Gibson Robot Guitar

The Gibson Robot Guitar is a sub-model of the famous Les Paul and SG style guitar from Gibson. Currently, there are 2 different models available: The Robot Les Paul Studio, and Robot SG, as well as the first production limited edition model. Developed by Chris Adams, its most notable feature is that it uses an onboard computer to automatically tune itself without the need for an electronic tuner. This is not the first guitar to be able to tune itself, but it is regarded as the most modern, unique, and un-invasive self-tuning model available, because it does not employ cams or cantilevers throughout the body of the guitar.The non-limited edition SG and LP Studio are available in metallic purple, metallic green and metallic red. The price can range from about $1,000-$3,000 or more for custom options.

The tuning system used on the Gibson Robot Guitar is based on the aftermarket Powertune system, which was developed by the Tronical Company of Germany. The Gibson system uses the standard Tune-o-matic style bridge typical on their guitars, but modifications were made to have individual piezo saddles that transmit each string's pitch to the microprocessor. The computer analyzes the signal, and then controls each of the Powerhead Locking Tuners. Each tuner is run by a small servo motor that works in sync with the bridge to bring the string up to pitch by altering the strings tension until it is within a desired tolerance. The entire system is powered by a lithium-ion rechargeable battery housed in the control cavity of the guitar.

The Robot Guitar has the standard four knobs for individual pickup volume and tone controls; however, in place of the bridge pickup tone knob, there is the Master Control Knob (MCK). The control functions like a “push-pull” knob: when in the down position, it functions like a standard control. When in the up position, however, the MCK is what coordinates the automatic tuning for the guitar

TUNING

Users can choose from seven factory presets for tunings, six of which are editable:

• D-A-D-G-A-D
• Open E
• Open G
• Dropped D
• Double Dropped D (Drop C)
• Eb

Each tuning can be returned to "standard" tuning of A (440Hz) by simply pulling up on the MCK knob, and strumming the strings lightly.

Out of the box, the guitar is calibrated to use a .10 gauge set of strings, and will tune up within a tolerance of one cent The calibration can be changed to heavier or lighter strings, and the tolerance can be changed as well. The greater tolerance the user is willing bear, the faster the Robot Guitar will tune itself. On the fastest setting, Gibson claims that the guitar will tune up in about 15 seconds with a tolerance of 2.5 cents.

The onboard computer allows for each of the preset tunings to be overridden by user inputs, but the factory presets can be restored by resetting the computer.According to company press releases, the system allows for 200 tunings before the battery has to be recharged. This is accomplished with a standard ¼” patch cable connected into a provided AC adaptor, and takes about 90 minutes for a full charge.It is important to note that the system is able to be disabled and tuned just like a regular guitar. To do this, it requires the user to disengage the tuning button, making the adjustment manually, and re-engaging the system once the adjustment is complete.

Source : Wikipedia

You can meet the Inventor of the Robot Guitar's Self-Tuning System in Gibson web HERE and download the manual of Gibson Robot Guitar HERE

Joe Satriani Ibanez Guitar Series

The Magician's power is transformation through the use of will and sheer talent. This is a dangerous gift and the high-wire acts he performs often seem like dark magic. With its clean, body-fitting design, the Joe Satriani Signature JS a deceptively simple yet potent divining rod, able to raise impossible flurries of notes and melodies from the fertile pastures of your rock guitar dreams.

• New Premium Silver finish adorns the JS1600.
  
• Multi-radius Prestige neck (JS1000/JS1200) is an
  
• exact digital rendering of the neck on Joe’s favorite axe.
  
• High pass filter on JS1000 and JS1200 volume pots maintains highs at low volumes.
  
• Combination of 25 1/2” inch neck scale and DiMarzio or Ibanez Axis pickups provides wide dynamic range and versatility.
  
• New JS20TH celebrates 20th anniversary of "Surfing With the Alien" CD and 20 years with Ibanez, features special 3D Silver Surfer graphic inlay, JS Prestige neck,DiMarzio® PAF Pro® and Fred® pickups.
  
• JS20S features Surfer graphic (decal), IBZ pickups and Edge III bridge.
  

Source : Ibanez.com

Neck Joint - Set In Neck

Set-in neck is a method of guitar (or similar stringed instrument) construction that involves joining guitar neck and body, pressing it tightly together using some sort of adhesive. It is a common belief that this yields a stronger body to neck connection than a bolt-on neck, although most luthiers agree that a well-executed bolt-on neck joint is equally as strong, and will have similar levels of sustain and neck to body contact. However, neither of these joints are as strong as a neck-thru body joint, which is a labor and material intensive undertaking and is usually only seen on high end offerings.

This method is most popular on acoustic guitars. Almost all major acoustic guitar manufacturers use set-in necks, with only notable exception being Taylor Guitars. In the electric guitar market, Gibson traditionally produces almost all of it's electric offerings as set-in neck models, as opposed to rival Fender, which traditionally builds it's electric instruments (most notably, the Stratocaster, Telecaster and various Electric Basses) with bolt-on necks.

