Aenimal Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Hi, First of all, sorry for my poor english, it's not my mother tongue... I don't know if my brand new SG Robot Silvertburst is an Original Robot (since some websites say it's a version 2)... Anyway, I received it today and it really looks great! But there's something wrong with it and I'd like to have an advice from people that may know Gibson and Robot guitars better than me. Here's the issue: I tuned my guitar but the E string powerhead doesn't move at all. I tried different tunings and somehow, the E string powerhead is activated. But this happens only 5% of my attempts to tune my guitar. I looked for the battery charge level: it's 2/10. Do you think that this could be related? Have any of you already encountered that issue? Thanks for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevezapp Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Hi' date=' First of all, sorry for my poor english, it's not my mother tongue... I don't know if my brand new SG Robot Silvertburst is an Original Robot (since some websites say it's a version 2)... Anyway, I received it today and it really looks great! But there's something wrong with it and I'd like to have an advice from people that may know Gibson and Robot guitars better than me. Here's the issue: I tuned my guitar but the E string powerhead doesn't move at all. I tried different tunings and somehow, the E string powerhead is activated. But this happens only 5% of my attempts to tune my guitar. I looked for the battery charge level: it's 2/10. Do you think that this could be related? Have any of you already encountered that issue? Thanks for your help![/quote'] Have you tried pushing the tuner into the motor? When you pull the peg out to manually tune a string, sometimes when you push it back it doesn't go back in fully. Try wiggling the tuner and pushing in towards the gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aenimal Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 I'll try that when I'll come back home. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevezapp Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 I'll try that when I'll come back home. Thanks :D No problem - and welcome to the forum=d> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyree Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 You should also charge it, that low of a charge can cause some funny things to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aenimal Posted March 13, 2009 Author Share Posted March 13, 2009 So I tried to push back the peg but it was already in the good position. I played with it a little without any modification. I also charged it and it still doesn't work. Guess the only solution is to send it back. I'm just sad because I thought Gibson was making really good quality guitars. And for the price of that guitar, I expected more than "not working". Thanks guys, if any of you think of another solution please tell me. I'll contact the shop today and I should send it back next week to have it replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevezapp Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 So I tried to push back the peg but it was already in the good position. I played with it a little without any modification. I also charged it and it still doesn't work.Guess the only solution is to send it back. I'm just sad because I thought Gibson was making really good quality guitars. And for the price of that guitar' date=' I expected more than "not working". Thanks guys, if any of you think of another solution please tell me. I'll contact the shop today and I should send it back next week to have it replaced.[/quote'] Sorry to hear that. Must just be a faulty tuner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elantric Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Plan B - Carefully remove the tuner and clean the electrical contacts, re-install tuner and restring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tronical Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Hi Aenimal, sorry to hear that. Please try the following: - Activate the tuning system - Make sure the peg of low E tuner is all the way in, engaged to the motor. - Strum low E string The low E symbol LED on your MCK should now start flashing red = pitch detection, and afterwards it should flash yellow = tuning info sent to the neck. If this does not happen it is most likely that the piezo for the low E string (underneath the saddle) is not working properly. If it is ok, the problem is the PowerHead. Try to carefully remove the PowerHead and clean the electrical contacts. Re-install it and restring. If this does not help please contact us, we will find a solution! www.tronical.com info@tronical.com Tronical You play. We tune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieP Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 It is great to know someone from Tronical is monitoring this forum. Thank You Tronical for caring and for your support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevezapp Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 It is great to know someone from Tronical is monitoring this forum. Thank You Tronical for caring and for your support. All we need is the GOR upgrade kit sometime soon and you'll really be in our good books :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aenimal Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 Hi all and thanks for your advices. Great to see that Tronical is monitoring, at least I feel less alone! So I tried what you proposed and I have no flashing sign at all for the E string. So as you say, this is an issue with the piezo. Guess the only option for me now is to send it back? I'll wait one more day for any other tip you may think of, and if not I'll send it back. Too bad this wasn't checked before the guitar was sent to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aenimal Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 After writing the post above, I thought I should try to play a little with the E string in the saddle. While it didn't seem disengaged (don't know if it's the good word in english), I moved it a little bit (I guess, didn't see any difference) and... it works! That is great for sure, but since I'm currently within the 14 days to send it back shop policy, I'm wondering if you think I should send it back or not... Tough question... Anyway, thanks