Music Thing: VW's free guitar deal

Each week Tom Whitwell of Music Thing highlights the best of the new music gear that's coming out, as well as noteworthy vintage equipment:

So, VW is giving away a free guitar with (almost) every car sold betweeen October and December as part of a slightly baffling promotion of the iPod-friendly auxillary input in their new car audio system. Yeah, I'm a little confused, too.

The guitar is made by First Act, an interesting company who got rich selling children's guitars in Wal-Mart. They're very marketing savvy - with a large custom shop churning out one-offs for bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Franz Ferdinand. The firm was founded by one Bernard Chiu, who made a fortune selling air humidifiers in the '90s.
The VW GarageMaster guitar looks ok, if you can excuse the clunky-looking VW logo control knobs. And the cheesy VW gang sign on the headstock. In a world of identical Fender/Gibson clones, it's nice to see a guitar that's part Hagstrom, part Rickenbacker, part Burns, with a scratchplate to match the colour of your car and a VW logo at the 12th fret.

The only real innovation in the VW guitar is a built in active analog amp modelling circuit, which I'm guessing works a little like a SansAmp pedal. It means you can plug the guitar straight into your VW car stereo and... well, I'm not exactly sure how you're supposed to play in your car, but that's the idea. Of course, if you like the guitar but don't want to buy the car, expect these things to be all over eBay in a few weeks, and cluttering up lofts for years to come.

[xuhansen @ Oct 6th 2006 7:07PM]

sweet

[Arno @ Oct 6th 2006 7:22PM]

Why would I want a guitar?

[Miike @ Oct 6th 2006 7:39PM]

Great, now I can do my Angus Young impersonation while I drive.

Highway to Hell, indeed.

[dude#12465346 @ Oct 6th 2006 8:06PM]

Sorry but this is the stupidest marketing thing ever! Yea, I'm going to drop $30K so I can get the "free" guitar.

Pretty Lame IMHO!

[copier dude @ Oct 6th 2006 8:08PM]

I wonder which brand of after-market springs I need to install to make my new Jetta look like that one?

In other words; If they had done a better job of styling it, they would't have to lower it to get you to think it's cool.

[six-stringer @ Oct 6th 2006 8:43PM]

If the amp modeling is from the V-Stack pedal...then it should be pretty killer.

I've owned Sansamp pedals, the Tech21 and Vox modeling amps, Digitech , Line6 and Behringer modelers.

The V-stack was the best sounding, if the least feature-rich out of them all.

[R.J. Kollar @ Oct 6th 2006 8:47PM]

Arno said : "Why would I want a guitar?"

Obviously you wouldn't want it, so that's why it's for people who appreciate guitars. You dumbass.

[robrichard @ Oct 6th 2006 9:14PM]

sucks for me, i just leased a vw a month ago...

[pbase @ Oct 6th 2006 10:10PM]

"who made a fortune selling air humidifiers in the '90s."

Everyone seems to be getting rich doing anything except what I do for a living.

[Dan @ Oct 6th 2006 10:18PM]

Wouldn't it be smarter/make more sense/attract more people if they were giving away a free iPod for the "iPod friendly" auxilary in?

[yosh @ Oct 6th 2006 10:33PM]

They had that once for the beetle.

[HaloBox @ Oct 6th 2006 10:24PM]

Obviously you haven't seen the commercial that goes with the promotion. Slash playing a VW stack. At least the commercial is cool.

[narco @ Oct 6th 2006 10:24PM]

Cool, I was going to buy a VW within that time frame anyway. I can probably just sell it since I'm happy with my current guitar. Hell, if it was good enough for the Jesus and Mary Chain, it's good enough for me.

Fishes,
narco.

[Cramidy @ Oct 6th 2006 11:44PM]

Not that most you computer/car guys really care, but FIRST ACT is a really, REALLY crappy guitar. I cringe when people want me to tech their FA guitar... its just not playable.
On a more relative note, i agree that a free ipod, even if its a shuffle, would have been more fitting to go with that "ipod freindly" aux port. Im curious as to who they were trying to market to. seeing as most of us musicians are really, pretty broke.

