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Guitar Hero's inspiration gets robot upgrade

Guitar manufacturer Gibson releases a robot version of their popular Les Paul model -- on which the Guitar Hero III controller is based.

Ty Pendlebury Editor
Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.
Expertise Ty has worked for radio, print, and online publications, and has been writing about home entertainment since 2004. He majored in Cinema Studies when studying at RMIT. He is an avid record collector and streaming music enthusiast. Credentials
  • Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
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Ty Pendlebury

With this year likely to be biggest Guitar Hero Christmas ever, the popularity of the official Guitar Hero III guitar -- the Gibson Les Paul -- is possibly at an all time high. So, what better time for Gibson to release a brand new version? With frickin' robots in it!

Only a handful of Gibson Robot Guitars will make it to Australia.

But this ain't no Guitar Hero toy -- the Gibson Robot Guitar is a professional instrument which automatically tunes itself. The guitar comes set with the standard A440 tuning used by most guitarists, but can also be changed to any one of six alternate tunings with a press of the Master-Control Knob (MCK). The MCK is a push-pull knob, and when in the normal 'push' position, it behaves as a regular volume or tone pot.

The Gibson Robot Guitar is a limited edition model, and at this stage only 10 will make it to Australia. If you're lucky enough to live in Melbourne, head on down to the Gallins Prahran store and harangue them for one.

Otherwise, a full scale release will be available in 2008. No pricing or local availability has been announced yet, but the US version will be released on December 7. Time to save your pennies (and your giant novelty cheques).

More info at the Gibson Robot website.