Intonation & Robots - Does Gibson think we're stupid?

[led better]

Just twist the little knob, and you have all those alternate tunings to choose from. Sounds pretty cool, right?

But unless you break out a screwdriver and adjust the bridge saddles every time you twist that knob, you're playing out of tune. Kind of defeats the whole purpose of buying a Robot guitar in the first place.

Sorry Gibson, but this really bothers me. You market a product with a fatal flaw, then try to make it sound like this flaw is actually a good thing.

Check this out:

Gibson Self Tuning Guitar: Easy Guitar Tuning With Gibson Robot Guitars, Limited Edition SG Series Guitar

"Doing it right usually means going to a professional repairman, surrendering your guitar for however long the shop's worklist is backed up, and paying a hefty charge for the time-consuming work. Doing it yourself, if you don't have the training and experience to do it right, risks throwing your guitar even further out."

Sorry Gibson, time for the truth.

Doing it "right" is no different than doing it on your Robot guitar. Same screwdriver to adjust the same bridge screws. And the ability to use the tuner you already own.

So Gibson, do you really think players are that stupid?

 

[TheWellGoodShow]

yes, and lazy.

 

[diceman]

I'm not saying this in defense - but there is a function which gives you "directions" onboard the guitar for setting intonation - I don't recall exactly how it works (the regional Rep was showing me one day when he had a Robot "on tour") - you tell it to intonate, hit the open string, then the octave, and then it tells you how many turns and which direction for the saddle screw. Granted, as soon as you change tuning again, it is messed up - but it does have an intonation feature.

 

[Extremerocker827]

I've never really been interested with the Robots.....personally, I think its a waste of money. You might as well get a Standard or something. The only major difference is the tuning things, but its still not worth it. The Dark Fire one coming up looks a little better, but still not catchin my wave. Ive heard that they havent sold good either, I always see the Robots having price drops on Guitarcenter.com, lol.

 

[led better]

I'm not saying this in defense - but there is a function which gives you "directions" onboard the guitar for setting intonation - I don't recall exactly how it works (the regional Rep was showing me one day when he had a Robot "on tour") - you tell it to intonate, hit the open string, then the octave, and then it tells you how many turns and which direction for the saddle screw. Granted, as soon as you change tuning again, it is messed up - but it does have an intonation feature.

Right. I even provided a link to the Gibson page on setting the Robot's intonation.

What bothers me is how they market this. As if setting intonation on a non-Robot guitar is so complicated that you risk screwing up your axe, if not left to the professionals - who will take their sweet time and empty your wallet in the process.

That, and the fact that they don't fully disclose (up front) what is required to change tunings on a Robot. How many of these have they sold to people who had no idea that they'd have to break out a screwdriver to re-tune it properly.

Not quite as easy as they make it sound...

"Introducing the Gibson Robot Guitar. All you have to do is play it."

 

[diceman]

Right. I even provided a link to the Gibson page on setting the Robot's intonation.

What bothers me is how they market this. As if setting intonation on a non-Robot guitar is so complicated that you risk screwing up your axe, if not left to the professionals - who will take their sweet time and empty your wallet in the process.

That, and the fact that they don't fully disclose (up front) what is required to change tunings on a Robot. How many of these have they sold to people who had no idea that they'd have to break out a screwdriver to re-tune it properly.

Not quite as easy as they make it sound...

"Introducing the Gibson Robot Guitar. All you have to do is play it."

Agreed. And, it was something that hadn't crossed my mind until you pointed it out.

 

[Splattle101]

Ummm...yeah.

I'm all out of righteous indignation. It went at the same time as all my seratonin. But I'm excited. Really.

Splat

 

[led better]

Ummm...yeah.

I'm all out of righteous indignation. It went at the same time as all my seratonin. But I'm excited. Really.

Splat

No worries, mate. Glad to hear you got the monkey off your back.

 

[Hemply]

I agree with most of you regarding the "Robot" I'm thinking Gibson didn't consider the "meat and potatoes" of their customer base.. the "real players".

If your just starting out with your guitar interests and have the money then I could see the Robot being a great item! Built in tuner, never worry about having to tune your guitar, or hook up an external tuner for the truly lazy. They give you instructions onboard how to intonate your guitar, I had been playing for years before I even knew what Intonation meant, granted I was all of 9 yrs old when I found out what it meant.

Even a novice player with a few formal lessons under their belt at least knows how to tune a guitar but think about the possible millions of people who want to buy a guitar and teach themselves. I'm sure Gibson Marketing thought of the same thing!

I would never invest my money on a Robot aint gonna happen. I would rather find something older for my money but then again I'm a player.

Hey Gibson! Don't be a Player Hater!

