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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:09 am 
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Walnut
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Looks like a self tuning system has been made! Tropical power tune is the inventor and Gibson will be releasing 4000 guitars with this system in 4 days. Here is a link to powertunes site, and also an article about the system. I think its pretty dang cool. I know my new martin came with a built in tuner, and you can even get that on some $500 guitars now. This self tuning system is going to be $600. Will this find its way into acoustics? More stuff inside the box I guess. Certainly if it works how is says it does (tunes to any tuning in 2 seconds) I would put one on any guitar I had to play live.


 


http://www.tronical.com/home


 


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071203/ap_on_hi_te/self_tuning_ guitar



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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:22 am 
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Old Growth Brazilian
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First our cars, now our guitars I might as well throw my peterson and tuner wrench out with the trash


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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:26 am 
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Old Growth Brazilian Rosewood
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Oh the horror.....................

I watched a snail.......crawl on the edge of a razor blade.........



Cool - that well sell well I am sure......



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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:35 am 
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Old Growth Brazilian
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In all reality.... This too will pass. The Convenience may sound nice but my guess is the players ears will end up over-riding the convenience factor prey quick.


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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:46 am 
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Old Growth Brazilian Rosewood
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I think that playing in tune is highly over rated anyway.......


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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:46 am 
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Guitarmaker did a write-up of the TransPerformance system earlier this year. This appears to be a similar system. In the review they said they made 6 prototypes over a number of years for acoustic guitars but each one hurt the tone so they stopped trying.

IIRC, the TransPerformance system has most everything at the bridge, while this one looks like it's spread out all over the guitar with the little motors on the peghead. I would think that if designed properly the only thing that could significantly hamper tone on an acoustic guitar would be piezo pickups at the saddle and the extra weight at the peghead. The rest of the guts could be anchored to the sides.

Still, I would think $900 to get around learning how to tune a guitar a pretty hard sell.


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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:49 am 
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Koa
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Yeah we had a post on that a couple of weeks ago. This will fade away like that other auto tunning system. I cant even remember their name. Just another gimmick.

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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:49 am 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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Man, I just can't wait until all Gibsons come with that. All that extra mass on
the headstock.......

I better make four or five duplicates of my headstock regluing jig. If I can
build capacity to reglue a dozen headstocks a day I'm going to be rich.

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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:54 am 
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Koa
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Now if they could build a self playing guitar i won't even have to practice to be good. They are starting to make everything idiot proof today so no one even has to put in the time to become good at something. You just push a button and it does it for you. Kinda like microwave cooking.

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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:03 am 
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Walnut
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haha true true. they say they are looking to target people who are beginners and don’t know how to tune (how many beginners drop 3 grand on there first electric) and people playing live. I play live a lot and hate having to tune up every so often. It equals 10+ seconds of stall time and you know what they say


It only takes


(oneonethousandtwonethousandthreeonethousandfouronethousandf iveonethousandsixonethousand)


seven seconds of silence for a situation to become awkward


If this does take off (not that I think It will) im sure its only a matter of time until they have things smaller and more accurate, isn’t that what we have seen so much of in technology over the last 20 years.


They const to benefit factor is not great enough for me to thinking about getting one anytime soon.


 



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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:10 am 
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Old Growth Brazilian
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Can you imagine standing on stage...purposely de-tuning to an alternate tuning and this thing constantly correcting you..........Hey!!!!!!!!!! I have a plot for a new comedy routine


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:28 am 
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Koa
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Tuning should be the first thing a new player learns. Don't get me wrong my tunning method is no where near the precision of a strobe tunner but i'm close enough to get me by.

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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:31 am 
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Old Growth Brazilian Rosewood
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Man Jimi Hendrix would role over in his purple grave if he saw this thing.

Next they will offer a guitar that when you squirt lighter fluid on it and set it ablaze the guitar will automatically deploy CO2 and put itself out.........



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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:44 am 
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Hmm... Something else to muddle up a world full of unskilled idiots.


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:37 am 
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Koa
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Well this should definitely divide thew players from non-players...I wonder who will be stupid enough to endorse this for Gibson?


