Quake 3 and 4

[thomaslivingston]

a) wtf is a robot guitar?

It's Gibson's latest guitar that tunes itself. Very clever but in the end it's just gimmicky. I've always been more of a Fender man myself.

[kineticturtle]

It's Gibson's latest guitar that tunes itself.

That is quite possibly the dumbest idea I have ever heard, and I worked at a high-end guitar shop for a couple years; I saw guitar makers do a hell of a lot of dumb things to make a buck.

JC, get a real guitar, mmmkay? With that kind of money, you can get a serious guitar that could last you a lifetime of professional guitar playing, that you'll love until you die (whether or not you even ever really study guitar), and pass on to your kids.

edit: Okay seriously, I looked this guitar up on Gibson's own website, and I must press to you again, don't get this guitar. I mean, it's a nice guitar; it's a chambered Les Paul, and by the sound of it it's on the upper level of Gibson's guitar building, but you'll regret it later. Here's my own pros and cons list about buying this instrument over a normal Gibson Les Paul, just for you:

Cons:
â?¢ It has to be charged for 90 minutes whenever the battery runs low. Now sure, the battery lasts 200 "tunings" (whatever that entails), but what happens if the battery gets low right before a gig? What happens if you take the guitar on the road?
â?¢ Most importantly, what happens when the battery eventually dies, as all rechargeable batteries do? Gibson has a much worse record of customer service than (for example) Apple, and we know what kind of woes came out of their "iPod Battery Replacement Service", but Apple actually has experience dealing with this kind of crap, Gibson doesn't.
â?¢ If anything breaks you'll have to deal with Gibson to get a replacement. Not only that, but you'll probably have to send the guitar back to them for installation of replacement parts. This applies to the light-up push-pull pot (which have a history of breaking), the custom bridge and tailpiece (with sensitive sensors), the tuners (with servo motors that can burn out), and the PCB on the back of the headstock (which could fry). Also, the neck has wiring running through it, which is just asking for trouble. With a normal guitar, you can get all the parts they use standard at any guitar store, and they'll be the same quality as they were originally. With this guitar, you'll have to pay through the nose for custom parts, and eventually they won't be available at all anymore.
â?¢ It's more expensive than a normal Les Paul of equivalent playability.
â?¢ It will make you a worse musician; you'll forget how to tune a guitar yourself.
â?¢ I also imagine it will be more difficult to do custom retunings on the fly (although easier to return where you were from there); I know you can program new tunings, but what if you want to just reach up and twist the knobs?

Pro:
â?¢ Nice paint job that you can only get on this guitar.

Other than that, it's just a nice Les Paul.

[Darkwrath]

ok... well as for semi hollw and solid, I hate hollow guitars. No particular reason why, i jsut hate them.

[kineticturtle]

Well just so you know, Gibson's Robot Guitar is a chambered Les Paul, i.e. a semi-hollow guitar without actual f holes.
I worked at a guitar shop for a couple years, so I'm pretty well versed in guitars. If you want me to talk you through some options of things you could consider, I'd be glad to. You can IM me at the obvious name on AIM, GTalk, Yahoo!, MSN, LJChat...

[thomaslivingston]

Good advice KT.
Gibson could give that guitar all the battery life in the world and the worlds best customer service but it could never be as cool as my telecaster. Why? Because it's got fucking Al Pacino on the scratch plate.

[kineticturtle]

Nice, who made that pickguard for you?

You should get a bullet shaped replacement for your missing tone knob there, to match.

[thomaslivingston]

Nice, who made that pickguard for you?

You should get a bullet shaped replacement for your missing tone knob there, to match.

I was off school for work experience for a week in a factory where they engrave metal with acids.

A bullet shaped tone knob eh? I'll see what I can do.

[kineticturtle]

So uh, -JC-... what did you get?

[RyokoTK]

Cancer, hopefully.