 

[alpinestudio]

There's some threads on this and I will say it again where I stand. I actually ordered one of these and here's my thoughts on it. It does make life easier when it is self tuned. It does amaze me how the tuners just go by themselves and automatically adjust. They tune to whatever custom tuning you give it or the preset tunings that it gives. Great when you're playing live and can tune on the fly to different tunings of different songs. As for the intonation bit, all you have to do is turn the bridge screws halfway until the intonation says its correct on the dial. It's not that hard.

For those of you that think it's terrible or its a bad idea, I really don't think it is..and for the price that I paid for it, it's less than a studio, but somehow sounds better than a studio.

The cons of this is how long will this mechanism last? It's quite fragile. I did try it out for a few days and returned it, due to a mechanism problem on one of the tuners.

Overall, the finish of the guitar was great and it had binding all around the neck and the headstock. Played and sounded better than my regular studio I had before, perhaps they may have used better wood for the retail price of these models, they very well should.

 

[cudamax2343]

Since when does alternate tunings affect intonation? and I don't think the Robot was designed for beginners that may not know how to tune an Axe.

It was designed and offered for pros. The only real problem with the Robot is the usual sting/nut binding-up problem. The self tunning system constantly fights with tunning to pitch and Gibson's inability to offer or even sell a battery charger if you loose one.

If you loose one or if after one year you want another from Gibson, your shit out of luck

 

[alexvdl]

Since when does alternate tunings affect intonation?

+1000

The string stays the same thickness and the scale length stays the same, so why should tuning affect intonation???

It's not that it's changing from light to heavy strings, so I really don't see the problem.

 

[cudamax2343]

Once intonation is set, it does not change from double dropped "D" or a standard or "E" flat tuning and I think it's kinda nice to have guitar such as the Robot to be able to Identify Intonation on it's own without a separate tuner

 

[AXE]

I take my own(non robotic)Guitars and drop the tuning on the fly all the time without stopping to re intonate.

Hell if it was off you would never hear the difference any way.

 

[BCRGreg]

Show me where you adjust the intonation on an old acoustic.

 

[HARDWEAR]

When you select or tune to an alternate tuning, you're changing the "frequency" that the string is tuned to... so theoretically you need to optimize the scale length accordingly by ADJUSTING INTONATION. I know all this is splitting hairs but for example:

Look at your saddles for the G and high E string. If you tuned your high E to G, your high E saddle would have to look like your G saddle (minor variation for string gauge) to be in perfect intonation.

On the other hand, does all this crap matter when you plug into a wall of Marshalls and crank out "Screaming for Vengeance" ??? I think NOT!

 

[996ttcab]

Am I missing something. When and how does drop tunning change the intonation? Once it us set, it should be set unless you change string height.

 

[alexvdl]

Look at your saddles for the G and high E string. If you tuned your high E to G, your high E saddle would have to look like your G saddle (minor variation for string gauge) to be in perfect intonation.

Uhm, the minor string gauge you talk about is the BIG factor!! So no, it would not look the same. The G string is much thicker than the E string so it must be set further to the back.

 

[HARDWEAR]

+1000

The string stays the same thickness and the scale length stays the same, so why should tuning affect intonation???

It's not that it's changing from light to heavy strings, so I really don't see the problem.

Ummm, dude, I'm not gonna get into a pissing match with you but the facts are the facts:

Note: If you play in an alternate tuning you will want to set the intonation in this tuning. For instance if you regularly play in a “Drop D” tuning you will want to tune the guitar to “Drop D” before you set the intonation. Have you ever been to a concert where the guitar player changed guitars during the show. This more often than not is because that guitar player plays some songs in alternate tunings. He has different guitars with the intonation set at different tunings for this. If you set a guitars intonation for standard tuning it will not be completely in tune for a “Drop D” tuning because of the reduced stress on the neck in “Drop D”.

If you only have one guitar and play in multiple tunings, tune to the tuning you use the most then intonate the guitar. The other tunings will not be perfect, but they will be close. Ultimately you should have different guitars intonated to the different tunings, but many people can not afford this, or they do not use an alternate tuning enough to justify the cost of another guitar. (GuitarGearHeads.com)

Like I said, it splitting hairs. I "drop D" sometimes, and sometimes tune my G and or B string to different tunings and don't touch the intonation...but I know it's not perfectly intonated.

 

[axepilot]

The Robot is an absolute passing fad joke, and a huge "what the hell were we thinking" on Gibson's behalf. Gibson is trying to keep pace with Fender..........and now they're attempting a Variax style guitar?

Gibson needs to put their sights back on their true target market - those that seek true, traditional guitars at true, traditional excellent quality.