The idea for Gibson’s revolutionary Robot Guitar auto-tuning system came to Chris Adams in a fit of frustration. Aggravated that he couldn’t keep his guitar in tune and that he was spending so much time trying to, the twenty-something turned to the Internet to see if there were any automatic tuning systems on the market. Dissatisfied with what he found, he imagined a system that would automatically tune a guitar in no-time-flat. That got him thinking about other possibilities too: a system that could switch effortlessly between multiple tunings, keep a guitar perfectly intonated, and even change strings for you.
The fact that Adams had little engineering experience didn’t deter him. Over a period of 10 years, the professional guitar tech perfected a lightweight and foolproof system that tunes a guitar precisely and automatically in only a few seconds. “I wanted to create something that would respect the tonal concept of the instrument without changing it, but there was so much new technology that had to be developed to make it what it is today,” Adams explains. In 2005, Adams opened his Hamburg, Germany-based company Tronical, and began getting the word out about his invention. It didn’t take long.
Uli Jon Roth, Steve Vai, Billy Corgan, and other notables already use the system and all sing its praises on stages worldwide. “I haven’t met anybody who doesn’t love it,” Adams says. “This is a dream for guitar players. They don’t have to think about tuning anymore. Many artists have told me that having this makes them so relaxed because they know that, no matter what, they will be in tune. If you are more relaxed, you have a better performance. You can be more creative.”
What were your feelings about partnering with Gibson?
It’s a dream come true. I’m proud of it because Gibson is the Mercedes of guitars. It’s not just any brand; it’s the most high-profile guitar manufacturer in the world, so it says something about the tuning system. It’s a high-quality innovative product. That’s why it fits so well with Gibson because Gibson’s always cutting edge and a leader in technology.
What kind of guitarist do you think the Robot Guitar will appeal to?
It appeals to every type of guitar player. The total beginner can use it. It’s so much more fun to have a guitar that is in tune from the start. The pro players are also very intrigued about the system because they can do so many things that they couldn’t do before. A guitar tech can tune their guitar at the side of the stage, but the show happens on stage and a good guitar is very sensitive to changing conditions, concerning the climate and temperature. So no matter how good it was in tune on the side of the stage, it’s not going to be in perfect tune on stage. This system gives the control back to pro guitar players. You have to think about so many things already when you’re a guitar player that being in tune is one less huge hassle to think about.
Which famous musicians are already using your system?
Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins, he loves it. Matt Bellamy from Muse put it in his guitars. Uli Jon Roth, former guitar player of the Scorpions, says he actually can’t live without it anymore. Steve Vai couldn’t believe it unless he saw it, and once he saw it, it was still very hard for him to believe. He’s telling everybody about how great it is. Steve Lukather really loves it. I showed it to Pete Townshend, and he wants to get to know more about it. That’s just the start of it.
How long does it take the average guitarist to feel comfortable with the Robot Guitar?
It takes less than two minutes to understand how to be in tune. Start with the basic stuff first. The only thing you have to do to start is pull the knob, strum the strings, and when everything on the display is blue, you are done. We checked the guitar out with some nine-year-old kids, and they picked it up immediately. It doesn’t come easier than this—pull the knob, strum, push in, done.
So how does the tuning actually work?
We have piezoelectric elements that are in the Tune-o-matic bridge, so each string is actually sent through those piezo elements. Electric frequencies are sent through the strings and are measured very fast and accurately. The bridge communicates with the headstock through the guitar strings. That means that the information actually travels through the guitar strings above the audible frequency range to the headstock, and there we have a little micro-controller so they communicate to each other. You strum the strings, and it’s measuring constantly; even while it’s tuning it’s measuring.
What does the Master Control Knob do?
The Master Control Knob is actually a regular volume knob. It just becomes a master control knob if you pull it out, and if you pull it out you have an LED display for the six strings. That’s why it says AED and so on. The basic function is to display the tuning state of each string. For example, to activate the system, you just pull out the knob and then you see the six string symbols are red. That means that they’re activated. Now you just have to strum. If it’s blinking red then it’s picking up the signal. If it’s blinking yellow then it’s transmitting its results to the headstock controller. If it’s solid green then this single string is in tune, and if all the six strings are flashing blue then your guitar is in tune.
That is the basic function, but you can do much more with it. Underneath this display we have a microswitch that’s sort of like the Enter button for a computer. What you do is turn the knob while it’s pulled up, and you can go through different presets and functions. We have six different presets plus the regular tuning that you can choose from. But you’re not limited to the tunings that we provide in preset. You can actually tune it the way that fits your music or the circumstances that you’re in and then you can save it.
The Robot Guitar also perfects a guitar’s intonation. How does that work?
Often times guitar players don’t have problems with tuning but they have problems with intonation. So although the guitar is in tune it doesn’t sound very nice. The higher you go on your frets when it’s not intonated exactly the more wrong it sounds. Intonation is very painstaking—sometimes you have to go to a guitar tech, and some guitar techs don’t do the best job.
With the system on the Robot Guitar, you just go to the “I” and press it for longer than three seconds on the display. This activates the intonation mode. Now you just pick the string that you want to intonate, any string. Then you pick the string at the 12th fret. Now the display shows you how many half turns you have to go in which direction for this string, clockwise or counterclockwise. You do this for every string. It takes you around five minutes, and you have a guitar that’s intonated very, very accurately. We’re talking about 0.2 percent accuracy. It’s actually changing the way people play. Steve Vai, for example, told me he realized that he can play chords now that he couldn’t play before because they always sounded wrong.
It also makes changing strings easier, right?
Yes, there’s a string up/string down mode for all of the strings. Let’s say the D string broke. You just get the rest of the string out, pull the new string through, lock it with the locking head, pull it through real tight and lock it. Now you activate the system, go to the letter D, and press the enter button for longer than three seconds. This actually activates the string up mode to wind up the D string until it’s at the right position. Then you just tune, and you’re done. Of course this works for every string.
How often do you have to turn the system on when you’re playing?
Once you get this system, your tolerance for a guitar that’s out of tune is lower. You get used to it very fast. After two weeks you hear so much more because you always have a guitar that is in tune. So you tend to turn the system on much more often because you became much more aware of when you’re out of tune. Who wants to be out of tune? Nobody. Now that it’s no work, you tend to use this much more often. Once you get used to the system, it becomes second nature.