Justin Silver
December 21, 2007

Rating: 8/10

Hope you find this review useful. I was fascinated by the product and Gibson\'s launch. After Gibson\'s teaser and cloak and dagger campaign I even contacted Chris Adams, the Tronical system\'s inventor with a few questions, and he was nice enough to email me direct. I managed to get in to the UK press launch and try the guitar first-hand. I was so impressed that I decided to buy one and I\'ve been playing and recording with it for the last couple of weeks. Here\'s my personal take on the guitar.

First let\'s take an overview. The guitar itself is a very nice instrument. The body is closest to a Les Paul Studio, the neck is a cross between a Les Paul Standard and a Les Paul Custom and the headstock is more like a Standard, with the binding. The guitar plays beautifully and sounds fantastic to my ears with all the tone and smoothness and biting power that one associates with Gibson\'s Les Paul. The automatic tuning system works very well and does exactly what it promises to do. I like the unusual finish personally. Also the guitar is very light. Les Paul\'s vary a lot in weight, and this is one of the lighter ones. More about that later.

In terms of what you get for your hard earned money, there\'s a very long list of features on this new model by Gibson. Solid mahogany back with carved out chambers. Computer Numeric Controlled router with maple top cap . Four control knobs (2 x tone and 2 x volume) one of which doubles as a Master Conrol Knob with LED display. Built in Tronical automatic tuning system, with 6 x presets and automatic intonation checking. Basically you can push a button and the guitar will tune itself in seconds to standard 440 tuning or open A, G, drop D, E, Bflat. You can also programme your own tunings or tune one string to any other source and match that across the other strings. If you want to have manual tuning like any normal guitar, you just pull-out the locking tuner and tune as normal. Same goes if you need to tune to an out of tune instrument, though you then have the option of matching that manually tuned string across the other strings.
Built-in lithium rechargeable battery.
Data transmitting tail-piece and tune control bridge. Robotic powerhead tuners with push/pull locks and auto wind and callibration functions.
Neck CPU. Traditional 50\'s (1958/1959)neck profile. 22 Fret ebony fingerboard with 12-inch radius. Medium/jumbo frets with knickle and silver alloy fret wire. Hand wound Gibson 490R Alnico2 and 498T Alnico5 humbucker pickups.
Standard Les Paul style pickup configeration with 3-way selector switch. Guitar is made in USA.
Year of manufacture 2007
Comes with a certificate of authenticity, charger and a silver tolex Gibson hard shell case, with a combination lock and a stamped note on the top saying this is a limited edition 1st run guitar.

Sound along with playability was probably the most important factor for me. I do like the novelty and technology but 1st and foremost I wanted a guitar that was great in its own right. One that I could use for the foreseeable future and that was versatile. I normally play Fender Strats. Although I have used a Gibson L6-S and I have a Gibson LP junior and Flying V style guitars too. I play a variety of styles, mostly Rock, Soul, Blues, Folk and Pop. So far with the Gibson Robot I\'m incredibly impressed. This is my first proper US Les Paul and it\'s all I hoped it would be.
I\'ve tried it through amps (Fender Twin Reverb Valve, and a Berringer Digital) and it sounds amazing. Not tried it through a Marshall stack yet...can\'t wait to! I also play it DI and use a variety of VST FX, mostly guitar rig/amplitude.
It sounds awesome. I can\'t praise it highly enough. No buzz...no noise, pure tone, warm bright or mellow as needed. Amazing sustain, and a really rich sound. This guitar really does deliver the full range of a Les Paul\'s tonal abilities. I have zero complaints at all. Oh and being able to quickly switch to alternative tunings effects the tone too. So I can drop to a Hendrix B-flat tuning in seconds, and all those tunings have their own tonal and sound characteristics. I never though I\'d say this, but this might just have overtaken the Strat as my favourite guitar. Especially for anything more bluesy and rocky.

