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Soooooo. Anybody have experience with these?

http://www.tronical.com/works/

Mike

Yes. Hideous, but for a performer who plays in multiple tunings, they make a lot of sense. My understanding is that all new Gibson come with them installed...

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Meh, I just have one guitar for each tuning

I have no experience with it but it looks like a very cool little device. I'll reserve comments for now except to say that I doubt it works as good as that

My nephew's guitar hero axe never needs to be tuned either. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Oh the horror....

I've worked on a number of G*bson's with their version of automatic tuning and I was not at all impressed.

Here's my beef. When I bought my new car recently I wanted some very specific things such as a time tested work-horse engine that out lasts most others in it's class. I also wanted other mechanics that were well understood, time tested, and reliable as I could find...

Although I got my wish it was impossible to not buy something without full blue tooth integration, digital everything, cameras, automatic this and that with multiple computers running the show.

My concern was and is the same for electronic tuners will the plastic fantastic swag last as long as the car/instrument and if not will either thing be capable of functioning without the electronics.

In the car's case I had no choice.... but for a guitar there is no way that I would ever spend big bucks for any guitar with automatic tuning at least in the form that I've worked with.

In the G*bson implimentation the thing looks very cheap IMO, chromed plastic, nylon gears and it makes an irritating noise when working that reminds me of my ex complaining to me..... Who wants to pay money for that?

OTOH for some musicians who's instruments are not destined to be keepers, play in alternate tunings frequently, and wish to lighten their gig load it might be a good solution for a while.

Personally though I just can't get past the vintage vibe that I love about guitars and these things seem very, very counter to that to me. Guess this makes me an anti-e-tune bigot...

Some of us did pay for that and I thank God those days are behind me.

Oh I don't think I'll put an auto tuner on any of my guitars.

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

I installed one on Steve Rothery's (Marillion) signature import guitar, which was a cheap piece of crap. It does work very well, and I know it's been redesigned from the old "robot" version, but there's no way I'd ever buy a guitar with them installed on it. So I guess when I do get around to buying a LP, it'll be vintage...


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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Steve's guitar was being fitted with a Vo-96 (http://www.paulvo.com/vo-96/), which really relies on a guitar with very few overtones, so it was a good candidate. The Vo-96 is pretty hideous itself, clearly inspired by the Borg aesthetic, so the tuners weren't that much of a distraction.


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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

The old blues cats used to tell stories when they tuned their guitars.

That and you can't wedge your Camel between e-tuners or they would melt.....

Amazing device,
but it takes a lot of the fun out of playing geetar!

Kids today don't smoke Camels, they vape e-cigs, so maybe e-tuners are just the ticket!


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I appreciate all of the thoughts here, but I'm looking for hands on experience. I would imagine if forums existed during the transition to electrified guitars, we would have heard similar opinions. I don't have an opinion since I've never tried one. That's why I'm asking. Hard to understand why they are ugly when you can't see them from the front (tuners excepted)

Either it works as advertised or it does not.

Also, this is not about me wanting to do something. This about a client asking for something. And I want to give him the best advice I can. I'm not going to give him an opinion. He is actually quite talented and strong in his opinions. My biases do not count.

Mike. I have fitted these to a Strat lookalike I built. They delivered in a week from Germany, and worked as promised, but there was a problem, I think they were damaged in shipping as the box was crushed. I sent an email but was not answered, because several staff were at a show in the USA. I was sent a replacement, and a battery as apology for the delay.
They have worked since then for about a year.
Since purchasing there has been an upgrade, which for $100 I could have had by returning mine.
They tune in about 15 seconds in high accuracy mode. Allow 6 custom setups so you can tune to another instrument. I like them a lot. They seem noise immune as well, and the battery lasts a long time. They say 100 tunings.
Ugly? No they are not. One thing they certainly draw attention. One strum after, two button presses, or a few more if you change tuning, and most strings tune, another few seconds to pick the last strings that did not tune perfectly (sometimes 1 or 2) and once it's happy, it switches off. I think with a bit of adjusting it could be quicker.
The sensitivity could be be set a bit low.

Thank you. Very helpful!

Curious, how does the box communicate with the tuners? They now have quite a few templates. I found one that was close to my requirements, but would have the posts inset .7". I had planned for .5". Not sure the tunning knobs will show correctly. Do they offer a choice of knobs? Any other choices? I sent them an email, but no response yet.