[$lave]

$2000 for your first guitar??! Seriously, I haven't been playing too long, 3 and a half years, but my first guitar was a $120 or something like that Epiphone, which really sucks ass. Even now, I have a pretty nice classical (~$800), and a $500 electric, it's a Fender Stratocaster, and it's pretty good for what I do, I' just write some pretty simple stuff, as well as learn some songs I listen to (I'm still learning how to solo though, I'm not great, I can only do really basic tapping at the moment, and I don't have that much control bending), but it go's out of tune real fast and I'm not sure how it would sound live...

Really though, don't get a guitar because it looks nice, play around on some and find the sound you like, although your tastes may change over time, and what you like to play isn't necessarily the exact same as what you like to listen to.

I guess this topics real old, and christmas is past but.. if you didn't get the guitar yet and still could talk your parents into helping you pay for it.. $2000 could get a real nice guitar AND a nice amp.

[Packard20]

Dude Quake NEW is like 14 bucks, less used for xbox 360 (I think 9.99), you'll be wasting like a week of allowance in your world. *But thats a drive-way of snow in my world kuz I don't get a allowance.*

[thomaslivingston]

I'm still learning how to solo though, I'm not great, I can only do really basic tapping at the moment

You should see about learning all your scales first. I'm not a big fan of double handed tapping myself, I think it's a bit of a boring sound. I go for crazy Johnny Grennwood style solos (on the rare occasions that I do a solo).

but it go's out of tune real fast and I'm not sure how it would sound live...

Yeah Stratocasters are pretty bad for that because of the whammy. Just don't use the whammy too much and it should be fine. I prefer Telecasters because they have no whammy and I personally think that they've got a much nicer sound.

[$lave]

Ya, I'm learning scales pretty much at the same time as solo's though, although, since solo's are basically just messing around on a scale, it's kind of like learning a scale, and learning what to do on a scale. For classical I have to learn a bunch of scales though, including harmonic, minor, major, etc.

Also, I personally just really like the whammy bar, especially after hearing Sheep by Pink Floyd about a million times, David Gilmoure's use of the whammy bar in that song is AMAZING, imo.

[Dakota Bob]

$2000 for your first guitar??? Damn, my guitar cost â?¬150 and thats INCLUDING the amp!

[thomaslivingston]

Hmmm, $2000... That'll probably be just a bit over £1000. And you can get a good guitar here for anywhere around £500. Standard Telecasters are generally just about £300 these days.

[kineticturtle]

I've been playing a mexican telecaster for years; I've made some modifications (replaced the neck pickup with a humbucker, replaced the jackplate with an electrosocket, added straplocks, had it readjusted for a custom string gauge) so all in all it's probably cost me what, $500? I've been playing shows on the thing in multiple styles, used it in recordings repeatedly. $2000 for a brand new guitar when you don't even play isn't just silly, it's practically criminal. Nobody needs that guitar, especially not a beginner.

[Mordekai]

I've been playing a mexican telecaster for years; I've made some modifications (replaced the neck pickup with a humbucker, replaced the jackplate with an electrosocket, added straplocks, had it readjusted for a custom string gauge) so all in all it's probably cost me what, $500? I've been playing shows on the thing in multiple styles, used it in recordings repeatedly. $2000 for a brand new guitar when you don't even play isn't just silly, it's practically criminal. Nobody needs that guitar, especially not a beginner.

Pretty much. That money could be so much better used to get a guitar, a very nice amp, and pedals, etc. To spend that much money on a guitar, like KT said, is practically criminal.

[thomaslivingston]

I've been playing a mexican telecaster for years; I've made some modifications (replaced the neck pickup with a humbucker)

I like the original Telecaster pickups myself. What I'd like is a set of humbuckers that can be single-coils as well by turning one side off. Know what I mean?

[kineticturtle]

Yep, it's' called a "coil tap". Most pickups can be wired up this way, but some are designed with one side of the humbucker hotter to make it work even better. Lindy Fralin makes a good one, for example.

[CryoS]

holy crap...

[obbieGL]

good game.