The electric guitar — the most popular musical instrument, in its simple beauty, remains technologically unchanged since the 50s of the last century. Until now. Gibson Guitar Corp. ties up with German robotics company Tronical Gmbh to enable Gibson’s newest Les Paul model to recognize pitch and tune itself in about two seconds. Musicians will find this technology particularly useful, especially for beginners who find tuning a headache. It’s a convenience, too, for professionals. This Robot Guitar can store personal tuning preferences and makes them available for easy implementation at the push of a button.
The Gibson Robot Guitar is equipped with the revolutionary PowerTune System developed by Tronical Gmbh of Hamburg, Germany. PowerTune is the world’s first self-tuning system for electric guitars. Gibson has just signed a world wide agreement with Tronical for the exclusive sale and distribution of PowerTune, in both new guitars and upgrade kits.
~ Gibson Robot Guitar’s Powerheads
The Gibson Robot Guitar is a real innovation which promises to banish, once and for all, the tuning problems guitarists often have. Its PowerTune System consists of three components: the Powerheads, the Tune-Control Bridge, and the Master-Control Knob. The Powerheads is a multiple machine heads which still can be adjusted manually. The Tune-Control Bridge is where each string is picked-up individually and at the same time the frequencies are measured. The Master-Control Knob is the headquarter of the PowerTune system and communicate via the strings with the Powerheads.
~ Equipped with Tronical’s PowerTune System
The PowerTune system works by executing instructions (set from the Master-Control Knob by the player) from its CPU. These programmed instructions are implement by the Powerheads equipped with tiny electric motors. As the motorized tuners adjust the tuning, the pitch of the string is monitored by the Tune-Control bridge. When the player strums the strings, the Powerheads will adjust the tuning automatically and precisely in seconds. Electrical power for the tuning mechanism is supplied via the guitar strings. All LED indicators in the Master-Control Knob will flash blue 3 times when tuning is complete.
You don’t have to make frequent trips to the shop for tuning setups anymore. Gibson Robot Guitars will be on sale in select stores globally on December 7, 2007. Since it is a limited edition, only 10 will be on sale per store in its first run. A Robot Guitar is priced at $2,499.
now …. when they invent the self tuning guitar that plays itself just from your thoughts………. i can be a rockstar.
That’s awsome, but it’s a bit too expensive for me…
I keep seeing misinformation concerning this product. “. . Nashville, Tenn., guitar maker Gibson and Tronical said Powertune is the world’s first self-tuning technology,” this is erroneous to the extreme. A company called Transperformance created a superior self tuning guitar that has been in use for almost 20 years now.
See also:
http://news.cnet.com/Tuning-tech-catches-on-with-guitarists—page-2/2100-1027_3-6014002-2.html
Compared with that, Gibson’s version is just a toy.
Here’s Jimmy Page’s take on the Performer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsVb91dxrJw
Hey, I just discovered this great site and thought it might be useful if you want to learn to play guitar. I know this is just one among lots of sites to learn guitar online, but hey, this looks very interesting and serious at least!
jamoramaguitar.net
kind regards!
Robert
Self tuning guitar this is very nice.I have so much problems with my guitar after i played one or two hours.My tuning go down :( I like this guitar but price it`s not low and yes guitar is very good for beginners.