The self tuning technology really does work. But, there are a few factors to bear in mind. When you change a string it has to be calibrated and whilst the changing part is very quick, it takes a while longer to calibrate so that the correct tension is reached. Also, you can set how precise you want the auto tuning. It comes set up a 0.2% but that takes slightly longer to tune each time than say 0.4% and the manual advises 0.4% for playing live. And the system sort of learns. Because once it\'s in tune it then remembers how far each tuner has to turn to return to that position. So, fine tuning is much quicker.

In practice when recording it might take say 15 to 20 seconds to tune up initially. But, then only say 3 to 5 seconds between takes to correct itself.

The action, fit and finish on this instrument are perfect in every respect. I\'ve been searching for a single flaw and can\'t find one.
The pickups are perfectly placed and adjusted.
Book-matched top and properly routed bridge.
How they managed to get the electronics so right when they\'re so sophisticated is beyond me.
Everything is as it should be and the action is just amazing!

Testament to the build quality and feeling of reliability is that I would use this guitar on a gig without backup. Everything seems really durable and reliable. That said, it is brand new and so time will tell. The finish is great though and I think it should hopefully become an heirloom.

As mentioned, before buying this expensive new guitar I did a lot of research into it. Checked all the online forums and even went to the product\'s press launch to try it out 1st-hand. Some of the online discussions I read about were debating the weight of the guitar. Some players were saying the only liked very heavy Les Paul\'s of a certain age, because they felt they had better tone or sustain. Well, for what it\'s worth I completely disagree. Some of the very best Les Paul\'s are the lightest ones. And weight does not necessarily equal tone or sustain. It\'s the combination of wood, pickups and other factors that are most important. I like the fact that this guitar is light, it makes it comfortable and to my ears at least the Gibson Robot Guitar has all the tone and sustain I could wish for.

I love everything about it really. The auto tuning feature is great, and being able to quickly tune perfectly is so useful for recording especially as it saves loads of time. I could of course already tune my guitar, but the point is that now it\'s PERFECTLY tuned and quickly. In fact my ear has already become more sensitive to even slightly out of tune strings.

When recording it\'s a luxury to be able to get 100% perfect tuning between takes in just seconds.

Being able to check the intonation is an incredible feature. I normally get my Strat set-up professionally every year or so. It costs quite a lot and I have to go without my guitar for at least a few days. Now I don\'t have to, because the intonation feature means that I can do everything myself now.

It looks to be super quick changing a string on this guitar. Although I haven\'t changed one yet, I\'ll try that in a week or two. But, my favourite feature is the sheer tone and playability.

Sure, I do have some concerns about the instrument. The tiny motors in the tuners are great but I just hope they won\'t burn-out in years to come. The built-in lithium batteries are working great and re-charging fine now, but I wonder if they will ever need changing and if so if that\'s something that\'s easy to do. Also, the last thing I\'d want is for someone to go turning the tuners by hand without pulling them out first. That would damage them. These might be valid concerns or not, hard to say.

I hope it holds it\'s value and isn\'t frowned upon by guitarists of the future. I mean I still like it either way, but at over £1000 it\'s also an investment. In that regard I\'m pleased so far because I\'ve seen these guitars sell on eBay already for way more than I paid. One sold for over £3000!!! In fact, if I didn\'t like the guitar so much I could have easily sold it for a great profit, especially as I\'m fortunate mine has quite a low serial number.

I know some guitarists will simply be embarrassed to be seen with one of these guitars on stage. Because, they think they\'re purists and a vintage feel is important and all that. Personally I disagree, this is still a great guitar but just has added benefits. And many of my guitar heroes were only too keen to embrace new technology.

This guitar encourages you to feel natural and get into the music because it responds so well. It\'s just a lovely instrument to play.

An instrument is a personal thing and just like all the styles of music out there, we don\'t all like every guitar. Just as I would encourage anyone learning guitar for the first time to start out on an acoustic or classical I would also say that they should learn to tune a guitar themselves.

This instrument should not be a substitute for learning very important and basic skills like how to tune or change tunings.

I was appalled to learn from the dealer I bought my Gibson Robot from, that a customer had just bought one for their very young child, and that he was about to take it into class. That is just over the top.

But, if you already play and you want a really useful tool, this guitar comes highly recommended.