who the hell can simultaneously:
be rich enough to afford this,
play guitar well enough to justify it,
yet can't be bothered to tune the damn thing,
and doesn't have a servant to turn the wine, dust the windows, and keep the guitars tuned?

Indeed, one less thing for my lackey to do.

C'mon guys, hardly innovation here. This stuff has been around for a decade!

Dangit. My Roomba is going to impress anyone anymore.

But seriously, you'd think they'd figure out how to make it do a little more something than just tune.

actually, this is kinda cool. if it keeps it tuned as you continue to play that will help out a lot. after playing bass for 7 years, having the guitar fall out of tune while playing is the greatest pain the ass ever. automatic tuning just makes getting ready for a show 10 times faster, and switching between say dropped D or into a flat will make it even faster

@nutbastard:

Good points, but it's still pretty damn cool.

Never turn the wine. You only do that with Champaign, and only when it's being made (riddling) - before the cork is inserted.

@jmurph05:
"As the strings are played, the Powertune processor compares their actual frequencies with the desired notes and sends instructions--tighten the string this much, loosen the string by that much--to tuning pegs equipped with strong, tiny servo motors mounted on the back of the guitar's head."

looks like a winner. I too was concerned youd have to stop playing and "let" it retune.

@Brian B:
look i don't know this shit; i have someone who does it for me. don't ask me about wiping my ass, either.
: )

(actually i was aware of that - just being facetious - and i've heard turning a bottle of cab periodically will age it faster (much in the same way that wine on a ship at sea will age faster))

huh - i just noticed that if you google "nutbastard" it asks if you meant "nutmustard" - i wasn't brave anough to actually find out what nutmustard is, but my inclination is that whatever it may be, it's probably NSFW.

While it would be kind of cool to push a button and have the guitar retune to C# so you can play along with Dethklok, Cannibal Corpse, Saliva, etc, it will probably cost more than two excellent guitars.

Also it's gotta have a lot of moving parts, so repairs and spares will likely be pretty impossible over the near unlimited lifespan of high-end guitars.

Chichi's Heavy Metal Strat, you roughly tune it, then lock down the strings and turn these little micro-tuner knobs on the bridge -- it stays in tune for hours.

Who needs a capacitance-sensing circuit to tell you when you've pulled far enough into your garage when a fishing bobber on a piece of string will do the same? If that's you, then you need this.

But does it go to 11?

"A player can strum all six strings at once, and the process should have them in tune within a few seconds."
THAT would be trippy! anyone whos ever picked up a friends guitar and open strummed it to a cacaphonous horror can't deny that it would be awesome to hear that transform into perfect tune. This is the power-laces nikes of guitars - sure you can do the work yourself, but why when not doing it is so much more friggin awesome?

@nutbastard: Uh oh:

[www.urbandictionary.com]

@deathbychichi:
its $899. less than one excellent guitar.

@johnnyrandom:
yeah i looked - definately NSFW!

Also, don't forget that initial products are always much more expensive. I can see a time when 90% of all new musical instruments will have some kind of technology like this. Consider wifi incorperated into Marching Bands or Orchestras with this. The conductor can retune everyone in anyway that he wants on the fly.

Yes, but does it have string install mode, so you don't have to get out the string winder?

Does this mean we wont have to see the roadies walk around on stage for 30 mins before a show constantly sound checking? Gawd I hate those mouthbreathers.

I didn't do a lot of research but my question is this:

1) Can you let is constantly re-tune your guitar (by selection, meaning you can turn it on or off depending on what you want).

2) If so, how does it deal with harmonics and bends. I'd hate to be shredding and have the guitar go nuts because I bend the string and it "thinks" I am out of tune. This could seriously suck.

Perhaps it could take a look at your overall tuning over... say 30 seconds and tune accordingly... am I asking too much?

I believe that you press a button to activate the tuning function and then strum the strings and then hit the button to turn off tune mode.

