Gibson gets official with the self-tuning Robot Guitar

For all you rockers out there who are too lazy or too busy to tune your own strings, Gibson has just made your day. The self-tuning Les Paul we told you about back at the beginning of October has just gotten its official release date and a brand-spanking-new name: The Gibson Robot Guitar. Sure, it won't fix you breakfast, watch the children, or make a logical decision to wipe out all human life on the planet, but on December 12th, it will tune the hell out of your Ernie Balls. Check the video after the break to see the guitar in action.

[hh83917 @ Nov 12th 2007 12:40PM]

Wow...thats really cool... dont know if they'll do something like that for a violin...

[Liam @ Nov 12th 2007 12:50PM]

I would've thought a classically trained musician might use a digital tuner for speed, but generally they will use their ears. They're not used to having this stuff done for them, and they wouldn't trust it. Hence no market.

I'm a guitarist, and I find ears considerably more difficult to lose than little digital tuners. After three years of this, I now find tuning assists annoying and inaccurate. I can't imagine buying something like this, as I would end up tweaking it myself anyway.

[makishima @ Nov 12th 2007 1:10PM]

True but that isnt the point of this guitar. The auto tuning is mostly just gimmicky or for people who dont have that great of an ear for tunning yet. But the real advantage of this is for a live guitar. If you cant afford to have 3-4 different guitars all tuned just how you like them and dont want to make people wait while you change tuning, its perfect. Of course if it costs as much as 3-4 guitars then there really isnt much of a point. And please, until you've tried it out for yourself at a local shop dont be too harsh of it.

[billy bob thorton @ Nov 12th 2007 1:16PM]

you are absolutely right. any moderate level guitarist should be able to tune their instrument in 30 seconds or less with their ears. Not that this isn't a cool trick. I'm assuming that they are 100% confident that their frets are flawless, otherwise this is uselss. I guess it's just another toy for the guitar hero wannabes.

[Josiah @ Nov 12th 2007 1:29PM]

I disagree. While a moderate level guitarist may be able to tune a guitar quickly, it will not be as accurate as it can be. Even the most advanced guitarists are unable to tune as well as a computer can. This is not for a guitarist who will tune once and play for a while... this is for the guitarist who, during a show, will tune to drop-D or some other unusual tuning and wants it to be quick, but accurate.

[zfurie @ Nov 12th 2007 1:45PM]

Hmmmm. Violin Robot Hero doesnt really sound catchy....

Sounds like a Japanese character from the seventies though..

[Bennett @ Nov 12th 2007 2:13PM]

makishima is correct. The point of this is for playing live, where you can't take 30 seconds to retune a guitar that went out of tune mid-song. And you can't hear yourself plucking the strings.

[Arthur Nonamiss @ Nov 12th 2007 3:02PM]

@Josiah

I'm a classically trained musician. Although I play a wind instrument, I think the same principles are in effect here:

Tuning by machine/computer will probably tune "perfectly," and very quickly. However perfect intonation is often not your goal in a performance. There are LOTS of subtle nuances with intonation that are too complex to be replicated by a machine. (so far) Sometimes you want to be out of tune, in a very specific way, depending on the composer, venue, instrumentation, style of music, color of the LSD, etc. I see that they've pre-programmed some of presets into this guitar, but this is only the tip of the iceberg of what a professional might use.

I'm not saying that this thing isn't great for 99% of the potential audience. Hell, I'm not a guitarist, and this thing would probably be great for me. I'm sure this device is great for an intermediate-to-advanced guitarist, but if you're talking about elite professional performers, I think could potentially hurt them more than help them.

As my teacher always used to say, you tune with your ears, not a tuner...

[Derbeste @ Nov 12th 2007 4:00PM]

What you all seem to be missing is that

REAL GUITARS ARE FOR OLD PEOPLE!

/south park reference

[Josiah @ Nov 12th 2007 10:02PM]

@Arthur Nonamiss

It's interesting you mention that you play a wind instrument. I'm a saxophonist myself, and I take my instrument to a technician to be tuned, because it's impossible to tune the instrument without the proper tools. It's certainly not something you do during at a gig.

You can adjust the overall tuning of the instrument slightly by adjusting your mouthpiece so you're close to the rest of the band, but you can't change individual toneholes. Beyond that, if you find your high F# is out of tune, you have to adjust your embouchure when you play just that note until you see your tech.

This is not the case with a guitar. A guitar's tuning is redone completely, every time it comes out of the case to be played, as every string can be adjusted easily. The instrument is highly subject to the heat and humidity of the venue you're playing at.

[daaper @ Nov 13th 2007 10:20AM]

I'm not sure why Gibson is claiming with "World's first robot guitar". Transperformance has been selling self-tuning guitars for years. It can be retro-fit into just about any guitar. You can store up to 250 different tunings and it's intelligent enough to account for temperature and humidity. That's great that Gibson has finally joined the game, but "world's first" it is not.

http://transperformance.com/index2.htm

[Tomas @ Nov 12th 2007 5:41PM]

That's sick!

[Cody @ Nov 12th 2007 12:43PM]

It would feel really odd to let the guitar tune itself. I, personally, don't mind tuning, but of course, I play bass, so I don't have to tune up all that much.

[Jordan @ Nov 12th 2007 12:43PM]

wow...so cool :)
can't wait to try this thing out

[Russ @ Nov 12th 2007 1:00PM]

Check out http://www.gibson.com/robotguitar there is gonna be a sign up to check it out early

[paragraph @ Nov 12th 2007 12:45PM]

Price? I bet it's ungodly expencive....

Personally i just spend the 30 seconds it takes to tune my guitar every month...

[Enzo @ Nov 12th 2007 12:50PM]

Month? You either play a floyd (or equivalent) or barely play at all, right?

[jon adams @ Nov 12th 2007 1:14PM]

from what i understand, the initial limited release (10 per store, check the website for availability) will sell for $2199 MSRP. Being a limited edition, it's not likely that you'll get it much cheaper than that. The limited edition will be the only gibson EVER with that sexy blue sunburst finish though.

After the initial run sells out, the guitar will go into regular production for about 30% less, so about $1600 MSRP. The exact pricing hasn't been set yet. The full production model will be a LP Studio, and will be available in all the regular Studio finishes.

Pricing will probably come way down after the tuning mechanism gets ported to other models.

Honestly, if you're really interested in this thing, try to get one of the limited release models. That way, even if you end up hating it, it will still sell for more than you bought it for in 5 years or so.

[Roofus @ Nov 13th 2007 7:07AM]

Once a month... a guitar tuned once a month and played often sounds as good as a person who showers once a month smells.

[jawzxy @ Nov 12th 2007 12:45PM]

Music and gadgetry are the two loves of my life, and this is a top-notch synthesis of the two. The electric blue is sexy, too.

[DeoWulf @ Nov 12th 2007 12:52PM]

I knew this was coming. It was my idea several years ago! It probably won't do well, though. As a guitar player I usually just tune by ear.

[Ben @ Nov 12th 2007 6:17PM]

Ya know...I had a great idea once too: It was a "Jump to Conclusions" mat. You see, it would be this mat that you would put on the floor... and would have different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO.

[DeoWulf @ Nov 12th 2007 9:00PM]

Sarcasm aside, you're right. The thing did look pretty good in the movie, which I missed previously. Still, depending on how much it is, it may not be worth it for those of us who can tune by ear. And, if you can't, you're probably not spending $1000+ on a guitar anyway.

[Eric @ Nov 12th 2007 12:56PM]

I wish Gibson would implement this into a non-Les Paul guitar. I have nothing against them, but I prefer my Epiphone Casino... if they'd reissue the ES-330 with the robotic tuners... that'd be great.

[Derek @ Nov 12th 2007 5:10PM]

Same. I love my Casino.

[Dan @ Nov 12th 2007 12:58PM]

Yay! Finally, something I heard about before reading of it on Engadget! Yeah, somewhere online is a video of the amazing Graham Nash with the thing; maybe a prototype. He dug it much. Professionals, like Graham, have songs that require different tunings. From what I saw on the vid, the thing is going to sell real well.
Ears go bad over time.

[Nick @ Nov 16th 2007 1:05AM]

hopefully not ernie balls, while this may help them stay in tune could it help eb's from coming dead in the package?

[NHAnimator @ Nov 12th 2007 1:03PM]

Robot Guitar? They didn't really name it Robot Guitar, did they?

[byaah @ Nov 12th 2007 1:04PM]

I play guitar and I'm not sure how much I'd actually like this, but I can't say I wouldn't like to try it out.

[Jeff @ Nov 12th 2007 1:06PM]

Liam -

I think you're missing the point. You see that this does not just the standard EADGBE tuning but several other popular tunings as well. What this would let a guitarist do is play one guitar through an entire live show - no more changing instruments just to get a different tuning. It would also cut setup time in about half, because you only need to tune one guitar before a show (and the guitar does it for you) rather than five or six manually.

Of course, I still probably wouldn't trust this thing to work all the time and would therefore have to have backups anyway, but I'm sure that's the real intent behind it.

Personally, I wouldn't buy this guitar solely because there's just more that can break. Guitars are one of the last products you can buy that are seriously meant to last 50 years or more, and through heavy, hard use - no "robot" guitar is even going to last half that before the electronics and mechanical parts wear out, and good luck finding replacements in 20 years. It's not like this is going to be standard equipment; this is a specialized guitar.

Changing strings also looks like a serious pain in the ass.

[Liam @ Nov 13th 2007 7:36PM]

Good point, but I was really talking about why this clearly isn't going to cross over onto other instruments. Doing alternate tunings is a pain unless you know your intervals. Like Jose Gonzales (search "#SPLIT 13.2 José Gonzalez Storm" on google for an example), who changes tuning regularly in his live shows at speed. Could a guitar program in all the tunings he uses, though? Like Nick Drake, he seems to use a different one every song.

I was also talking about personal preference; I like to mess with the tuning. Even if I've just used a digital tuner, and the open string is dead on, I will mess. Few guitars are perfectly intonated, and the fret positions are a mathematical compromise. So it helps if you compromise the tuning too. I say this in all certainty that I am the only one that cares.

