be more confident of being in tune more of the time. Though I agree with comments about lack of automated intonation. Maybe they should work on that.

[Count Bassy]

I can't see why anyone should be against this sort of innovation. If you don't want it then don't buy it.
As for intonation, I'm sure that most people tune up far more often than they adjust their intonation.

To dismiss it as crap is just silly.

Clive

[Cantdosleepy]

[quote name='Clive Thorne' post='90588' date='Nov 18 2007, 11:02 PM']I can't see why anyone should be against this sort of innovation. If you don't want it then don't buy it.[/quote]

Word.

[LukeFRC]

it isnt really a robot guitar in the way that this is a robot sax [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7VJMGy3P4w"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7VJMGy3P4w[/url]
it just tunes itself.
woo

[Buzz]

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='90717' date='Nov 19 2007, 10:54 AM']it isnt really a robot guitar in the way that this is a robot sax [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7VJMGy3P4w"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7VJMGy3P4w[/url]
it just tunes itself.
woo[/quote]

This is a much more impressive demonstration of the robot

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxNKF8Xlp9o"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxNKF8Xlp9o[/url]

[Bassassin]

Looks like a bit of a "Why? Because we can!" use of technology. Makes me think of those LP copies with built-in effects back in the 70s - and it'll probably be as successful.

An LP isn't a high tech instrument - it's a very basic design, virtually unchanged since 1952 (some would say that's part of the essence of its appeal), and it seems to me all this technology will be compromised by that basic design anyway - the tune-o-matic bridge has limited intonation adjustment & doesn't have individual string height or spacing adjustment.

It seems a bit desperate to try & justify it like this:

[quote]...the time and skill required to achieve correct intonation mean that many players limp along with imperfect tone rather than going to the trouble of perfecting it. Doing it right usually means going to a professional repairman, surrendering your guitar for however long the shop's worklist is backed up, and paying a hefty charge for the time-consuming work. Doing it yourself, if you don't have the training and experience to do it right, risks throwing your guitar even further out.[/quote]

So buy a £1400 Robot Les Paul instead? OK.
This sales pitch pisses me off a bit, because it contributes to the "no user-serviceable parts" mindset - it's bad enough how many people think their bass/guitar will blow up or something if they so much as look at the truss rod - but this sounds like the road to taking your guitar back to the shop to get the strings changed.

Having said all that - the tech itself's really rather cool. And all the flashing LEDs are even better.

Jon.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Clive Thorne' post='90588' date='Nov 18 2007, 11:02 PM']I can't see why anyone should be against this sort of innovation. If you don't want it then don't buy it.
As for intonation, I'm sure that most people tune up far more often than they adjust their intonation.

To dismiss it as crap is just silly.

Clive[/quote]

I was being ironic... hence the ;-)

Although TBH after going to all that trouble to add all the autotune gubbins to the guitar I don't think it's completely unreasonable to expect the intonation to be automated as well.

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='91036' date='Nov 19 2007, 07:30 PM']I was being ironic... hence the ;-)

Although TBH after going to all that trouble to add all the autotune gubbins to the guitar I don't think it's completely unreasonable to expect the intonation to be automated as well.[/quote]

Apologies if I mis-interpretted your post! I tend to ignore the little symbols and go on the words, so that's my fault. I'm a bit of a luddite myself and would prefer to chat about these things over a pint in the pub, where the little nuances of meaning are more easily reckognised (Up to about 5 pints at least).

I'm sure that technologically the intonation could be done as well, but financially would probably make it even less attractive.

Just to make my position clear, I wouldn't be interested in it personally, and it may well be a short lived 'because we can' phenomenum (spelling?), but we must let the inovators try these things out. If we didn't, we wouldn't have bass guitars to chat about, or an internet on which to chat about them.

Clive