[jackkerouac127 @ Oct 6th 2006 11:57PM]

I'm a music teacher. First Act = toys.

[tekdroid @ Oct 7th 2006 12:26AM]

so much for non-proprietary audio inputs, then...

[Itchyass @ Oct 7th 2006 2:38AM]

There's nothing cool about Slash selling out for a has-been car manufacturer hawking a cruddy guitar to go along with its lame car. I guess the Velvet Revolver thing isn't paying too much. Shame. Wonder what Gibson thinks about Slash playing this Playskool guitar when they've dumped tons of cash into his ass on the stage and in their custom shop.

[kakapo @ Oct 7th 2006 3:16AM]

Something I have always wanted to be able to do 0s cruise down the Autobahn and play guitar - now I can...
but why?
I think this is stretching it a bit.

[TZK @ Oct 7th 2006 8:26AM]

They sh ould give away the car when you buy the guitar! Now, that would rock.

[Andy @ Oct 7th 2006 8:37AM]

Oh my God...that is too funny...it's like getting a free can opener when you buy a computer!

[Qwikstreet @ Oct 7th 2006 8:52AM]

I am not seeing the connection with this giveaway. As a VeeDub driver...I'm confused. Why a guitar? Why not another iPod, GPS, paper shredder?

[ksmith @ Oct 7th 2006 10:09AM]

A somewhat savvy move by vee-dub. Who cares if the guitar is crap. I'm sure they'll only net a couple dozen extra sales by appealing to some prospective customer's inner Slash, but the biggest kick will come from all the people talking about this unusual marketing shtick. Look, it's happening right now.

[dj mcmanus @ Oct 7th 2006 11:08AM]

MP3 player input, nice touch, modern and useful.

Promote it with a cartoon hack from the 90s and an embarassing electrical banjo?


This commercial looks like a cross between an iPlod and a Gap ad.

[Brendan @ Oct 7th 2006 12:35PM]

I think I'll stick to my PRS and no-amp-modeling-required tube combo.

[LittleJoe @ Oct 7th 2006 3:28PM]

I my new Jetta. That is all.

[LittleJoe @ Oct 7th 2006 3:30PM]

I love my new Jetta. That is all.

(oohhhh embarassing typo... ill go hide now)

[Giltronic @ Oct 7th 2006 8:47PM]

ya, to me this isn't the smartest marketing approach VW could take, but the commercial is awesome.

giltronic

[HaloBox @ Oct 8th 2006 1:49PM]

Wasn't Slash using the Gibson in the commercial?

[Prestin @ Oct 12th 2006 1:04PM]

This is a great promotion. It brings a new meaning to "rock and roll".

First Act = quality guitars. I was on the First Act website and these guitars are played by a bunch of reputable artists like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nine Inch Nails and Franz Ferdinand. I commend VW for partnering with the lesser known brand that still puts out a great sound.

[doane @ Oct 16th 2006 2:01PM]

This promotion will be huge! The 18-34 caucasian demographic loves electric guitars!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7YSGh5mm3I&eurl=

[Tom @ Oct 19th 2006 4:49AM]

As a marketing idea it seems pretty stupid.....as some have mentioned, the IPod would have been a much better idea. Gotta admit that the commercial with Nigel rocks though!

The ones they are giving away are surely crap, but I want one anyway. Just cos I am a VW fanatic (vintage VWs). So if anyone gets one and wants to get rid of it, let me know!

[krunch91x @ Oct 21st 2006 1:22AM]

Do any of these people who are bad-mouthing VW or calling them a "has-been car manufacturer" even have a driver's license?? I doubt it. I've owned VW's for the past 6 years and they're great cars. The guitar is just a nifty little extra.

[Elysia @ Jan 18th 2007 9:19PM]

I think you are all pretty lame. You just wish you had a sweet v dub and a guitar. So maybe you should start a "I'm a loser" chat room and go cyber. Any time you fools wanna race....holla. Stay gay. Fools.