The Guitar

This guitar starts off like any other American Stratocaster. It has an alder body, maple neck, and rosewood or maple fingerboard. It has 22 medium-jumbo frets and three American Strat single-coil pickups in the standard fashion. You get your familiar master volume and tone as well as a 5-way pickup selector switch. The bridge is an American 2-point synchronized tremolo. The hardware and pick guard are all in standard Strat form. Like I said, it is exactly what you would expect from a regular tried and true American Strat. The sound is output through a standard 1/4″ analog jack on the front of the guitar.

In addition to all that normal Strat stuff, there are a few extra components which make this a modeling guitar. First there is a Rolland VG hex pickup right between the bridge pickup and the bridge. This hex pickup allows for each string to be individually sensed and processed. There are also two additional 5-position knobs; one for selecting a modeling mode and one for selecting a tuning. The last difference is a little blue battery indicator light. That’s right… I said battery. The VG requires 4 AA batteries to power the internal processing unit. So what does all this jazz do? Well, each string is individually processed and modeled depending on which tone and tuning you select, then that modeled signal is output through the 1/4″ analog jack just as it always has. This means that you don’t need any extra equipment to use the modeling features, just plug it into your amp and go.

The Mode Control Knob (Modeling)

Mode Control allows you to modify the sound of your VG before it is output to your amp or effect pedal. There are 5 different positions on the Mode Control knob and for each position you can move the 5-way pickup selector to change settings for that model. The following selections are available on the Mode Control knob:

• (N) Normal Guitar – This setting allows you to play the Strat without modeling using the standard 3 single-coil pickups. The 5-way switch selects the pickup.
• (S) Modeled Stratocaster – This setting uses the hex pickup to give you the sound of a Strat but with a slightly different tone. The 5-way pickup selector emulates selecting a pickup while still sensing through the hex pickup.
• (T) Modeled Telecaster – This setting uses the hex pickup to model a telecaster guitar. The 5-way selector changes between two virtual single-coil pickups. Position 5 or 4 is the neck pickup, position 3 is both pickups, and position 2 or 1 is the bridge pickup.
• (H) Modeled Humbucking – This setting uses the hex pickup to model humbucker pickups. Since there are only 2 virtual humbuckers, the 5-way switch acts the same as for the Telecaster mode.
• (A) Modeled Acoustic – This setting uses the hex pickup to model an acoustic guitar. Each position on the 5-way switch models a different tone of acoustic guitar.

The Tuning Control Knob

The second dimension to the VG Strat is it’s ability to alter the guitar’s tuning without changing the tension of the strings. It does this by digitally altering the pitch of the note through the hex pickup. All of the tuning modulation is set with the expectation that your guitar is in standard tuning. If your guitar’s tuning is changed, the Tuning Control will not work as expected. The following settings are available on the Tuning Control knob:

• (N) Normal Mode – This mode applies no modeling to the tuning of the strings. Through the amp each string sounds the same as it does on the guitar.
• (D) Drop D – This mode simulates tuning the low E string down to D. If you play the guitar unplugged, it will have no effect, but the signal that is sent out to the amp will sound as if the guitar is tuned down.
• (G) Open G – This mode simulates tuning the guitar to open G. (D G D G B D)
• (d) D Modal – This mode simulates D Modal tuning. (D A D G A D)
• (B) Baritone – This mode simulates baritone tuning. (B E A D F# B)
• (12) 12 String – This mode simulates a 12 string guitar in standard tuning.

Any tuning mode can be used with any modeling mode except for Normal. If your model mode is set to normal the tuning mode is bypassed. This is probably why they included the Strat model even though this is a Strat guitar.

What Fender did Right

I think for what Fender set out to do, they did a pretty good job. For the most part I would say the average guitar player wants something simple, they want to plug in and play and not have to worry about a whole lot of configuration. To use this guitar you wont need to buy any extra equipment, just take it home and plug it into your amp. I think that for someone who plays a wide variety of music and doesn’t want to own or transport more than one guitar this will be very appealing. From what I have seen in videos, the sound is very good through the hex pickup. Rolland has been in the business developing hex pickups for years and they make high quality gear.

Where Fender Fell Short

Fender has sort of done a 180 with this product. I have a Fender box in my basement that Guitar Works gave to me to transport my Line 6 Spider II in. Ironically the tag line on the box says “Innovation… Not Emulation”. Now maybe this is just a slogan for their amp department, but either way modeling is just another word for emulation. I’m not really sure where I’m going with this, something about hypocrisy or something.

