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G-Force/Tronical - the Inside story.


Guest MarriottLuvr

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Hi, I have had a Tronical autotune system set up on two of my guitars for some years and they have worked flawlessly. Our band play a lot of songs with different tuning . The autotune allows us to move from one song to the next quickly thus keeping the flow of the set. The advantage of the autotune is that all the strings are tuned at once therefore the guitar does not need a retune because the neck tension has changed as it does retuning a string at a time.

Unfortunately one of the roboheads has stripped a gear. No problem I thought, just order a new one. Although the Tronical website is still active and it accepts orders via Paypal Express, nothing is shipped. Their contact phone number in Hamburg has been disconnected and they don't respond to Emails.

It seems that they have gone out of business. Does anyone know the story about the company. I would be interested to know if somehow I could purchase spares.

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On 11/13/2019 at 10:26 AM, Willo47 said:

 

Hi, I have had a Tronical autotune system set up on two of my guitars for some years and they have worked flawlessly. Our band play a lot of songs with different tuning . The autotune allows us to move from one song to the next quickly thus keeping the flow of the set. The advantage of the autotune is that all the strings are tuned at once therefore the guitar does not need a retune because the neck tension has changed as it does retuning a string at a time.

Unfortunately one of the roboheads has stripped a gear. No problem I thought, just order a new one. Although the Tronical website is still active and it accepts orders via Paypal Express, nothing is shipped. Their contact phone number in Hamburg has been disconnected and they don't respond to Emails.

It seems that they have gone out of business. Does anyone know the story about the company. I would be interested to know if somehow I could purchase spares.

 

That is a real shame. The system obviously needs to be supported. What version do you have?

 

Have you tried looking on e-bay and the domestic (USA / UK / AUS etc) re-sale markets? 

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  • 3 months later...

IDK about the status of the company, wrt still shipping stuff or not, but last info I had was they released a new system, which has a reduced feature set, but, OTOH, usability is far greater. No enigmatic menu diving from memory, it has a display with the basic meaningful info, and if you install the app on your phone and connect, you can control it via phone and see in more detail what's going on, far more than the extremely spartan display of the older generations would.
It's installation is easier, and you can buy one actual tuning controller unit (whatever it's called), and several base plates + tuner sets for several guitars, and click the controlling unit onto the one guitar that needs tuning right now in seconds.
Also, the tuners gearboxes have been re-designed to make manual tuning on the keys feel less awkward - it was not optimized for that in earlier generations.
Although it was officially regarded as an ok thing to do, not considered damaging of you weren't going berserk.

Which now reminds me of the video someone posted here: Several broken teeth on the fricking brass gear. No way that was the motor.
Somebody must have been very violent on that thing, from the outside.
Btw., one reason for so many gears in there is that it has to fulfill more tasks than just producing a speed translation ratio from motor to string winding. For one thing, they also function as automatic locking tuners.
.

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On 11/14/2019 at 9:53 AM, merciful-evans said:

 

That is a real shame. The system obviously needs to be supported. What version do you have?

 

Have you tried looking on e-bay and the domestic (USA / UK / AUS etc) re-sale markets? 


That’s about the only way to get batteries or parts for them any more.  I have 5 Gibby’s that are GForce equipped.  Whenever I see a used (or removed) GForce assembly or battery on the ‘Bay for a reasonable price, I pick it up.  😉 


gforcetuners.jpg 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
6 hours ago, SteveFord said:

When that gizmo first came out I said parts would be a problem down the road.

What a surprise.

Thanks Henry.

I can't tune by ear, but I got a $20 Snark that helps me get there. I can go down to Wally World and get 2032 batteries all day long when one dies.

Edited by Sgt. Pepper
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5 minutes ago, Big Bill said:

I'm sorry this thread was officially ended last year.

That include comments from the Zappa gallery!!

 

Bono_U2_360_Tour_2011.jpg

No matter how many times I see that guy he still scares me. I'm going as him for Halloween. All I need is a leather jacket, stupid sunglasses and a d-ouchy attitude.

Us two Zappa fans gotta stick together, there is even a Zappa reference in there if you get it. Steve will.

Edited by Sgt. Pepper
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/16/2020 at 3:10 PM, Sgt. Pepper said:

Thanks Henry.

I can't tune by ear, but I got a $20 Snark that helps me get there. I can go down to Wally World and get 2032 batteries all day long when one dies.

Talk about buying in bulk. 

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On 3/27/2020 at 3:19 PM, Pinch said:

I've always wondered, what about the truss rod? If you go from E standard to B standard, it's gonna need tweaking... right? 

 

If you mean what I think you do I would say so, yes. It would also make the guitar hard to play without  heavier strings. Even then, intonation would suffer. Not a good idea IMO. 

That needs a baritone guitar or maybe digital simulation.

That's an extreme alt. tuning though. Most of the time common drop tunings wont need truss rod adjustment.

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