"yea...I play great but I can't tune my own guitar"? I agree the feature of changing  to different tunings quickly is nice but I think it's quicker to just change guitars...and more fun. What in the world was Gibson thinking?...or not...


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:41 am 
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Koa
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[QUOTE=David Collins]Man, I just can't wait until all Gibsons come with that. All that extra mass on
the headstock.......

I better make four or five duplicates of my headstock regluing jig. If I can
build capacity to reglue a dozen headstocks a day I'm going to be rich.[/QUOTE]


David,


Speaking of headstock re-gluing jigs...do you have any pics you would be willing to share...I am in need of one and about to start to build one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


THANKS!


Dave


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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:23 am 
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This product was all over the papers today.  Even rated an article in Investor's Business Daily.

Looks like the capabilities of the product are pretty versatile. It comes standard with about 6 variations of tunings, and apparently has a built in mic that can remember others that are specific to the player.  Doesn't sound like it is aimed at the beginner, to me.  How many beginners use multiple tunings?  I can make a C chord!


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:36 am 
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Koa
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Note the incorrect claim that it's the world's first self-tuning guitar.   Let's see...both Jimmy Page and Graham Nash have had Les Pauls with the TransPerformance system in them for years and years, and Steve Klein was building guitars with the TP system at least 15 years ago.   Well, RCA claimed to have invented the electronic television, too, never mind Philo T. Farnsworth...


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:57 am 
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Eli Whitney got credit for the Cotton Gin too.  He was definitely not the first.  However, he was the first to really be recognized, and make it formal.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:29 am 
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Koa
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On a Gibson Les Paul who would notice an additional 10 lbs?  I had a LP. Got rid of it, gave me a pain in the back playing it.
Seems to me their are nuances in tuning, that only an experienced player can detect.  They won't like the tuning done for them, IMHO.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:33 am 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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[QUOTE=Dave-SKG]

[QUOTE=David Collins]Man, I just can't wait until all
Gibsons come with that. All that extra mass on the headstock....... I better
make four or five duplicates of my headstock regluing jig. If I can build
capacity to reglue a dozen headstocks a day I'm going to be rich.[/QUOTE] [/
P]

David,


Speaking of headstock re-gluing jigs...do you have any pics you would be
willing to share...I am in need of one and about to start to build one. Any
help would be greatly appreciated.


THANKS!


Dave

[/QUOTE]

Sure, I'll try to find some pics and put up a separate post later tonight.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:40 am 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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Actually Dave, never mind. There's a few picks in the archives. I can't post
the link with my browser in this software, but here it is.

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?
TID=12587&KW=headstock+reglue#forumTop

Let me know if you need any other pics or details and I'll email them to you.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:42 am 
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Koa
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Actually, I think this is kind of cool. If it works and makes life easier, it will stick around and drop in price. If it doesn't work or make life easier, it won't. If I were a musician in a working band, I might find this pretty useful. In a recent post someone said that they saw CSN&Y awhile back and that they changed guitars constantly. What was probably happening was the roadies were back stage tuning them up.

It looks like you can tailor the tuning to a particular guitar. I like my B string to be a little flat, for example. D and G chords sound better that way. You can make a preset with just those changes.

They claim that it is accurate to within .2 cents. That's better than most people can hear and far better than most people care.

I would worry about the weight at the tuning head. I think that that might be the reason that Gibson bit on this technology. What's an extra pound or so on a Les Paul, anyway.

It's a funny image having the guitar trying to tune while you are playing, but, of course, it doesn't tune unless you tell it to.

As for being first, of courses they aren't. But everybody who comes out with an improved or different system claims to be first. The older systems didn't work well and so they don't count.

BTW. No way would I fork over $900 for this system on my guitars.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:47 pm 
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Cocobolo
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I'm going in the "it's cool" camp. Whether there is enough of a market niche to get over the hump and keep it in production long enough to improve the technology and drive the costs down is a question...but it's cool.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:26 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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There have been several robot tuners (automatic) on ebay lately. I assume this is some of the same technology. Those on ebay are pretty cheap. Why not just buy 6 of them and duck tape them on the headstock?

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