gibson

[Jasco]

I was wondering what anyone here thinks about the gibson self-tuning guitar. Gimmick? Useful tool? Or?

[Unfcknblvbl]

Is the writer's strike over? (http://womb.mixerman.net/showthread.php?t=5348&highlight=Gibson)

[lambro]

anything that adds weight to a guitar will change the tonal character by giving it more sustain & brightness and less dynamic range, even if they weight compensated a guitar somehow, it just rubs me the wrong way..but I have not played an equipped guitar, my les paul custom is heavy, if they chambered the body they could probably put one in with out any weight change

I know Uli Roth did some promotion for the designer a while back, but there is no way he's putting one on one of his Sky guitars..

How many fixed bridge guitars get that out of tune anyway?, usually its the G or B string on a les paul, just tune it up and move on!

[Jasco]

Is the writer's strike over? (http://womb.mixerman.net/showthread.php?t=5348&highlight=Gibson)

I figured maybe someone had some real-world experience with the thing by now, as opposed to all the hypothesizing that went on pre-release.

And I have a few opinions about it, but I first wanted to hear what anyone else might think of it.

[pacAir]

I figured maybe someone had some real-world experience with the thing by now, as opposed to all the hypothesizing that went on pre-release.

And I have a few opinions about it, but I first wanted to hear what anyone else might think of it.

While I have not USED this guitar in a live situation, I had an opportunity to play and inspect one that a friend purchased. It works as advertised and is pretty quick... you can easily tune the guitar OR re-tune to an alternate tuning between songs! I don't personally care for the one available finish but except for the special hardware it is a true Les Paul.

The guitar itself appears to have been "adjusted" to accommodate the weight and balance change. There was no sense of neck diving or "heaviness" you might attribute to the added computer board and batteries in the enlarged body cavity or the associated hardware hanging on the end of the neck.

It even has a string winding program built-in to properly wind and terminate the string length. This is important because the power and data required to operate the neck hardware (command receiver and servo motor tuning machines) are carried by the guitar strings themselves, so you can't have a stray long string tail shorting to an adjacent string's hardware.

The special bridge and tailpiece keep the strings insulated (and the bridge contains 6 piezo pickups for the tuning system). The wood body is used as an insulator to keep all this hardware from shorting together... just the opposite of what you want on a standard guitar!

As far as the Les Paul "chambered-body" goes, it appears that most of the new Les Paul series are chambered now days (such as the Les Paul Classic, Antique, Custom, Vintage, etc.) for weight reduction, but a "designed" weight reduction that promotes good acoustic resonance. Gibson has been chambering selected Les Paul bodies for years (both the Les Paul Studio DC and Standard DC models were chambered as far back as 1997 at least... I have one and it is lightweight and resonates well).

[Cary Chilton]

Self fucking tuning? Not only are more and more young wannabe stars average skilled on their instrument, most have a shit ear with piss poor rel. pitch. A self tuning guitar might be along the lines of beginner DAW users visualizing their music instead of fucking listening. A trap, the womb steered me away from and I was well on my way... ( thank you ;) ).

Anyway, tuning my guitar by ear was I learned at a very young age basic rel. pitch, internalizing the timbral qualities of my guitar, which led to discerning beating notes from the state of the intonation and how to micro tune to intentionally avoid the 2nd string's (inherent problem in standard tuning) of the beating when a 3rd interval is made with the 3rd string. I later found out -this year in fact- that EVH does the same thing. I had been micro tuning since my 2nd or 3rd year of diligent playing. If it weren't for the ear training made possible by tuning it by ear, not even a tuner- most times, I wouldn't have the "ear" I have now.

Fucking self tuning guitars might prove further degradation to an already diminishing talent pool of new bands to come.

Oh, not that many care as much these dayz about real wood in their tone, this Robo-Gibson must have shit tone...

[lambro]

Cary that is spot on regarding ear training.

The need to have the B string slightly flat is more of an issue on Strats 25.5" scale, vs Les Pauls 24.75" scale, but still an issue.

