Gibson introduces the Min-ETune, a mechanical tuner that automatically tunes your guitar to a variety of tunings.
This new automatic tuner comes pre-installed on selected Gibson guitars and unfortunately, it is not sold separately.
The Min-ETune reminds us of the Limited Edition Robot Guitars that Gibson released a few years back.
Here is a quick summary of the Gibson Robot Guitar: Gibson incorporated a mechanical tuner into the designs of their popular guitars including the Les Paul, SG, Explorer, Flying V and Les Paul Jr.
These guitars with tuning pegs that turn by themselves caused quite a stir, mainly because it allowed auto tuning without having to do any modification to your favorite Gibson guitar.
To better understand where the Min-ETune came from, here is the old Gibson Robot Guitar video:
Fast forward to the present, Gibson unveils the latest incarnation of this auto tuning technology – now named Min-ETune.
It still follows the same philosophy of having mechanical battery powered gears automatically adjusting the tuning pegs, but this time, Gibson made the system more compact, with the hardware and controls discretely installed at the back of the guitar’s headstock. Being small and discrete allows Gibson to attach this mechanical tuner into a guitar with minimal alterations to the body of the guitar.
To hardcore guitar fans, this means that Gibson guitars with Min-ETune feels and plays very much the same as their traditional counterparts, with the advantage of always being in-tune.
The new Min-ETune is battery powered and it can tune your guitar into 12 of the most popular tunings, or into 6 custom tunings that you can save. Its internal lithium battery is expected to last for 80 to 100 tunings in just one charge and according to Gibson it takes as little as 3 seconds and 1 strum to get the guitar in-tune.
A nifty feature of the Min-ETune is its Reference Tuning, it can adjust your tuning to match another instrument’s imperfect tuning, very useful in situations where there are two or more guitar playing in harmony.
Since Min-ETune physically turns the tuning key to adjust string tension, the sound of your guitar remains natural, it is just like having a guitar technician with sharp ears and quick hands tuning the guitar for you. This is by far different from the digital tuners that “mask” the sound digitally with the right notes, producing auto-tuned sounds that do not actually match the acoustic sound of the instrument.
The practical applications of auto-tuning are real and it will definitely benefit players that use multiple tunings in their live performances. With a Min-ETune, you no longer need to carry multiple guitars with different tunings and you will save a lot of time with its quick tuning. You get almost the same convenience that keyboard players enjoy, not worrying about intonation and easily adjusting the tuning with a push of a button.
Check out the 2013 Gibson Les Paul Future Tribute with Min-ETune in action:
The obvious question now is – will this be available separately? Visit Gibson to find out which guitar models have the Min-ETune system option.
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Where can I purchase a replacement battery for the Min E-Tuner. Can’t seem to find one on the web.
Wow the guitar tuner looks great. Does it also work with electric guitar. I doubt as electric guitars don’t have much room in the back of its head.
It is designed for Gibson’s electric guitars…
I am a slide and open tuning specialized guitarist and I use to carry 3 or 4 guitars with me for a gig, so I always been interested in robot technology or auto tuning systems and I am agree with you that the Gibson robot guitar gives to the player a more correct vibe because it really changes the guitar tune; an open E is an open E ! An open G is an Open G!
Virtual tunings make me diffident: but anyway I am curious to test the Peavey AT 200…maybe it works fine!
I owed a Les Paul Robot limited first run but it gave me a lot of problems: the system loose the memory of the correct tunings and sometimes breakes the strings and even loose the precision in tuning.
The guitar batteries were even diffucult to charge and at last I didn’t like the pick ups sound: the neck was very good…
Now with this Mini ETune system I can buy a guitar that fits my musical style, for example a 50 Tribute with P 90 pick ups, and the system seems to be more simple and less invasive: if the Mini ETune will be relayble I think the it may be the perfect solution for me!
Excuse me for my terrible english!!