Wooden musical instrument construction relies on four widely used types of glues:

• Hide glue
  
• PVA (both "white glue" and "yellow glue")
• Epoxy and Cyanoacrylate are sometimes also used for neck joints, but generally such use is rare. Structure of these glues makes it difficult to disassemble joint later if repair or servicing is required

Typically cited advantages of set-in neck include:

• Warmer tone
• More sustain, although this is not supported by formal research
• Usually better access to top frets in comparsion to bolt-on necks utilizing a metal plate (as seen on Fender guitars)

Disadvantages

• Slightly harder to mass manufacture than bolt-on necks, much harder to repair / service than a bolt-on neck
• The player has no control over the neck-to-body angle; changing it requires disassembling the instrument and re-glueing the neck by an experienced luthier

source : Wikipedia

Neck Joint - Neck Through

Neck-through or neck-thru (or in full form neck through body) is a method of electric guitar or bass guitar construction that involves extending the piece (or pieces, in a laminate construction) of wood used for the neck through the entire length of the body, essentially making it the core of the body. The strings, fretboard, pickups and bridge are all mounted on this piece. So-called "ears" or "wings" (i.e. side parts of the body) are glued or laminated to the central "stick". The "wings" may be bookmatched in order to give a symmetrical appearance, and are often cut from one piece of wood.

Neck-through construction is significantly harder to mass-produce than bolt-on or set-in neck constructions and is primarily found on high-end guitars. It is somewhat more common in basses than in guitars. Neck-thru construction allows easier access to upper frets, because there is no need for a heel — the thickened area where a neck would "bolt-on" (although technically, 3-4 large screws are used) to the body. Many musicians assert that neck-through construction provides greater sustain and stay in tune longer. There is little formal research on this topic, but what exists does not support this assertion.

Repairs to the neck are usually expensive and tedious. In many cases, it is usually easier to remove the old neck completely, either by taking the wings off and putting an entirely new core in, or by converting the guitar to a bolt-on or set neck by creating a heel and affixing the new neck to the core already in place, rather than to try and repair the neck itself. However, thanks to excellent stability and reaction to string tension and pressure, neck through guitars are often much more sturdy than many other guitars on the market.

source : Wikipedia

Neck Joint - Bolt On Neck

This neck joint usually found in common electric guitar. This method is used frequently on solid body electric guitar and on acoustic flattop guitars. In the typical electric guitar bolt-on neck joint, the body and neck cross in horizontal plane, the neck is inserted in a pre-routed "pocket" in the body, and they are joined using 4 (rarely 6) screws. As screw heads damage the wood and could put extra stress on it, typically a rectangular metal plate or a pair of metal plates are used to secure the joint and re-distribute the screw pressure evenly.


Such a plate is usually criticized for making playing on top frets uncomfortable, so, manufacturers sometimes employ some kind of more intricate method to hide a metal plate, smooth the angles and make access to top frets easier. However, a visible metal plate is usually considered as a part of "vintage" style and they are a popular place to emboss manufacturer's logos, stamp out serial numbers and put other artwork. Fender is the manufacture that used this neck joint in nearly all of the product. While Taylor used this joint for their acoustic guitar

Typically cited advantages of bolt-on neck include:

• Easier and cheaper to mass production and repair if damaged. Necks that allow Fender "standard" 4-screw joint are frequently interchangeable provided they are intended for the same style of guitar (e.g. Stratocaster or Telecaster): for example, one can order custom neck (with personal profile or radius) and change one by just removing one neck and attaching the other. A Stratocaster neck can also be fitted to a Telecaster body, although the reverse is untrue unless some minor modifications are made. Less traditional versions exist, such as 3-screw plate (with easier micro-tilt adjustment) or even 6-screw plate bolt-on joint, but they may differ widely in the shapes, sizes and position of screws. Which one is better is debatable, but budget guitar manufacturers often choose 3-screw joints for its minimal cost, notwithstanding the quality.
• Easy to control: sometimes bolt-on neck includes some sort of adjustment screw that can control neck-to-body angle.
• More resonance due to wood-to-wood contact in high quality bolt-ons, no glue allows better coupling.
• More attack and "snap", slightly brighter tone, but this advantage is frequently debated

And the disadvantages of bolt-on neck include:

• For solid body electric guitars, harder access to top frets, especially if screw plate is used and visible. Slick heel with hidden plate (such as depicted one) makes playing the top frets more comfortable and special neck joint techniques, such as the Ibanez AANJ, MusicMan Silhouette and Stephen's Extended Cutaway mitigate this problem.
• Less sustain, due to the bridge and nut being on two different pieces of wood, but this disadvantage is subjective, frequently debated, and not supported by formal research.
• Bolt-on necks are less structurally sound than neck-thrus, making them easier to break (also easier to fix), and more susceptible to going out of tune.
• Sloppy construction or assembly of a bolt-on guitar exacerbates any of its inherent disadvantages

Luthiers and guitar players cite both advantages and disadvantages of bolt-on neck construction. Note that most of these views are highly subjective and relative. It is not easy to measure most of the claims objectively or even compare objective factors, as guitars differ considerably.

