$2,499 Gibson Blue Silverburst Les Paul guitar tunes itself in 2 seconds, on sale December 7th

Gibson shows new self-tuning guitar

Gibson Shows New Guitar With Self-Tuning Robotics Technology in Tokyo

YURI KAGEYAMA
AP News

Dec 03, 2007 13:28 EST

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Gibson_shows_new_self_tuning_guitar_12032007.html

Musicians of the world are getting a new kind of artistic freedom with technology that eliminates the challenging chore of tuning. Robotics technology developed by German company Tronical Gmbh in partnership with Gibson Guitar Corp. enables Gibson's newest Les Paul model to tune itself in about two seconds.

For users who purchase the add-on technology, the guitar recognizes pitch. Then, its processor directs motors on its six tuning pegs to tighten or loosen the strings accordingly. Tronical has offered its "Powertune System" online and through retailers in Germany since March, according to the company's Web site. The Gibson Les Paul guitar model with Blue Silverburst finish goes on sale globally Dec. 7.

Nashville, Tenn., guitar maker Gibson and Tronical said Powertune is the world's first self-tuning technology, and Gibson says it is particularly useful for beginners, who tend to find tuning a headache.

Musician Ichiro Tanaka, who tuned and played a sample guitar at Gibson's Tokyo office Monday, said the technology is handy for professionals too. If they use special tuning for just part of a concert, as he often does, it means they don't have to lug around an extra guitar with the second tuning ready. "It's more than just convenience," said Tanaka, of Japan. "It's a feature I really appreciate." The Les Paul Silverburst model is to cost about $2,780 in Japan and $2,499 in the U.S., with self-tuning offered for $900 extra.

Just like Keith Moon's perfect timing!

:rofl:

Here's my Les Paul and I tune it all my myself!



:rofl:

I've always preferred the solid colors over the burst finishes for the Pauls- it seems to enhance their beautiful simplicity...

Yeah, this one has the tiny, barely visible gold flecks under the finish. When the light hits it in a certain way, it's beautiful.

When I was a kid, my dad worked for a guy whose kid, my age, had a Les Paul. He had stripped off all the paint, down to the bare wood. The pickup guards were gone. The little protective plate on the back of the guitar was missing it had one knob, the rest were gone.

He let me borrow it. With all of the damage, it may have been the sweetest guitar I've ever played in my life. Maybe it was just the fact that I was a kid holding a real Les Paul, I don;t know. But I've played a lot of guitars and I've never personally found one that beat a Les Paul.

:toast:

But no matter where one's preferences lie, the holy duo of a Les Paul through a Marshall half-stack is a quintessential element of rock music.

I will say that I've owned 1 Gibson in my life, and I am on a never-ending quest to find another one. It was a '70's L6-S Deluxe that I had for a few years and ultimately sold to buy a present for a girlfriend (how dumb is THAT???). It was exactly as pictured as below, except mine had the addition of Fralin pickups. Again, I was totally insane for selling it- I should have at LEAST kept the pickups.

I also have a Strat...what was referred to as a "Heavy Metal Strat" when Fender issued it because it has one humbucking pickup and two single coils with a five-way selctor, coil tap and a locking Floyd Rose. I tend to lean toward the fatter Les Paul / Marshall sound you mention, but the more colors you have in the paintbox, the nicer the results are on the canvas.



Good luck with your search. It's out there somewhere.

:toast:

We'll be dancin' in the streets.

I'd be such a rock star then! I'd get chicks like Nickelback only wishes they could.

Party at the Playboy mansion. I'd totally be on MTV Cribs, showing off my grotto and my Koenigsegg CCX.

Can't wait!

We're dangerously close to Kiss: Phantom of the Park territory here...

Figure they don't need them. By the time those dolts figure it out, I'll be rich and pulling an Axl Rose.

Ha ha, Kiss: Phantom...good one.

my own rather good ear. but i just hate tuning devices. i have musician friends who swear by them, and in a crowded/loud venue i can definitely see their value. but as an acoustic musician i can vouch that each instrument has its own relative tone... and for wooden instruments, i feel like only the ear can do it. (i start with the A440 tuning fork, but from there i'm DIY).

besides, one only has to listen to Chuck Berry (or, somewhat similarly, Keith Richards) to know that "in tune" might not work out as well if one's technique doesn't lend itself to auto-tuning. on some of Chuck's live stuff, i'll start out listening saying "MAN that sounds like sh!t", but when he starts bending and pulling, you know it's tuned exactly the way HE wants it to be...

I would have had to have given up playing in my teen years, but at some point I just "got the hang of it." When I change the strings on my Taylor accoustic I just work the E until it feels about right, and then I'm off. The few times I've checked I've been very close to (if not dead on) concert pitch. But if you tune all the strings according to a tuner, damned if it doesn't sound out of tune.

I've even gotten confident enough to go back and forth between standard tuning and DADGAD on stage.

But when it comes time to re-string a tremolo equipped electric, I always start off using a quartz tuner. Once I get in tune the first time then it's pretty much all by ear.

Slack-key guitar is a popular style of Hawaiian music in which the guitar is detuned intentionally. Originally, the idea was to make the tuning match a particular singer's voice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slack_key_guitar#Techniques_and_Tunings

Nearly all slack key requires retuning the guitar strings from the standard EADGBE, and this usually (but not always) means lowering or "slacking" several strings. The result will most often be a major chord, although it can also be a major-seventh chord, a sixth, or (rarely) a minor. (There are examples of slack key played in standard tuning, but the overwhelming majority of recorded examples use altered tunings.) The most common slack key tuning, called "taro patch," makes a G major chord. Starting from the standard EADGBE, the high and low E strings are lowered or "slacked" to D and the fifth string from A down to G, so the notes become DGDGBD. As the chart below shows, there are also major-chord tunings based on C, F, and D.

This guitar would drive a slack-key player nuts! It'd constantly be trying to retune itself, thus runing the slack-key tuning!

but I'm not sure of its real-world value. I remember when the Buzz Feinten tuning systems were all the rage, and everyone was saying how within 10 years, it would be the norm... Obviously, that wasn't the case.

:rofl:

who apparently thought it was hip to be flat. :crazy:

In fact, I think I'm gonna pull it out right now and play. :P

:eyes: