The Roland GR-300 and G-808 guitar combination was the original flagship of the early 1980s Roland guitar synthesizers. It was this combination most prominently featured in advertising promoting the breakthrough Roland guitar technology. While more people are familiar with the G-303 guitar, thanks to Pat Metheny, the G-808 was the premium guitar, with complete through-neck construction, gold hardware and more. The G-808 was simply one of the best guitars available at the time, and sold with the GR-300, the finest guitar synthesizer system ever designed.
In many ways, the original GR-300 and G-808 combination was a continuation of the earlier GS-500 and GR-500 guitar and synthesizer combination. These two systems used the same 24-pin cable, but the GR-300 is a simpler system than the earlier GS-500/GR-500. Notably, the GR-300 and G-808 offered a level of playability that had been promised since the introduction of the guitar synthesizers. When players picked up a GR-300 and G-808, they did not have to adjust their style to play this expressive system. And with the G-808, players did not have to compromise of their choice of guitar. The G-808, with its high end hardware, through-neck construction, and ebony fret board, was as good as any mass-produced guitar on the market.
Curiously, the G-808 seems to have shipped with two different styles of bridges. By far and away, the majority of G-808 guitars that I have seen have what looks like a standard Tune-O-Matic type bridge and stop bar tailpiece.
Roland G 808 Guitar Plus Gr 300 Guitar Synthesizer + Original Gr Hardcase
However, early G-808 guitars have a larger, high-mass brass bridge that seems to be more typical of the Ibanez Musician guitars coming from the Fujigen factory. Also, almost all G-808 guitars have a unique stop bar tail piece with a nice piece of decorative wood glued to the top.
Check out the photos below. I have an enlargement from the 1982 Roland Guitar Synthesizer brochure that clearly shows the larger, unique bridge and tailpiece. Also, the guitars in the Roland brochure have the same speed knobs as those found on the Roland G-505 guitar. The majority of G-303 and G-808 guitars have knobs similar to a Les Paul, and this is the same style knob found on the Roland G-202.
I saw one eBay auction, from March of 2007, that has a G-808 with this unique hardware, both bridge and knobs. The center photo below is from that auction.
G 808 Originaltext
While the G-303 and G-808 are very similar guitars, there are some distinct differences between these two highly sought after vintage guitars.
Fret board: The G-303 has a rosewood fret board, while the G-808 has an ebony fret board. Ebony is highly regarded as a fret board material for guitar synth controllers. Both the Ibanez IMG2010 and the Godin LGX-SA use ebony for the fret board.
Neck Design: The G-303 has a set neck, while the G-808 has thru-neck construction. The G-303 has a chunky profile, while the G-808 has a slim neck profile. See the photo at right for more details.
Roland 1982 Complete Vintage Guitar Synthesizer Catalog Brochure
Early G-808 Bridge Design: as previously noted, the early G-808 guitars had a high-mass bridge also in use in Greco guitars made by Fujigen at this time. At some point in the production run, the high-mass brass bridge was replaced with a more conventional tune-o-matic style bridge. The G-303 has also sports a tune-o-matic bridge.
Roland guitars were not built by Ibanez, or Hoshino, as is often erronously posted on various websites! Ibanez does not make every Japanese Electric Guitar!
In 1977, through a joint capital investment between Roland Corporation and Fujigen, FUJI ROLAND CORP is established, based in Matsumoto. Together they developed the world's first guitar synthesizer (GR-500).
S Roland G 808 Vintage Electric Guitar Synthesizer Set Japan W/ Gr300, Gm70
Some have noted the the Roland basses have the logo F Roland on the headstock, for Fuji Roland. And the Roland guitars have GR on the headstock, perhaps for Greco Roland. The 1981 Greco Catalogue shows every Roland guitar synth product in production at that time. The Roland G-808 is a modified version of the Greco GO1000.
Fujigen Gakki built a lot of guitars, for a lot of people, including Greco Guitars. Greco Guitars were sold almost exclusively in Japan. Fujigen Gakki also built guitars for Ibanez, Fender, Fender/Squire, Yamaha, and of course Roland.