I will only consider getting one of these if they implement a "wrong sample rate on the keyboard track" transposer preset. You never know when you might be on tour with Van Halen.

Old news - I think even Giz covered it awhile back.

I'll say it again... unless it comes preprogrammed to do all of the useful alternate tunings, what good is it (unless you really play in a band and can't keep tuned between sets).

There's real satisfaction in hand-tuning a guitar.

@huygir:
You can instantly switch between different tunings using the selector knob. It comes set to 6 different presets, all of which are customizable and you can revert back to the original settings. While I'm sure it will carry a hefty price tag at first, I can see this being amazing to use during live sets.

One thing i always tell new musicians to do is learn how to tune their damn guitars! Nothing I hate more than pulling my johnson while the guitarist trys to figure out which one of his strings is off. If you have been tuning for a number of years you shuld be able to just go eadgbe and HEAR which one is off, then pluck the appropriate harmonics and get that sucker back in the corral.
Gibson kills me though, they can barely make a passable guitar without any finsh flaws and they want to add more complexity on top of that?
Make a bass that doestn suck, make a les paul that wont snap in halfif ti falls over. Make an SG without any orangepeel or unsanded edges. Than come back to the computer thing.

PS it would be funny to see one of these malfunction onstage though. Sure to inspire Townsend-esque destruction.

Video on how it works:
[www.youtube.com]

Apparently no, it won't tune your guitar while playing.
But this is awsome nevertheless.
Forget about the high price... everything is expensive when first released.
Wait some years and this will be readily available on standard electric guitars.
And it's great, because it shure is a pain in the ass either tunning the fucking guitar all the time you pick it up, or listening to some moron who doesn't know how to tune the guitar spend 15 minutes doing so.

Anyone who played a guitar long enough will know what I mean...

this has got to be one of the coolest guitars I've ever seen.

erm, ... let's see:
It's sure to make the base-model LP at $1300 and fairly heavy -> even heavier and more expensive, like ~$4000.

Not like a Korg DTR-1000 and a set of great tuners couldn't suffice.

If Gibson could only make Epiphones that don't explode and regular SGs that don't have cheap, loose tuners with improper string height at both ends and a warped fretboard -straight from the factory.

Even a base model Schecter at ~$400 is better assembled and set up than a sub $2000 Gibson. -I love fixed-bridge electrics that need Acoustic level action not to buzz. The only american company I can think of resting on its past laurels more is GM or maybe RCA.

This thing is like the people at Yugo trying to build the next version of the SR-71.

it seems pointless to me to put this on a fixed-brige gibson without a bigsby. you have to really wail on your strings to get the things to go out of tune in the first place. now a guitar with a bigsby or a Fender Strat, then I think it would be great.

The price is going to be $2199.99. I work at one of the stores that will be carrying ten in stock. Its going to be a pretty cool thing.

thats kinda nifty that they built it into the guitar.. good bye spending 3 min to tune your guitar.. honestly a pretty bad ass guitar (good guitar anyway.. but now has a small added feature). will be interesting to see if this idea plays out into more guitars..

That's one fugly guitar. The tuning is nice though, but I wish they would have just put it on something without a horrofying paintjob. And the knob looks cheap too. And besides that, I think it's the worst idea ever. Sure, leave it to machines to be musicians! Learn to tune goddarnit!

@calaverasgrandes:
"nothing i hate more than pulling my johnson" - really?

But what happens when these new robotic guitars become sentient and for the good of music and mankind both start executing shitty guitar players?

Oh. Right. BRING ON THE ROBOTIC GUITARS!

Yeah, but can it play Freebird?

I ordered mine today - very excited...should be here next week. Stores in town sold out the first day. By the way, i've been playing for over 10 years and can tune my own guitar. But going from a standard to open tuning in 10-15 seconds is too nice to pass up. And the fact that it will allow you to tweak your intonations without paying for guitar tech is excellent.