There are certain natural laws that govern the behavior of our world: what goes up must come down; for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction; to play in tune, you have to get yourself in tune, writes Gibson.com.

Ever since the invention of the instrument, this third law has been grudgingly accepted by guitar players. No longer. Gibson’s new Powertune System rewrites the laws and frees guitarists from the drudgery of tuning. To play in tune, tell your guitar to tune up for you. Impossible? Not any more.

The Powertune System, available as original equipment only on Gibson guitars, is the first fully functional, performance-ready, and non-obtrusive automated tuning system, and the only self-tuning system practical for use by the professional guitarist. It is operated solely from the guitar, with no external connections or interface from a third-party device, and no need to move your busy fingers from the guitar strings and controls they are already manipulating in the course of your performance. Simply activate your guitar’s Master-Control Knob (MCK), strum the strings lightly, and within seconds the Powertune’s digital brain and Powerhead tuners work together to put you perfectly in tune.

Or to achieve any open or alternate tuning, rotate the MCK to the desired preset, strum, and you’re ready to play in Open E, Dropped D, Double Dropped D, DADGAD, Open G, Hendrix Tuning (half-step down), or any of your own custom tunings. In the time it takes you to say, “Hello, Cleveland—we think you’re gonna like this next one…” you’re back in tune, and ready to rock. No stomping on pedals, staring at the floor, or breaking eye contact with your audience, and your fretting hand doesn’t even have to touch a tuning key to get you there.

Other tuning systems require either the use of an external gadget, extensive and obtrusive modification to your guitar, or are extremely limited in their capabilities. Fender claims to have automated tuning on its VG Stratocaster, but it is far from being a genuine self-tuning system, and lightyears from having the capabilities of Gibson’s Powertune System.

In fact, if you put a VG Stratocaster into correct “relative” tuning but slightly flat or sharp of true concert pitch (i.e. the guitar strings are “in tune” with each other, but not with other instruments in accepted A-440Hz tuning), it is not even capable of correcting its virtual tuning to make the guitar actually in tune.

does it actually tune the strings for you or does it emulate whatever tuning you set it too regardless of the actual string tuning?

Also to people who wants to play Mike role on Present Tense and Given to Fly.

PT is only in Dropped D. How lazy do you have to be for that? Having this guitar for tunings like say, Open C, is a godsend, but does anyone really need a guitar to tune itself into D?

Ugh. The fact that such a product exists astounds me. I can go from E to Drop D and back again in about 20 seconds by ear (not saying it's pitch perfect). Again, it's just laziness.

Ugh. The fact that such a product exists astounds me. I can go from E to Drop D and back again in about 20 seconds by ear (not saying it's pitch perfect). Again, it's just laziness.

There are songs that are played in both standard E and drop-D by the same guitar so the switch needs to be done on the fly. I think Eddie Van Halen uses this technique alot. It's not lazy as much as necessity.