It should be known that while playing with the alternate tuning you have to play through an amp and you have to play loud enough that the amp overpowers the acoustic sound of the strings. Otherwise you will what you are playing in the wrong tuning and it might throw you off. I guess this is not really a shortcoming of Fender, but more a result of the technology.

The only other issue I find is the 4 AA batteries. They say you can get about 12 hours of play if you get the higher quality rechargeable digital camera batteries. That is not too bad, but I really don’t want to have to worry about my batteries being charged so that I can play. I just like to pick it up and play whenever I want. At least the batteries pop out in an easy to load cartridge.

The Bottom Line

From the specs it looks like a great product. They didn’t mess with the original design of the American Stratocaster, they just built on it. At the same time as saying that, I have yet to see what kind of market exists for this guitar. Line 6 seems to be doing ok with their Variax modeling guitars, so maybe Fender is trying to tap that market. Personally if I were to buy a Strat I would probably get this one. I prefer Gibson guitars for all around playing because the tone is more akin to the type of music I play. However, if I were to buy a Strat as a second guitar, I think the added functionality of the VG would make me want to pick it up all that much more. At the same time, I could see myself using it like a multi-effect pedal, I’d leave it on one or two different models and never use the guitar to its full potential. It all comes back to that just wanting to pick up and play factor.

The Fender VG Stratocaster is available in stores now and is retailing for about $1,699. It is available in both black and 3-color sunburst. A non-VG Strat comes in at about $1000, so you are paying an extra chunk for that added functionality. It might be a hard sell for me at that price difference, but I really like the added features. It is sort of like having all of Fender’s greatest guitars all in one.

Just to reiterate what has been talked about on countless websites, this is the first digital guitar from Gibson. Now, digital guitars have been available from a few different manufacturers for years, but I find the term Digital Guitar has been used to describe a wide variety of products. Line 6 for example has had the Variax digital modeling guitar for quite some time. So what exactly is the Gibson 6x.HD Les Paul?

The Guitar

To start, the guitar is a Les Paul. It has a body that is similar to a Les Paul Studio but with an all new finish. It has 490R/498T Humbucker pickups just like a Studio. For all effective purposes, this is a Les Paul just like we know and love. It can be plugged into an analog amp and played just like any other LP.

So what is different? Well in addition to all of the original LP components there is also a digital hex bridge pickup (Gibson Hex Pickup 681-2031). This pickup and the accompanying electronics are able to convert the analog sound from each string into 6 separate digital signals for output. This function right here is what makes the Gibson 6x.HD a digital guitar. It hears the sound, converts it to a digital signal, and outputs it as a digital signal. To do this Gibson has spent 10 years developing a brand new technology called MaGIC.

What is Media-accelerated Global Information Carrier (MaGIC)?

MaGIC is an open source audio/video transmission specification developed by Gibson and a few other technology companies. The spec allows up to 32 full-duplex (2-way) signals of up to 192 kHz digital audio to be transfered over great distances of standard cat-5 Ethernet cable. On top of the 64 audio channels there is also a control stream that is 100 times more powerful than MIDI. Basically what the standard aims to achieve is high quality digital audio over long distances with plug-and-play simplicity that can be applied to a variety of audio devices. If it works, it really is amazing. Now Gibson just has to get other companies to adopt it, which I am sure is easier said than done. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the standard includes power in the wire, so that eliminates the need for a battery in the guitar!

The Jackplate

On your average Les Paul the jack is simple, it’s just a 1/4″ analog output. You will find the jackplate on a HD.6x has a bit more, but also adds a lot of useful functionality. Like a normal LP it has the standard 1/4″ analog output that is auto-sensed. So if you use this jack to plug your guitar into an ordinary analog amp it will automatically know, no switching required. Second is the MaGIC Ethernet port for digital output to a Breakout Box. There are also two mini-plug jacks, one for a microphone input and one for headphone output. Finally there is a volume for the monitor level. It is all pretty straight forward, but like I said, I think the additional functionality is welcomed.

The Breakout Box (BoB)

When you use the 1/4″ analog jack on the guitar you can plug it into any analog amp and play away. However, if you want to utilize the digital pickup you need to use the digital MaGIC port and connect it to the included Breakout Box (BoB). Since there are no other MaGIC compatible devices on the market you have to convert your digital signal back into analog to do anything with it. The BoB is a box that converts the digital signal from the guitar back into analog and splits it into separate channels. There are three options for output. If you only hook an output to jack 1, you will get a mono output. If you use 1 and 2 on the BoB you will get stereo with the top three strings going right and the bottom three going left. Finally, if you hook six outputs you will get an individual channel for each string.

