Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

What's with all the Min-Etune models


sjruvolo

Recommended Posts

Well, at least you can tune them, "the old fashioned way," as well. And, they're

easy enough to take off, and replace with standard tuners, should one desire. It

wouldn't matter, that much, to me...given all that. BUT, I'd rather not pay "extra"

for them. And, it would have been nice, to keep the "option," rather than that

sort of mandate. IMHO, as always...

 

CB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some of us here on the forum think that maybe Gibson had a bunch of those in stock and wanted to get rid of them.

 

Either a surplus, or maybe the boss's kid is sleeping with the Tronical boss. But it's got to be a silly reason. Maybe they just aren't taking feedback from actual customers anymore -- only sponsored players.

 

People go on about how they can tune on their own, and I'm one of them. But that's not really it. It's just that the big wart on the back of the headstock is ugly and inelegant. It needs its own power, it's distracting, and like early power windows, it's just an extra thing to break (and it's easy to find stories about it breaking on the web). And the interface isn't in a great spot. Who wants to muck around with buttons on the back of the headstock?

 

In my opinion, if they want minetune to be successful, it has to be actually mini -- or appear to be. Taping an iPod-sized box to the back of the headstock is a joke. More of an insult really, but I digress. How about you rout the back and hide the giant motors in the body? String it from the back like string-through. You can leave the tuners on the headstock for ease of restringing and for the traditional crowd, but you wouldn't technically need them. It works for every car in the world to hide the motor, it might work for guitars too. Just a thought. Or hide it in the tail piece... you could stash a tuning system under a lyre cover. SG players would probably go for that.

 

If you want to get really crafty, find a way to charge it with the amp cable. Come up with power over that 1/4" jack and get Line6, Vox, Marshall and others on board. It could really just be USB if you want to be lazy so long as it doesn't fall out... put a DA box with bus power in front of the amp or something. Point is that it can be done without a lot of trouble and the form factor need not change. But if I have to plug in a separate charger, I'm not interested.

 

Motors in the body, power from the cable. It's elegant. No fugly warts on the headstock, no extra charge cables, it's just a regular guitar from the outside, and all of the sudden, it's a magical technology and not a slapped-on on afterthought. Or just wait until Fender nails it down. Strats already have that rout, it'd be an easy retrofit, and they make a pretty darned successful line of amps. You listening, Fender?

 

I know that I want this tech. I do want the guitar to tune itself. But the thing has to work really well, it has to be just about invisible, and it has to be fun to use. I don't want a clip on tuner, and I don't want a clip on robot tuner. I just want it to work without knowing it's there. That's the difference between tech that people lust after (like iPhone) and tech that people put up with (Blackberrys and Palm Pilots).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I was very weary of the étune when I purchased my futura. But I am glad I got it. Adds no weight and is great for me because I regularly gig and now I don't need to carry three guitars in different tunings with me and worry about people stealing them. I can seriously go from standard to open g in like 20 seconds. You guys ought give it a try

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BUT, I'd rather not pay "extra"

for them. And, it would have been nice, to keep the "option," rather than that

sort of mandate.

 

CB

 

 

Exactly!!!!

 

I hate how there is no option. The only option I have is don't buy it.

 

And yes you are paying for it.

 

The only difference between and SGJ and an SGM(other than a white or black nut) is the SGM has the minitune and costs $280 more.

The SGM is an SGJ with a minitune.

 

 

Yes please give me the option of saving $280 and using the tuner I already have.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it me or do the rest of you feel that Min-Etune should be an option. Technology changes way too fast. The current Min-Etune could be obsolete in just a couple of years. I can tune my own thank you. What say you?

 

I agree completely. I don't like them. I don't want that ugly crap on the back of my headstock. And I think it should be an option as well [thumbup]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Making the Min-Etune compulsory on most of the 2014 models is a terrible idea. Sure, it'd be great as an option, especially for those people who play the odd gig and can't afford more than one guitar to accommodate different tunings, but the vast majority of us are fine tuning on our own. It's especially annoying if you buy a 2014 model with one, have no choice about it, and then want to switch to regular tuners. Not only have you paid quite a bit extra for a Min-Etune system that is probably going to just collect dust, but now you get to drop more money on regular tuners. And I know for a lot of people (myself included) buying a Gibson takes a lot of saving up and really doesn't leave much extra money to be spending on switching out the Min-Etune. That's the biggest reason I didn't buy a 2014 SG Standard (that and the coil split for both humbuckers).

 

And as sg50 said, the thing is just so bulky and un-elegant. Really, who is going to be able to reach the little buttons on the back of the headstock? I think it's a cool idea overall, but Gibson really rushed into it and really screwed it up. Why offer 2013 model with an optional Etune system, but then make it compulsory on most 2014 models? That just doesn't make sense at all, and it seems Gibson just doesn't want to listen to their customers on this one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Min-etune is something I don't care for, on my guitars. They work well and only add a small bit of weight to the headstock, overall seem ok, but... Like most everyone else, I agree it should have been an option. Oddly, [blink] they currently don't offer the min-etune on acoustics, that is where it would be most useful! Strange indeed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...