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Mumbai: Music director Sandeep Chowta, who has stayed away from the limelight for a while, returns to the music scene with the Gibson Robot Guitar.
Gibson Guitar has partnered with Chowta to bring the world?‹?“s first guitar with robotic technology to India on 7 December 2007.
In a demonstration at his studio in Andheri in suburban Mumbai on Tuesday, Chowta struck the magical chords of the Gibson Les Paul Robot Guitar, the world`s first run limited edition version. “This is a kind of a revolution in the history of music. It makes music so simple and easy; it saves so much time and is an elegant piece to look at! I am simply in love with it. It`s been three days since I have this masterpiece in hand and I am still trying to figure out a lot of its magic,” says Chowta.
Talking about the features of the guitar, he points out that the guitar has robotic Powerhead Tuners that are made of lightweight metal alloy with a satin finish and weigh only 46.5 grams each, gracing the headstock. Also, each tuning peg is equipped with a tiny but powerful servo motor that kicks into action once the system is activated.
“The Master Control Knob (MCK), commonly known as the `push-pull` knob with its six factory presets, all of which can be customized is amazing. When in the down position, it behaves as a regular volume or tone pot but when pulled out, the Robot Guitar`s self-tuning system is activated and ready for use. It immediately places the Guitar in standard tuning mode. At any time, one can also restore the tunings to the factory presets and start all over again,” says Chowta.
The Robot Guitar`s Blue Silverburst nitrocellulose lacquer finish is a Gibson first, and will not be offered as a finish on any other guitar. The use of the nitro finish is more for the amateurs as a nitro finish dries to a much thinner coat than a polyurethane finish, which means there is less interference with the natural vibration of the instrument, allowing for a purer tone. Also a nitro finish is also a softer finish, very porous in nature and gets thinner over time which makes it easily repairable.
The fret wires on the Robot Guitar is a combination nickel and silver alloy in the ratio 80:20 specifically designed for long life and superior wear. It also sports a new and unique, highly specialized Tune Control Bridge, a modified Tune-o-matic, which acts as one of the main components of the self-tuning robotic system. At the core of the Robot is a lithium rechargeable battery system, which takes about 90 minutes to generate a full charge that keeps the innovative self-tuning robotic system going for approximately 200 tunings.
