RE: Check out the Robot Guitar

["L.A. Angulo" <labaloops@yahoo.com>]

Hey Bill,
I talked on the phone here in Germany with the guys at
powertune,and among other questions asked them about
the trans performance,they admit being very well aware
of it and their brilliant concept back then but they
are also aware of the inconvenience of having to do
surgery on guitarrists loved axes.So this is definetly
a big step although ive also been hearing that the
system still has a flaw with the bridge or something
but i canīt remeber exactly what that was,too early to
tell and not enough reviews...
I also asked them about this system for acoustic
guitar and they say is more complicated but they are
working on it.I could be wrong but it seems to me that
the majority of guitarrists using open tunings are
acoustic players,no?
yes,you can say that again that ugly blue color for
fuck sake! there is gibsons modern corporate cheap
taste again!
Luis



--- William Walker <billwalker@baymoon.com> wrote:

>    When I first became aware of the Transperformance
> system, it was a $2000
> upgrade to a guitar the owner had to supply, that
> also involved removing the
> fret board to install graphite support rods on
> either side of the truss rod
> to improve rigidity and also the major routing it
> took for the bridge and
> control panel to be mounted on the body. That was at
> least 8 years ago. At
> about that time I got to see Sonny Landreth and his
> band the Goners back up
> John Hiatt at a Local blues festival, and he was
> using a les Paul with the
> system. He wasn't doing anything wild like retuning
> mid song ala Manring or
> Adrian Legg. But he was using it very effectively to
> tune between songs so
> segues were much faster, and of course he was
> blazing, I got so much
> inspiration from hearing him play that day and since
> I was so close I
> finally figured out how he was doing his behind the
> slide bar fretting.
> Sonny, if you are out there and listening, I'm sorry
> but I totally nicked
> that technique from you. One negative other than the
> price of the original
> transperformance system is the tuner bridge altered
> the sound of the
> instrument due to its mass and construction and
> though you could add it to a
> strat style guitar, I believe it rendered the whammy
> bar useless. The new
> system that Gibson has licensed and I believe was
> designed in Germany puts
> the servo motors in the tuners them selves, which
> would require running
> wires up the truss rod channel, if one could get a
> system retro fitted, but
> the fact that it isn't a bridge design per se, seems
> like it wouldn't effect
> the sound of the instrument as much. The bad news is
> I believe that Gibson
> has an exclusive distribution deal, or may have
> bought the company outright
> that designed the robot tuning system, so the
> likelihood of obtaining a
> system for fender style guitars in the US is slim to
> none. I think the new
> Robot system has many creative possibilities,   and
> I was under the
> impression that it was programmable but I may be
> wrong. But the thought of
> being able to quickly change tunings, without having
> to make pithy chit chat
> while trying to get in tune, or change individual
> strings ala a b-bender,
> mid song is interesting to me. I'm just not sure I'd
> want to have to play an
> ugly blue Les Paul to get at the technology. Oh and
> the price is way out of
> my range for now. But, I look forward to seeing all
> my favorite rich rock
> stars who have Gibson endorsements making beautiful,
> precisely tuned music
> on their Gibson robot guitars:) In the hands of some
> one like Slash, oh the
> possibilities are infinite.........................
> Bill
> 
> 


www.myspace.com/luisangulocom


      
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