Apple Online Selling iPhone-Enabled Fender Strat Guitar

[nemesiswar]

http://www.electricalguitarcompany.com
Best. Guitars. Ever.

[ukmacpro]

Originally Posted by bradl

Umm.. wireless packs for guitars and basses have been around since the early 80s. This is absolutely nothing new

Yes, however these don't run on either Bluetooth or Wifi... They are radio transmitters and receivers, analogue in the 80s... Ones with analog to digital converters in the transmitter and the other way round in the receiver are used today, which are fast enough not to introduce much latency. But it is still not a data connection which would be too slow.

[SgtPepper12]

lol no way.
Why buy a guitar with a built in A/D anyway? It's like "Here take this crap guitar with this crap A/D, in case you want to have something better than crap one day, you need to buy a new one of both"
The concept is just incredibly stupid.

[extricated]

Nice potential for inspiring beginners to explore music/guitar. A "gateway drug", if you will.

I welcome new technology in the music industry, but I don't think this is ready for the studio.

[Henri Gaudier]

Originally Posted by nemesiswar

http://www.electricalguitarcompany.com
Best. Guitars. Ever.

Er .. I think you meant ...

http://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/

[polaris20]

This is just a gimmick. Anyone can add the exact same functionality to any electric guitar with an Apogee JAM, which is $99 and the size of a pack of gum, and a short 1/4" cable. The guitar itself is crap.

[darkslide29]

Originally Posted by polaris20

This is just a gimmick. Anyone can add the exact same functionality to any electric guitar with an Apogee JAM, which is $99 and the size of a pack of gum, and a short 1/4" cable. The guitar itself is crap.

Helpful to know. Nice to find this post in the sea of arguments and trolling. Thanks.

[iRCL]

Originally Posted by John.B

For the record, the article title is wrong. They are selling a Squier Strat, not a Fender Strat. This will be a guitar built by a third party guitar manufacturer (in China, natch) to Squier specs. There is nothing "Fender" about this guitar except Squier's use of the parent company's trademark body shape, headstock shape, pickguard design, etc.

Yeah seriously. Nothing built in China to a parent company's design could possibly be good...

[kingtj]

I came *so* close to buying that Rocksmith game for my PS3 yesterday afternoon. I used to play rhythm guitar in a band my buddies put together back in the early 90's, and have always hung onto at least one guitar since then. Truthfully, I'm *way* out of practice and just sold my half-stack a few months ago when I relocated for a new job. (Just didn't make sense having something so big and loud when I was going to be living in a townhouse apartment right next to other families.)

I think I'm too involved with other things now to consider seriously playing in a band again, and I'm not even that motivated to learn new songs anymore. But if I had a game to hook the guitar up to, I'd probably get some more use and enjoyment out of it.

What stopped me is this: The guy at GameStop warned me "there have been a lot of issues with the cable" that comes with it --- so much so that they refuse to carry used copies of Rocksmith.

Anyone know how serious an issue this really is?

As for the whole latency thing? Yeah, that's a problem if you're just trying to learn to play guitar or want your guitar to play like you expect a guitar to play. BUT, if you've ever used the Guitar MIDI controllers like Roland sells, those processors always introduced a lot of lag too. On the original rack mount one I used to own, you had to install a GK-1 or GK-2 series pickup on your guitar next to one of the regular ones, and then a cable ran to the rack mount processor. When you played a note or chord, the MIDI version would send out of the unit after a significant delay. You had to learn to play the guitar a whole new way to make it work for you. But since you were just using it to trigger sounds or synthesizer notes, that wasn't necessarily a problem. It just made it a whole different instrument, essentially.

[2 Replies]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

The USB output on the guitar is a USB Mini-B and a USB-mini to 30-pin adapter is included in the box, meaning users with a Lightning port on their iOS devices will need a Lightning to 30-pin Adapter.

Nice Apple.
Just keep selling overpriced accessories for your intentionally obsoleted products, and wonder why your stock continues to dive.
The rest of us could use a good laugh. X'-D

[John.B]

Originally Posted by iRCL

Yeah seriously. Nothing built in China to a parent company's design could possibly be good...

Where did I say these weren't good?

Truth be told the Squier Classic Vibe Strats (and Teles, for those so inclined) are considered by many to be a great value for the money. Me included.

My point was that these aren't Fenders, and -- unlike even the MIM Strats -- these aren't built by Fender, they aren't QC'ed by Fender, Fender never even sees these guitars between the time when they are built and when they are shipped to Guitar Center (or Apple).

That said, every guitar is made of wood and involves some level of hand assembly. That means variability from one guitar to the next. Someone buying one would do well to play many guitars (or have a guitar-playing friend help) to pick out the best one, and not just buy any old guitar sold in a box.

[SeattleMoose]

For a kid's first guitar this wouldn't be bad to get them going with music. For all others, it would be better to save in order to get "first time quality" Else, you will eventually realize you wasted part of a down payment on a real rig by buying a "toy".

[aquaboy]

Typical, the Yanks get all the best hardware in the online store first! Nest, Philips hue, now this guitar... Wish the uk store was as good.

[Macist]

Will they have to pay $21million to The Knack?

[MacDav]

Originally Posted by SeattleMoose

For a kid's first guitar this wouldn't be bad to get them going with music. For all others, it would be better to save in order to get "first time quality" Else, you will eventually realize you wasted part of a down payment on a real rig by buying a "toy".

Yes, this is such a waste of money. If anyone is thinking of buying this guitar...Don't. It is just a toy. If you have any serious musical interests save up your money and buy a real guitar.

