Guitar Revolution? The Gibson Robot Les Paul Guitar.

Well, the Robot form Gibson is not the first automatic tuning guitar, as there have been some models before it...but it's the first guitar sporting this revolutionary technology embedded in a professional-grade axe, a symbol of music and rock itself, the world-wide hailed Les Paul.


Indeed, the automatic tuning guitar system was developed by the German company Tronical and they had built some demo guitars, fully operational though, showcased at the 2007 winter NAMM and were looked at with great interest.

Well, Gibson have not wasted any time and signed an exclusive deal with Tronical allowing them to embed the German technology in some new guitar series... especially as Tronical weren't too interested in building guitars themselves. So one of the world's most revered guitar manufacturers has taken things even further, embedding breakthrough technology in guitars that really make the music world go round.

The Robot (indeed not too much of a usual name for Gibsons) is a Les Paul-type axe made to rock your guts out; the eternal no-compromise pledge of the Gibson guitars makers is no exception in the case of the Robot, as it sports anything that you might think of - from the luxury nitrocellulose finish to the chambered body, Alnico 490R and 498T hand-wound pickups, ebony fingerboard and custom, hand-made neck ensuring that no two necks that are identical. Besides all this, there is the traditional tune-o-matic bridge and... the Tronical system.

Well, shortly, what's it all about? The Gibson Robot sports and onboard special CPU that can determine the pitch of each string and can drive the motorized tuners so that the necessary pitch adjustments are made. Besides the classic control knobs on the guitar, a special push-pull-press LED-equipped knob is installed and it will let you choose from the different tunings and other functions.


The Gibson Robot will ease things up for you not only as far as tuning is concerned but will help you even as you change the strings. Just pull off the tuner, insert the string and cut the "whiskers" then push back the piece and select the desired operation from the special multi-functional knob; pluck the string and the CPU will drive the tuning post up to the needed pitch! No matter how out of tune your guitar may be, push the multi-function knob, twist it so the desired tuning mode is LED-lit, strum and see your Robot tuning up itself in no time.

One of the greatest features on the Robot is the one that helps you get the right intonation to your guitar. Basically, at the 12th fret, there should be a 1-octave difference from the open string...but due to a lot of reasons, guitars must be "calibrated" in order to sport the exact octave gap...this operation can be pretty difficult if you don't know exactly what are you doing, and with a wrong intonation, you can go astray with your playing quite easily and start sounding like crap. The Robot makes things easier than you ever thought they could be. Pull the LED-knob, rotate it in the "intonation" mode, press a string on the 12th fret and pluck. The LED will not only indicate whether things are right or wrong with your guitar but will also tell you how much you have to adjust the bridge and will let you know when you've set it right!

The Gibson Robot is scheduled for officially hit the stores on December 7 and so far, a lot of people seem more than interested in owning such an axe; anyway, the first edition is limited as the "First Run" edition, yet there's no word on how many Robots will hit the stores... Unknown is the price as well, but nobody expects a cheap Robot...first of all, Les Pauls aren't cheap guitars by themselves and with the Tronical robotic technology the price can be pretty high... Until you begin to mob in front of the Gibson stores, check out more extensive data on the Robot's website. And by all means, see these movies... making fun of the old Strat...


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