Anyone buying the new Gibson Robot Guitar on eBay or another non-dealer source is in for a rude surprise.

Gibson Robot Guitar

You have no warranty on a highly technical musical instrument unless purchased new from an authorized dealer.

Gibson’s Robot Guitar is a hot axe this year: made in a limited edition with flashy blue and silver paint, the Robot Guitar can tune itself in both standard and non-standard tunings. 

Update – This guitar is out of production – here’s what it looked like.

The guitar is so hot it has become a scalper’s dream on eBay. People are trying to get premiums over retail since the guitars are sold out across North America and Europe.

When announced, some commentators scoffed at Gibson for making a guitar that would tune itself. Essentially the owners were called musical wussies. However professional guitar players know how great it would be to quickly re-tune a guitar on-stage. Critics -10: Gibson +10.

eBay can be a fun way to buy used items and sometimes new items that are hard to find. eBay has become a storefront for many merchants who are not authorized dealers. That means no warranty – no matter what you are told.

Some manufacturers limit the warranty on musical instruments to the original purchaser. Martin has done this for decades. Gibson changed its warranty to make it non-transferable original owner only. This may not be a problem with traditional guitars but this new fangled computer guitar combination is almost certain to need warranty repairs. If you buy it used you are out of luck.

Update 2012 – I owned one of the original Gibson Robot guitars which I later sold. The headstock was unusually heavy and never felt right. It did amuse some people in the audience when the tuning keys moved on their own.

Gibson’s latest version of this is the Min-ETune system that fits on the headstock, about a $300 upgrade option when the guitar is made. No one seems to be stocking this upgrade.