for the piezo tip that made me think of that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tronical Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Aenimal, it´s good to hear that. You say you moved the saddle a little bit? Or did you move the string bar? It is possible that the string bar was somehow inclined inside its saddle/black insulator. This would impede proper piezo function. We experienced, that after restring or intonate the guitar this may occur.... Moving or even slightly hitting the string and / or string bar often helps. Also, if you are experiencing bad tuning performance try this with any string. We think you should not send it back. Contact us if you need support. info@tronical.com Tronical You play. We tune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aenimal Posted March 17, 2009 Author Share Posted March 17, 2009 I moved the string bar, not the saddle. I'll see if any other issue happens over time, but that seems in fact a minor problem with the string. Thanks for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontrowme Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 Is it the high E that is giving you problems? I am on my 3rd Robot and so far have had problems with each and every one. I have to admit, Vincent at Gibson customer service has been very helpful and I feel bad for the guy because when I spend this amount of money on a guitar and it doesn't work, I get upset, but he has remained a trooper throughout. My 1st Robot Les Paul: I noticed the day I received it that when it was tuning, the high E string tuning peg would twist itself out of auto tune mode into manual tune mode. I would push it back in, try it again and it would twist right out again. I have video of this if anyone would like to see. Needless to say, this guitar got shipped back to Gibson for repair. After about 6 weeks of waiting for my guitar, I started getting pissed off and Gibson told me the repairs to my guitar would take even longer, they said they would ship me another brand new Robot, same color as a replacenment. My 2nd Robot Les Paul: It showed up and I pulled it out of the box and it was anything but brand new. It had scuff marks on it, scratches on the bridge and I am still to this day convinced Gibson pulled the old Microsoft Xbox 360 scam on me, they sent me someone elses Robot they sent in for repair. It was clearly more used than the brand new one I sent in for repair. I freaked out and immediatly contacted Vincent again. He worked with his manager and arranged pickup of the second Robot. This guitars tuning system worked fine, but cosmetically it was not new. My 3rd Robot: I was promised this guitar would be inspected by the manager of QC at Gibson USA. When it arrived I looked over it and I was happy with the condition. Since from the day I purchased the Robot and the 3rd one arrived almost 2 months had passed, I purchased a regular les paul studio to play. I decided I was just going to keep the Robot as a collector and not as a player. I left it in the case for the past couple months. Over this past weekend I decided I wanted to play around with it for the first time. I put it in auto tune mode, and sure enough the high E string tuning peg wouldn't turn at all. It is completly dead. Once again I found myself emailing Vincent. He said this time I can bring it to an authorized Gibson repair center for a power head replacement. To sum up the whole story, there are serious problems with the design of the Robot guitars. I have spoken with other owners that have had very similar problems. I am not sure why there hasn't been a recall. When you spend the kind of money an American made Gibson comands, you should be getting quality, not a huge headache. While Vincent has been great, someone at Gibson obviously doesn't care that I have spent hours and hours trying to get a guitar that works. I've had to pack them up, carry them around, ship them, wait for them to come back, test, inspect and still after months and months. My time is worth money too, and now if you add all of that into the original cost of the guitar I should have just gone with a higher priced Les Paul model. The thing that really gets me, is Gibson hasn't even offered me a free set of strings, a guitar pick, a strap, anything at all to try and make me happy and offset the total waste of time buying this guitar has been. Just the effort of showing me they really care would have gone a long way. Gibson is willing ot do the bare minimum to keep you happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Aenimal - glad that worked out. Tronical - impressed that you are monitoring the forum. Frontrowme - sorry to hear about your multiple troubles. Hopefully the repair will get done correctly. I've got a gen2 robot (shipped to me - see avatar), works great, plays great, battery charge lasts a very long time. Originally it had a slight issue with the G string - tuned a bit sharp about 10% of the time. But that disappeared after a restring. Never did figure out why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieP Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Aenimal - glad that worked out. Tronical - impressed that you are monitoring the forum. Frontrowme - sorry to hear about your multiple troubles. Hopefully the repair will get done correctly. I've got a gen2 robot (shipped to me - see avatar)' date=' works great, plays great, battery charge lasts a very long time. Originally it had a slight issue with the G string - tuned a bit sharp about 10% of the time. But that disappeared after a restring. Never did figure out why. [/quote'] I think you will find when you have strings on for a long time they will become dead from being used up. Then the pitch of the string is off for the computer to be able to tune. I had the same issue with mine after I had the strings on for a while. I play mine daily. With a fresh set it came right back to tuning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aenimal Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Frontrowme > Yes, it was with the E string. After reading what happened to you, I feel lucky. For now. My guess is that people used to care to do perfect work, perfect products. And that care for perfection has gone dead with the idea of making more money, faster, always. Hopefuly there are guys like that Vincent you talk about, or Tronical that monitors this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.