Even people l that are ear trained but learned the WRONG way tune B with harmonics which never works, you will always be sharp.

I usually tune the D & G as open 4ths, then bring the B up to meet pitch of the B on the G string fretted at 4th fret, this will make any triad played on the top 3 strings well intonnated especially in the 1-5 fret zone

to this day I use a 44A tuning fork to get my A, and ear tune from there

[Jasco]

Cary that is spot on regarding ear training.

The need to have the B string slightly flat is more of an issue on Strats 25.5" scale, vs Les Pauls 24.75" scale, but still an issue.




Only when you are playing major 3rd interval between the G and B strings does the B need to be a little flat.

Of course you could say that with any two adjacent strings you were playing a major 3rd interval on. It's the nature of equal temperment tuning for major thirds to sound slightly sharp out of tune. Not necesarily a guitar problem or B string problem.

The reason it appears to manifest itself as a B string problem is that often on guitar people play chords based on open G and A shapes that have a root and third on the G and B strings.

[Shotgun]

to this day I use a 44A tuning fork to get my A, and ear tune from there


Prolly tough to do that before the 2nd set while the DJ is blasting ain't it? Y'all know they make machines to help the tuning process don't ya?

You know, I hated this thing when I saw it. I was like, "what the fork? That don't seem right..." But then again, what's really the difference in using an electronic tuner and letting a servo motor do it for you? Not a huge lot.

Now, what I *do* think is that it's entirely too goddamn complicated and expensive to be ANY sort of good replacement for a $30 tuner and a $50 setup every now and then. Plus, it only comes in 1 color. Plus it only comes as an SG or Les Paul. So, it's kind of like a Rube Goldberg tuning system to me. Stupid in its complexity and expense, not in its "ruination of the good old days" which is, obviously, bull cock.

~S

[MKZ]

it's a fuckin Studio... or so i've heard. ain't nothing wrong with that but c'mon...

and the self tuning thing is neat, but who needs it?

might be cool for a rock guitarist playing clubs who can't afford a tech and uses a lot of different tunings in different songs

[otek]

I hear it doesn't quite do what it's told.

The funny thing is, they used to have a self-tuning system like 15 years ago, it was called a TransPerformance, it was big, expensive and butt-ugly, but it actually worked.

Never reached any popularity though.

Now, when they made it more invisible and less functional, people are buzzing about it. :Confused:


otek

[eagan]

The funny thing is, they used to have a self-tuning system like 15 years ago.......

Never reached any popularity though.

Now, when they made it more invisible and less functional, people are buzzing about it. :Confused:


Hmmmmm. Interesting. Let's see... what is there different in the world now that wasn't there, 15 years ago?

Hmmmmm.


JLE

[Jasco]

I hear it doesn't quite do what it's told.

The funny thing is, they used to have a self-tuning system like 15 years ago, it was called a TransPerformance, it was big, expensive and butt-ugly, but it actually worked.

Never reached any popularity though.

Now, when they made it more invisible and less functional, people are buzzing about it. :Confused:


otek


I'm impressed Otek.

The Transperformance was developed by a guy in the town I live in. He tried to market it to Gibson for years unsuccessfully then they got a poor-mans version to put out claiming it was the 'first' self tuning system for guitar.

And you're right the functionality of the Transperformance is much better.

Now most posters on forums where I've seen the self tuning concept discussed say things like "I can tune my own guitar, who needs this gimmick."

However, I think they are missing the point. If someone had a creative imagination, they would use the guitars capabilities as part of performance and composition.

Kind of like my friend Dave Beegle: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=262174142

Some parts sound kind of like a slide, but the notes move both up and down at the same time as the tunings shift in mid song.

[otek]

However, I think they are missing the point. If someone had a creative imagination, they would use the guitars capabilities as part of performance and composition.


You mean, kind of like what Michael Manring does with his Zon Hyperbass? :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY4Ra2KOyas


:icon_eek:


otek



PS. I liked the David Beegle stuff - nice!