RoboHype or RoboCool?

[Sam]

Late last year, Gibson unveiled the much-hyped Robot Guitar (official Gibson page). The Robot Guitar not only tunes itself (to several different tunings no less), it also practically strings itself AND corrects intonation problems. I remember thinking this was an extremely cool idea. It retails for about $2,800, which seems like a lot until you consider a new (non-Studio) Les Paul will run you $2,200+.

Watching the video below really demonstrates the "wow" factor of the RG. What kind of surprises me, however, is that I hardly ever read or hear about it. Is it the old "just more things that can break" theory? What do you do when say, the DADGAD tuning goes on the fritz and how much is that going to run you?

I was getting set-ups done at the Guitar Factory (I friggin' love hanging out in there and soaking up knowledge. That'll be a blog entry unto itself.) a couple of weeks ago and this 17-ish kid was asking Bill about the Robot Guitar. After a couple of slams, Bill proceeded to lecture the youngster on the importance of knowing how to tune your own guitar. He followed up with 2 or 3 more choice comments slamming the RG.

My Google-Fu turns up scant information on the sales performance of the RG. Being a limited production guitar, I'm guessing a worst case scenario wouldn't have hurt Gibson. Also, they've now expanded beyond the blue silverburst as well as now offering a Robot SG.

I guess I'm kind of mixed. Except for my beautiful PRS McCarty, I've always treated my guitars like work trucks. Dings add tonal character. I'd be afraid I'd break the RG.