Mike

When you purchase, they have reminder to download the template, and check that your headstock will fit. (They assume it is going on a factory guitar. When I first saw them they only ha a few, now many more. Each tuner is a little stepper motor with sprung contacts. On the back of the headstock is a PCB, with little indents that the contacts muck match with.
I had forgotten about this and drilled holes closer spaced also a little close to the edge, so the tuner holes were not perfect. So I had to file the spacing out by 4 mm to get to the closest fit, 2 mm at each end and in a little. The washers on top cover this. Hole spacing MUST be correct to fit the computer PCB. Hence several and growing in numbers every time I look. They fit acoustic or electric, and the device must be configured for the type of guitar
Knobs, they have them in silver, black, gold and silver with a cream semi opaque colour plastic to look similar to grovers on a Gibson. This must be so Hesh can melt them. I have silver.
My son was keen on a Gibson, Darkfire or Robot about 8 years ago, but I could not afford to get him one. I discovered that Tronical make the tuners. I was considering getting parts and found there was a site.
I see they package them differently now and still offer the upgrade. I think I might go for it. They have doubled the preset tunings from 12 to 24, halved the tuning time from 5-8 seconds to 2-4. And increased the user banks from 6 to 12. Chris has also improved the hardware on the Plus version according to the blurb.

When first installed the setup seemed overwhelming, but by using clever colour coded LEDs, it gets easier. I keek a printed manual copy with the guitar. It has a string unwind and rewind mode for replacing strings fast.

Email, they do take a while, I think due to language issues, but on ordering, very fast.
I think it is a well made product. Watch some of the videos they have on their site, or Facebook. As to all the negative comments above, I think it is from having no knowledge of the product, and fear of change. It was an expensive experiment for me that worked out well.

Regards from Mike to Mike

Forgot to say, download the Tronical Plus manual to see more after check templates.
I'm considering purchasing another set for an Archtop, and upgrading my set on the mahogany Strat copy I made.

Mike, Still have not heard back from them. Not sure if the tuner shown on the templates is drawn to scale. Could you measure center of post to .7" towards peg knob? Curious if there will be enough clearance.

Hi Mike, I have only checked the Fender templates, but they are accurate. Put a ruler along the scale on each page. You may have your print settings for PDFs set to fit to page like I did. Choose the setting for 100%.
I checked .7" and that would put it deep.
The Tronical knob shaft will be covered and only just clear the headstock.
What template are using. Mine was C. The headstock of my guitar is .47" and the pcb is against the edge.

Tronical centre of post to end of knob 1.17". To the end of the body (exit of rotating knob to body join) 0.6"

Hope this helps

Mike

Type R is the best fit. But it adds almost 2/10" more depth from edge. Maybe you already provided it... but center of post to beginning of knob. That might be a better way of putting it. I will check the numbers you provided with the template drawing in the mean time. Too bad these guys don't provide a "rebuild" kit that extends the knobs out a bit. The Type R will fit nicely on my peghead. Just not sure the knobs till be free and clear. I still have not heard back from them.

I honestly do not understand their business model. Two questions sent to them over 8 days. No response. Is their product that good?

Sorry about the delay. Here's a pic
I printed R, in acrobat and set print size to Actual, checked and the 4" they show is 4.00*" .
The measurement you wanted, centre to beginning of knob is 0.6" .

Thanks Mike. The interesting thing I finally noticed was that with careful alignment on my peghead, the template just about fills the space. Therefore, there should be no issue. Btw, what is the template made of? Just a painted PCB? For some reason, I had it in my head it was metal at the base

Hey Mike been doing some research here in my down time and just found out that I have worked with these tuners prior - a couple of times and they are what Gibson used only the Gibson ones are chromed, genuine, imitation tone plastic...

We were not impressed and they have a junky feel to them and if Waverly is the standard these are the anti-Waverly tuners...

Specifics - the tuning post looks like it won't hold up well in our world, acoustic 12's and 13's and it is easily possible to grab and use these in a manner that will break them.

They may be fine for electrics with lighter strings for a while but i honesty found them to be rather junky...

I know that they say you can use them on acoustics but I wouldn't.

There are other conceptual issues in my view as well such as the weight again where in the electric world not so much but in the high- end acoustic world the weight is an issue in my view.

Additionally 100 tuning sessions per charge and these things seem to suck the battery pack and that is why they come or can come with an additional pack.

Not my cup of tea, I thought them to be junky, heavy, cheap looking and feeling, expensive, questionable stringing design, and likely a down grade in my view for luthier built, high-end acoustic guitars.

I do see a place for them in gibson's world...