http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071203/ap_on_hi_te/self_tuning_guitar
I would take issue with their assertion that this is the first of it’s kind. Lead guitarist Jeff Martin of Tea Party has had one of these kind of gizmos for a couple of years, now. He changes tuning for most songs - and sometimes within a song. He uses the automated changing of tuning as an effect in itself.
djm
I saw one of these today. The local Guitar Center had one on display. The guy behind the counter showed me how it worked. It definitely does what it advertises. He diddled the tuning knob on the body of the guitar and all of the tuning pegs started twisting on their own. The D string gave it a bit of a work out but it finished inside of about 20 seconds. I’d say and the whole guitar was very well in tune at that point.
For a $900 system, they are sticking it on a mid grade guitar. This listed at $2700 with a street price of $2200.
It was a fancy little doo-dad, but to be honest with you, I would be a bit embarrassed to show up with that at a gig.
“What?! Can’t you tune your instrument on your own?” Is probably the slagging I would get.
I find it a little troubling that this removes the need for a musician to develop their ear to detect proper intonation. Ya, it is a skill that takes some time to develop, but it is a primary skill. You need that to go forward.
Years ago I unsuccessfully tried to give guitar lessons. I advertised in the paper and waited for the phone to ring. I remember one lady who called wanted to learn to play the guitar, but she didn’t understand that guitars need to be tuned by the player. She just assumed that guitars were like pianos and that you simply took the instrument to a guitar tuner and the guitar would stay in tune until the next tuning months down the road. When I tried to explain to her that it didn’t work that way, she quickly said, “Well, I wouldn’t want to play something that I had to tune myself.” If I just had one of these automatic tuning devices, I may have had a long-term student.
Naw, she still would have quit, but it would have been when she discovered she had to learn to play the thing, that it didn’t play itself automatically. Really, when people like that turn your service down, whatever it may be, be grateful they didn’t waste any more of your time than they already had.
djm
What I would like is a guitar that stayed in tune while I sang.
Anstapa
I brought a banjo to a session once. A fiddle player asked me how long it takes to tune a banjo, and I replied I don’t know. To which he said no one knows because there has never been a banjo that would stay in tune. 
Pfft. I can’t tell if my intonation is out, that’s what my floor tuner is for.
As for this guitar, it’s not something I see becoming mainstream. It’s just like a limited run sports car or concept car, Gibson are using it to show off their groovy technology and look clever. You may see bits of it feature in future products but I don’t imagine every guitarist will be playing one of those in 20 years time.
I’m curious because, having used electronic tuners for many years, you often have the phenomena where the string, especially steel, won’t stay exactly on pitch but oscillates in and out. I wonder what the robot=tuner does in that case??
For electric guitars with whammy bars, like Strats, this would be awesome, because they continually get knocked out of tune, unless you get real fiddly with add-on parts and such..
man, I’d buy that tech, not because it risked ruining my ear, but for sheer convenience onstage. Think about it, you could hit “tune” while you do the song intro…
Wonder what would happen with capos??? This would be incredible if you could tell the tuner to re-tune it at capo relative pitch, because capos often knock a string or two out when you put them on…
As I understand it, these tuners use the relative difference between strings, so a capo should work fine. I don’t know anyone who uses a capo on an electric, though.
djm
Loads of folk use them. Not uncommon at all on electric guitars.
You know, I’d be interested in that too. It might involve a delay of some sort, then average the pitch(es) of the string to the data stored in it’s hardware.
The whammy bar thing isn’t so much an issue anymore, what with the top-notch Floyd Rose bridge/nut combos. They’re much cheaper too 
That is really innovative device, it really would help midway through a performance, of course if all the instrumentalists had something like that.
But isn’t part of learning the instrument learning how to play in tune, well at least tune the instrument. Truly, isn’t tuning part of the learning experience, what if you were without one at a time and are put in a jam. It is important to know what to do, whether it be turning a knob, changing a reed, adjusting a valve, pulling out or pushing in a tuning slide, fixing a spring, changing a string, changing your posture, embouchure, breathing, et cetera. That is all part of music isn’t it?
Well that is just my opinion.
anyway it is still pretty cool
Bard, I’m not in disagreement for rehearsing and practicing on your own. But in the heat of performing, I think it’s a great possibility. I have never enjoyed watching guitarists tune, or being the one onstage tuning. Who needs it, I say…
And TY, I don’t care for that Rose stuff. Too much heavy hardware for me. But, yes, it helps solve the issue.
What do you tune your floor to? I usually like to keep it at an A.
I don’t think this is an issue at this price point. Beginners don’t usually buy
$3500 guitars, they buy the $400 Guitar Center special, which they will have
to learn to tune. This self-tuner seems like an item for experienced people
who are tired of constantly tuning their guitars on stage.
Oh yeah in the heat of a performance definitely a great thing, if this is not a solo act everyone in the group would want to have this nifty device and that might be troublesome, pricewise at least.
True I know I didn’t and not even for $400, more like nothing because my father is a kind man on my birthday.
The next logical step would be a self tuning grand piano! 
My wife and I used to play recorder in a semi-pro Baroque ensemble. Our viola da gamba player’s instrument was ALWAYS going out of tune: she’d often have to retune between movements of a piece. Ya think they could make authentic period-looking tuners for her gamba? 