The hex fuzz section of a Roland G-series guitar (which is built into the guitar) mixes the fuzzed signal from each string into a single output. Note, though, that this hex fuzz mixer starts rolling off high frequencies around 2k Hz. To eliminate this roll-off, remove the metal plate on the back of the G-series guitar'ts body (the one on the other side from the controls and switches). Next, orient the guitar'ts circuit board so that the lettering is right side up, and look for the capacitor labeled C72 (470 pF). On my guitar, this cap is located a little to the right of center of the board, in the upper middle section. Once you've found the cap, snip one of its leads with a diagonal cutter - you will be rewarded by a brighter fuzz sound with more presence.
Roland Gr808 & G 300 Guitar Synth System Natural
If you remove the guitar electronics for repair, it is quite possible to crack the divided hex synthesizer pickup ribbon ever so slightly. These ribbons become very brittle as they age. The conductive metal traces are layered on to the plastic ribbon, and are fragile. Fortunately, there is a possible fix for this problem, but be forewarned, this is the most difficult and tedious vintage Roland repair.
You suddenly notice that one string on your guitar synth system stops working. The first thing you want to do is try another cable! Cable failures are the most frequent GR-system problem.
If you do not have a spare cable, try jiggling either end of the connector, though the problem is most likely to be the end that plugs into your guitar. If the sound comes and goes, then you need to fix your cable. If not, then you most likely have a problem with an op-amp inside the guitar electronics. A more remote possibility is that you have a damaged pickup.
Roland Gr 300 Kurzbeschreibung
The top G-303 was made in November, 1982, K82, the bottom in January, 1980 A80 The top G-808 was made in December, 1980, L80, the bottom in July, 1980 G80
Have you wondered what year your Roland controller was built? I located some excellent information on dating guitars produced by Fuji Gengakki. This information is from an ebay page called Ibanez Does Not Make Every Japanese Electric Guitar
Guitars made at FujiGen from about 1976 through 1985 use a signature serial numbering system. All Ibanez-branded guitars from 1976-1985 use it, as do Grecos and the other Hoshino-associated brands I discuss below. This serial number system makes it very easy to date the guitar. The serial number is made up of a letter followed by six numerals, for example, B781234. The letter corresponds to the month of the year (A = January, B = February, etc.) and the first two numbers correspond to the year (in the example I give, 78 stands for 1978).Roland GR-300 Polyphonic Guitar Synthesizer with G-808 Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1982), made in Japan, serial # 322887, natural finish, Walnut & ash laminated body, maple & walnut laminated neck, ebony fingerboard, original black hard shell case.
Matrixsynth: Roland G 808 Guitar/synth Controller
At the end of the 70s the music industry was abuzz with the concept that guitars were on the way out and synthesis the wave of the future. Riding this wave Roland introduced the GR-300 analog polyphonic guitar synthesizer and its accompanying controller instruments, following earlier efforts including the Arp Avatar. While there have been plenty technological advancements in the music world since the 80s, this particular little unit still very much reigns as the pinnacle of analog guitar synthesis.
Although by conventional synthesizer standards the GR-300 has a simple tonal palette the unit offers, to this day, the most accurate and musical tracking ever achieved in a guitar synth. It certainly has the artist roster to speak for itself, most notably including Pat Metheny, Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew and Andy Summers.
Unlike today's more common pitch-to-MIDI pickups, the GR-300 guitar synthesizer uses all analog tracking with no latency. Additionally, many of the guitars natural artifacts, like the initial atonal pick attack are translated to be musical and natural sounding, where MIDI pickups can often output wildly inaccurate notes or strange glitches. Because of this, the GR-300 synth requires minimal player adaptation and is reliably easy to play. A fairly unique approach to the pitch detection treats lower fretted notes differently from higher fretted notes on each string, true to the nature of the instrument. The analog technology is not without its own quirks, but they are generally endearing and musically usable: for instance, the aforementioned pick attack is translated into a sound very reminiscent of the spit sound heard at the beginning of a trumpet phrase.
Roland G 808 With Roland Gr 300 Vintage Analog Guitar Synthesizer
The synthesizer has two selectable oscillators, each tunable to +/- one octave and the duet option to use them simultaneously, in unison, octaves or any interval in-between. The two foot-selectable pitch settings have dedicated rise and fall controls and can be switched as latching or momentary. The synth also
0 Response to "Roland Gr-300 G-808 Guitar Synthesizer"
Posting Komentar