Source : Wikipedia

Setting Up Your Electric Guitar part 2

Setting The Action/String Height

Setting the action mean arrange the distance between string and wood surface of neck fret board. We can change the distance by change the height of bridge. The lower distance will make easy to play. But too much low cause fret buzz/buzzing. Every guitar has its own way to setting the action depend on the guitar model.

String height is measured at the 12th fret. Use your steel ruler and measure on the top and bottom string

Use your steel ruler, measure the action on the top and bottom strings. Adjust the bottom string (low E) to 2.00mm and the top string (high E) to 1.5mm by raising or lowering the saddle. Set the middle strings by gradually increasing the height from treble to bass side.

Setting Up Your Electric Guitar - part 1

Your guitar is made of wood. Woods is affected by temperature and humidity and it’s make a difference to your guitar sound. So it’s need to adjust to get the maximum playing condition.

The following is about how to setting up your guitar. The first is Truss Rod Setting. What is Truss Rod? Truss Rod is a long metal at the center of the neck that adjustable depend on the neck condition.

This truss rod maintain the neck at a straight condition, not concave or convex.

If the neck is concave, tighten the truss rod. If the neck is convex, loosen the truss rod. Use the L wrench to tighten or loosen the truss rod.

Sound simple, isn't it? But it can damage your gear if you did it carelessly. Some important tips, never force the adjustment if it feels tight, make adjustment in a very small degrees. The last if you're not sure about this, bring your guitar to the expert.

1st Touch of Electric Guitar

Electric guitar uses pickups to convert the vibration of steel-cored strings into electrical current, which is then amplified. The signal that comes from the guitar is often electrically altered to achieve various tonal effects prior to being fed into an amplifier, which produces the final sound which can be either an electrical sound or an acoustic sound. Devices commonly used by guitarists are meant to add distortion, wah, equalization, tremolo, and phase shift, amongst others, in some cases radically changing the sound that is emitted from the amplifier.

Despite its traditional association with rock music, the electric guitar has long been used in many popular styles of music, including almost all genres of rock and roll, country music, jazz, blues, ambient (or "new-age"), and even contemporary classical music. The instrument's distinctive sound and intimate connection with many legendary internationally-famous musicians has made it the signature instrument of late twentieth-century music. Specialized steel guitars are also in use, although they are to be considered a different instrument.

Some of the earliest electric guitars, essentially adapted hollow bodied acoustic instruments, used tungsten pickups and were manufactured beginning in 1931 by Electro String Instrument Corporation in Los Angeles under the direction of Adolph Rickenbacker and George Beauchamp. Their first design of a hollow body guitar instrument that used tungsten pickups was built by Harry Watson, a craftsman who worked for the Electro String Company. This new guitar which the company called "Rickenbackers" would be the first of its kind.

The earliest documented use of the electric guitar in performance was during October 1932 in Wichita, Kansas by guitarist and bandleader Gage Brewer who had obtained two instruments directly from George Beauchamp of Los Angeles, California. Brewer publicized them in an article appearing in the Wichita Beacon, October 2, 1932 and through a Halloween performance later that month.

The first recording of an electric guitar was by jazz guitarist George Barnes who recorded two songs in Chicago on March 1st, 1938: Sweetheart Land and It's a Low-Down Dirty Shame. Many historians incorrectly attribute the first recording to Eddie Durham, but his recording with the Kansas City Five was not until 15 days later. Durham introduced the instrument to a young Charlie Christian, who made the instrument famous in his brief life and is generally known as the first electric guitarist and a major influence on jazz guitarists for decades thereafter.

The version of the instrument that is best known today is the solid body electric guitar, a guitar made of solid wood, without resonating airspaces within it. Rickenbacher, later spelled Rickenbacker, did, however, offer a cast aluminum electric guitar, nicknamed The Frying Pan or The Pancake Guitar, beginning in 1931. This guitar is reported to have sounded quite modern and aggressive when tested by vintage guitar researcher John Teagle. The company Audiovox built and may have offered an electric solid-body as early as the mid-1930s.

Sketch of Rickenbacker "frying pan" lap steel guitar from 1934 patent application.

Another early solid body electric guitar was designed and built by musician and inventor Les Paul in the early 1940s, working after hours in the Epiphone Guitar factory. His log guitar (so called because it consisted of a simple 4x4 wood post with a neck attached to it and homemade pickups and hardware, with two detachable Swedish hollow body halves attached to the sides for appearance only) was patented and is often considered to be the first of its kind, although it shares nothing in design or hardware with the solid body "Les Paul" model sold by Gibson.