Las Vegas, January 5th-8th – With four hands-on demonstrations a day in the Gibson booth at Central Plaza 1, the Gibson digital guitar has become a highlight of the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show . Continuing in Gibson’s tradition of standard-setting innovation—a tradition that has brought the world such inventions as the electric guitar, the humbucking pickup, and the tune-o-matic bridge, to name a few—the digital guitar marks the first major advance in electric guitar technology since the instrument was invented in the 1930s. The possibilities that the instrument presents to guitarists are truly historic.

The digital Les Paul, which can operate solely as a conventional electric guitar with complete compatibility to existing equipment, features Gibson’s revolutionary HEX pickup that sends a signal to the MaGIC-enabled digital transport system. The ingenious system can carry multiple channels in both directions over standard Ethernet cable. The guitar also features Gibson’s BreakOut Box, with eight ¼-inch jack outputs—one for each string, plus a classic humbucker and a pass-through for microphones. Two inputs can carry audio back to the guitar for monitoring while a split mode assigns strings to different amps.

The most amazing aspect of Gibson’s digital guitar is its ability to process signals on a string-by-string basis. This unprecedented control allows guitarists to adjust volume, pan, and equalization of each individual string. Players could also use an amplifier for each string, or use one amp and adjust different gain and effects settings for each string. In addition, the digital guitar solves the problem that has plagued electric guitars since their invention: noise. Using cutting-edge DSP and FPGA technology, Gibson has found a way to convert the guitar’s analog signal into a high-quality digital signal while it is still inside the guitar. This eliminates any stray frequencies from the entering the signal chain through the guitars pickups. It also wipes out any possible noise or hum from entering through the guitar’s cable. With the digital guitar, a player can run a cable over 300 feet with no loss of audio quality. The potential recording and performance options are limited only by a player’s imagination.

“It has always been my passion and desire to take creativity and musical expression to a new level, without detracting from the intimate connection between the musician and the instrument,” said Henry Juszkiewicz, chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp. “The Gibson digital guitar opens up a virtually unlimited world of possibilities to guitarists by removing some of the limitations that have been inherent in electric guitar design throughout its history.”