[Keith L. Dick @ Nov 12th 2007 1:09PM]

Reminds me of this system that was out quite awhile before Gibson revealed theirs: http://transperformance.com/multimedia/index1.html

Interesting thing is I have heard much about Transperformance since... Hmmm

[Simon @ Nov 12th 2007 1:10PM]

That guitar looks damn sexy! But a guitar that tunes itself? no thanks mate. Better to just tune by ear...this would annoy me SO MUCH because even when it had tuned itself id probably need to tweak it a little bit.

[nano @ Nov 12th 2007 1:14PM]

And if you really want to tune your guitar (as opposed to twiddle a stupid knob), you'll just get a stroboscopic tuner from Peterson.

[Ben @ Nov 12th 2007 1:19PM]

Not sure why all these musicians aren't incredibly excited about this,

I for one welcom our self-tuning Robot Guitar overlords.

[Beebs @ Nov 12th 2007 1:38PM]

this is pretty cool but I'm wondering if people are really going to use it. I know I'd feel like kind of a douche bag if i had one.....a very in tune douche bag though.

[VicD @ Nov 12th 2007 2:01PM]

But does it play Doom? Or at least Guitar Hero 3?

[Lazerface @ Nov 12th 2007 2:04PM]

But will it play the theme from doom?

[JoeCool249 @ Nov 12th 2007 2:32PM]

if you can spend that much money for that guitar, why don't you invest in some sort of processor or pod to not just tune the strings but add effects to your playing.. just a thought

[John @ Nov 12th 2007 2:53PM]

This is immensely cool. Of course, eventually it will get to the point of, why have a human tune it, a machine can to it better, why have a human play it, a machine can do it better, and we'll live in a world where most music is just computer synthesized beats with untalented jerks talking over it...

oh my I just made myself sad.

[some1 @ Nov 12th 2007 3:03PM]

I think it's a great idea. the point is not to tune it more easily, it's to change tuning more easily. I've been trying to build one of my own, but it's really hard to make it compact enough...

great to have one that's already built for me!

[Jeff @ Nov 12th 2007 3:20PM]

what if you want to play in some whacky alternate tuning? does it let you do that or does it wind itself back to its EADGBE?

[Luke @ Nov 12th 2007 4:15PM]

Watch the video, there are a bunch of different settings.

[bigassmuffin @ Nov 12th 2007 4:22PM]

this answers your question:

http://www.gibson.com/robotguitar/RobotGuitarVideoVoting.aspx

[nova62400 @ Nov 12th 2007 3:19PM]

Well, as a pro guitar player (to clarify I've been playing 15 years, and I get paid), I hope Gibson has made it super accurate because entry level players won't be able to justify the cost of this and guys like me are very picky. I can see how it would be super convenient for me if it was accurate enough, but I also don't need it. I have a (super accurate) strobe tuner on my pedal-board so I can easily and accurately tune anytime during a set. I do love that Gibson is trying to push the envelope forward though, like with their other high tech guitar, the HD.6X Digital Les Paul. I think this guitar is going to appeal mostly to older guys with more money than skill, cause they can easily change tunings to play along with all the classic rock records mentioned in the video. The kind of guy who can afford an EVH frankenstrat replica to hang on the wall next to his cherry '32 Ford.

[Kai @ Dec 11th 2007 10:40PM]

exactly nova62400! That's why I am definitely going to get it. It's a great toy and that's why a lot of people will love it. I am not good in tuning by ear (and it seems not even professionals like you are able to tune by ear on stage!) and I am not pretending to be a good player. I like playing for fun. This thing will allow me to quickly change the tuning for various songs. From a pure business perspective, there are definitely more guitar players at my level then there are at your level. Consequently, Gibson will probably make good money with this. If it doesn't hold 50 years? Not a problem - there's going to be something cooler in a few years anyway. Today is the day! Can't wait to get the real thing :-)

[grjohnston @ Nov 12th 2007 3:27PM]

I, for one, welcome our new robotic guitar overlords. Them, or just general robot gods.

[Mithras @ Nov 12th 2007 3:27PM]

Can I use it in Guitar Hero?

[Christopher Scum @ Dec 10th 2007 4:25AM]

Hmmm, I think I'll wait until they make one that will give head. Just cut out the whole rockin' middle stage altogether!

[Joe Anstine @ Nov 12th 2007 4:46PM]

no matter what instrument you play having a good "ear" is essential. tuning a guitar is very easy though even without a tuner. using simple harmonics you can have the entire thing in tune within a matter of minutes. this isn't a guitar for a beginner so stop complaining that it is a cheat or something. this isn't for guitar hero wannabe's either. if you are a experienced musician this would be a handy tool if your playing a set and using different tunings for each song. with this guitar, the transition into the next song could be very, very smooth. I think Gibson is being crazy innovative with this and very bold considering there won't be a big market for this initially. they need to work on adding this technology to other stringed instruments giving for a better precision of sound to an orchestra. that would be sweet.