This right here is where Gibson hopes the HD.6x will be revolutionary. The ability to send each of your strings to a different amp or through a different effect loop adds a huge dimension to guitar playing and recording. The BoB also has stereo jacks to send a signal from a monitor mix back upstream to the guitar’s headphone jack. Also on the BoB is an output for the mic jack that is on the guitar so you can send the signal to the monitor.

What Gibson Did Right with the HD.6x

Gibson isn’t trying to force anything here. They took the tried and true Gibson Les Paul and built upon it. They are giving the guitarist the freedom to use the guitar as they like. They have invested a lot of time and money researching and developing the MaGIC technology. The important thing is they have kept in mind that most people just want to plug it in and play. It seems to me that Gibson has had this front and foremost in their design. For an example, they made sure that MaGIC means the guitar does not require a battery to operate the digital components. It’s little things like this that add to it’s simplicity.

The MaGIC technology is an open standard. This means any manufacturer can get a development board from Gibson and start building devices that support it. As of now Gibson is the only company doing it, but if this catches on the possibilities are limitless. Computing has been applied to so many areas of music and I think it is exciting to see more manufacturers like Gibson take another step towards bringing it to the guitar.

What is great about MaGIC is it is a broad based standard. Not only does it bring innovation to guitars, but it could be used to replace snakes of cable that carry the analog signal from a stage to the mixing board. Since 32 channels can be carried through 1 cable (both directions), that basically combines 64 cables into one small Ethernet cable. On top of that, the Ethernet cable is less susceptible to interference and noise, making the sound higher quality.

Where Gibson Fell Short

Although a good idea in concept, Gibson fell short in their execution. It’s a great idea, and it has many applications and lots of potential. However, as of now the only thing you can do with that digital signal from the guitar is hook it into Gibson’s BoB and convert it back into analog. Here we have an analog signal (vibration of a string) that is converted to digital, sent to the BoB, converted back into analog, then if you send it to a computer converted back into digital again. Wow. Analog to digital to analog and back to digital. Basically in the end, the fact that it is a digital guitar is redundant.

What Gibson really needed to do was release this guitar with a line of digital products that it could be connected to. They needed to be working with at least one other manufacturer from day one to develop some kind of multi-effect or modeling unit that could be released with the guitar, or maybe even as a replacement for the BoB. In the VERY least the BoB should have provided for some form of digital output that could be connected to a computer. It sort of defeats the purpose of MaGIC to have USB or FireWire on the BoB, but if they didn’t like that then they should have developed a computer based MaGIC interface in conjunction with the guitar.

The mini-plug jacks on the guitar for the microphone and headphones really should have been either 1/4″ or XLR if they are to be used in a professional environment. As it stands now, the whole feature is sort of gimmicky.

The BoB should have had some sort of digital output. I realize that MaGIC is not MIDI, but it makes me wonder how much work really would have had to be done to include a MIDI output on the BoB. I know MIDI on the guitar is nothing new, but any way that you can utilize the digital in a digital guitar is a plus.

Coming in at $4000USD to pick this guitar up, you are paying a premium to get the technology first. Considering you can get a comparable digital-free Les Paul for about $1600USD this isn’t good for Gibson. Right now, the guitar is the first product to utilize MaGIC and there is no sure sign that MaGIC will take off. In two years you might find you paid $4000 for a guitar and the technology has died due to lack of support.

The Bottom Line

Being a computer geek and a guitar geek I am really excited about the expanding fusion of computers and music. There are already a few options out there for digital guitars and I always like to hear more big manufacturers are jumping on board. That being said, I am not very impressed with Gibson’s initial offering. It almost seems as though they didn’t talk to any, you know, guitar players before designing it. Having a digital guitar is great, but the fact that once the signal leaves the guitar it instantly has to be converted back to analog really voids the fact that it was digital in the first place. Obviously Gibson is pushing MaGIC and with the guitar they are just trying to get a shoe in as soon as they could. None the less, right now the incentive to buy this guitar just really isn’t there. I just don’t think 6-channel audio is enough for the average person to shell out $4000. I guess at this point we will have to wait and see where MaGIC goes. I think the HD.6x is awesome in concept, but I am hesitant to run out and buy one myself.