----------

Originally Posted by aquaboy

Typical, the Yanks get all the best hardware in the online store first! Nest, Philips hue, now this guitar... Wish the uk store was as good.

Consider yourself lucky. This guitar is a piece of junk. Save up your money and buy a real guitar.

[Macist]

Originally Posted by MacDav

Yes, this is such a waste of money. If anyone is thinking of buying this guitar...Don't. It is just a toy. If you have any serious musical interests save up your money and buy a real guitar.

I got given a pink Squier Bullet guitar by a firend who's teenage daughter had given up on it. It didn't play too bad after a set up but was slightly lacking resonance.

Thinking the pink guitar would be a fun gimmick for gigs I did a few mods. I had some slightly better pickups, good tuners, wiring and pots lying around so put them in. Gave it a decent nut and some graphtec saddles. Perfectly good guitar and nice and light. It's my main performance guitar now.

Cheap guitars are fun. And I have a Gibson ES335, high-end telecaster and US Strat.

[macthetiger85]

Originally Posted by Smallworld69

Um, Bluetooth, as well as wifi would offer lag in the low hundred MILISECOND range... Not enough time that the human ear would make much of distinction that there is lag. It is definitely a price/technology issue, NOT a lag issue...

You'd be surprised what a musician hears.

[Ecoh]

I have a grandson, 12 years old, thinks he wants to learn to play guitar. It sounds like a great learning tool to me. He already has an iPod, so it sounds like it is just plug and play for $200. Great Christmas gift.

Question for people that know guitars. Is this such a crap device a 12 yo will not have fun learning on it ? Will he get frustrated with it ?

I figure if he gets serious about it we will upgrade his equipment, if he loses interest, then we cut our losses at $200. He will still benefit from the music lessons.

[macthetiger85]

It's a crap device made for a 12 year old to easily test the waters with it. If he has an iPod touch all he needs is GarageBand. If a late teen or adult is buying this to play in a band. It's junk. For someone tryi g to get accustomed to electric guitars, this is where to go. However I always tell people they should start on acoustic first. Learn the chords. Practice scales. When you can play scales fast, cleanly and in every key, then get an electric. Then you can play anything you want on either instrument.

[MacDav]

Originally Posted by Macist

I got given a pink Squier Bullet guitar by a firend who's teenage daughter had given up on it. It didn't play too bad after a set up but was slightly lacking resonance.

Thinking the pink guitar would be a fun gimmick for gigs I did a few mods. I had some slightly better pickups, good tuners, wiring and pots lying around so put them in. Gave it a decent nut and some graphtec saddles. Perfectly good guitar and nice and light. It's my main performance guitar now.

Cheap guitars are fun. And I have a Gibson ES335, high-end telecaster and US Strat.

Well good for you. Unfortunately, 99% of the people who will buy this guitar don't even know what pickups are, or what a nut is. Glad your enjoy doing mods on cheap guitars, but the average person out there hasn't got a clue about this. Have fun though.

[usersince86]

Originally Posted by John.B

For the record, the article title is wrong. They are selling a Squier Strat, not a Fender Strat. This will be a guitar built by a third party guitar manufacturer (in China, natch) to Squier specs. There is nothing "Fender" about this guitar except Squier's use of the parent company's trademark body shape, headstock shape, pickguard design, etc.

Not totally true.

Correct, this is not a Fender strat. It is a Squier strat.

But some Squier guitars are very "Fender"... if you don't believe it, check out web reviews of some of the newer Squier guitars. To many musicians, they rival some of the American made strats, and are better than the Mexi-strats, which carry the Fender name. (For the record, I've played Strats for years, and had a '65 strat; and currently have a Squier Classic Vibe 50's guitar, which is incredible, especially for the price.)

Obviously, an instrument is somewhat subjective, but to say "there is nothing 'Fender' about this guitar" is misleading.

[Peace]

If you are a serious musician or guitarist do NOT buy this guitar.

Like someone else said. Buy a real Strat.

[juniormaj]

Originally Posted by polaris20

This is just a gimmick. Anyone can add the exact same functionality to any electric guitar with an Apogee JAM, which is $99 and the size of a pack of gum, and a short 1/4" cable. The guitar itself is crap.

To be fair, this does offer one thing that the Apogee device does not, and that is the bi-directionality that sends the signal back to a built in headphone amp in the guitar.

This may not seem like a big deal to many, and it doesn't change the fact that at the core this is a lower end Squier strat, but I can see where it would be nice to plug your headphones directly into the guitar and only have the USB cable going to your Mac/iOS device.

I've owned an Apogee JAM for a couple of years, and have 3 American-made guitars that I regularly run through it (Gibson Les Paul, Fender Stratocaster, and G&L Legacy), so this guitar is probably not for me.
However, I can see it as potentially a good starter guitar, and the idea of not having 2 cables stretching between me and GarageBand is a plus.

The built in headphone amp might actually sound better than the headphone amp in the Mac/iOS device. Doubtful, but without hands on experience I wouldn't completely dismiss it.

[Nunyabinez]

This is a fine beginner's guitar but would not do for someone who is serious. I have a squire strat (an upgraded model with a maple neck) and it is an OK guitar, but it doesn't compare to my Ibanez at all. Even simple things like getting it in tune are hard. I know it would be better if I had someone really set it up properly (who wants to pay to have someone setup up a $150 guitar), but my Ibanez kicks the crap out of it. And it's just some old Japanese model.

I bought a 1/4" to USB cable from Alesis that works great with my rig. I just plug it into my mac and go. I think it was $40 bucks and I haven't had any problems with it.

[Hawkeye411]

Nice