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Want a $200 Guitar controller? Logitech has you covered photo

If you love your Guitar Hero and want only the best for those late night strumming sessions, perhaps you may want to consider swapping out your squeaky plastic guitar for this decadent $200 bastard from Logitech. You will either be considered the coolest or stupidest person on the block if you come packing this kind of heat.

With a wooden neck, metal frets and a rosewood fingerboard, this wireless beast with "hundreds of hours" of battery life simply does not give a sh*t. It works with both Guitar Hero and Rock Band, meaning Nick Chester will be buying eight of them. We'd get him one, but Logitech won't reply to our email saying "Give us it, don't be a dickhead."

Logitech has always made good stuff, in my opinion, although I don't think I could spend $200 for a fake guitar. Maybe if they released a Dynasty Warriors controller with a gold-plated Square button for luxury button-mashing, I'll drop a couple of notes.


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34 comments | showing # 1 to 34

CRAZYAPE69's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:07
CRAZYAPE69
Ok this is getting ridiculous now, you could easialy get a cheap electric guitar for that or less, why get one that you can only 'play' a couple of songs with when you could ge tone that you could play anything you wanted with, that is of course if you like constantly tuning your guitar like a mother bitch only to find that it goes out of tune in an hour lol.
Cataract's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:07
Cataract
Meh. I'm honestly much more interested in the Gretsch RB/GH guitars that were covered a while back. It's still $100 for a guitar controller (which I won't buy regardless), but at least Gretsch makes some really nice guitars, and the style follows over a bit to the plastic ones.
Justice's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:07
Justice
Logitech are reliable but I'd rather spent the mulah on a real guitar.
n0brein's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:18
n0brein
o_O my real guitar cost me 225€ ...
Dexter345's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:18
Dexter345
Looks pretty hot. Had I $200 lying around, I'd consider it. I'd prefer Rock Band style fret buttons (and solo buttons rather than the touchpad), but the rest makes up for it.
DaedHead8's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:24
DaedHead8
I'd gladly pay 200 clams for that beast. If only because I like seeing the "play real music" crowd squirm.
BOOGER GOBLIN's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:25
BOOGER GOBLIN
why does it have a humbucker on it. If you put strings on it will it actually play.
Furnimus's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:28
Furnimus
Those buttons better press themselves for $200.
GunSlap's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:34
GunSlap
Good god! I payed 200 dollars for my real electric guitar, this is insane!

PS: Thank god for that scratch on the side or I would have payed 300 bucks. Wait, does Logitech have a similar policy?
bruceleethree's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:36
bruceleethree
seriously, they keep raising the price on these plastic gimmicks, kids will buy real guitars and say F.U. to these music games.

keep it up. make it $300.
bruceleethree's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:37
bruceleethree
and @ daedhead,

sucks being tone deaf huh?
Los255's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:38
Los255
This shit better have lifetime warranty for that kinda dough.
Aurain's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:41
Aurain
My Epiphone Les Paul special 2 only cost like 160 quid. (As any pro will tell you, It's not an amazing guitar, but it's a pretty good one for a part time player )
Furnimus's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:44
Furnimus
I just looked at the Gizmodo comments, those guys are going crazy over there with the "buy a real guitar." Seriously, some people want to play guitar hero. Could you imagine if people did this with every game?

"Quit playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, join the army!"
"Stop playing LittleBigPlanet, go get a degree in architecture!"
"Turn Pokemon off and start catching wild rabid animals with red and white balls!"
Topher Cantler's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:45
Topher Cantler
As has been said, I don't think I paid much more than that for my real guitar.
vApathyv's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 10:50
vApathyv
Wow. My guitar was only like, 120. Granted, it was three years ago and it's a genuine P.O.S, but still.

That being said though, would I buy this? Probably. Guitar's not my 'real' instrument of choice, so I'm free to purchase as many useless plastic doodads as I please.
DeusPayne's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 11:03
DeusPayne
Ah Logitech. Making people want to spend money on shit they really don't need.
Chronic Logic's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 11:07
Chronic Logic
It's considered a bad investment when you spend more money on a fake guitar than a real guitar should cost.
Internecivus's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 11:13
Internecivus
@Furnimus

But... wild rabid animals don't shoot fire out of their mouths or leaves from their ass O_o

Though I have to admit that I laughed quite a bit at the last part of your comment :p You do make a solid point. There are people that don't want to learn how to play a real guitar and are quite content with their Rock Band/Guitar Hero fantasy world skills... like me, for example :p

But there is no way in hell that I'd lay my hard earned cash down to buy this mo-effer. Why? I guess it comes with the fact that it has a very... VERY limited use. Only two games out of the huge plethora of videogames out there are going to make good use of this. See, it's different if you buy something like a 200$ keyboard... which can be used for a very WIDE variety of applications, the price then sort of justifies itself (Though I'd still be VERY hard pressed to buy a 200$ keyboard O_o)...

I'm not so much for the "Buy a real guitar, *sshole!" argument, since I could care less about getting a real one... I just plain suck at playing it. I'm a little more partial towards "You're going to be shelling out 200$ on something that's going to make you look like a big douche and it'll only work for two damn games" side of the issue O_o
Arch649's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 11:14
Arch649
Seriously, I paid $150 for my guitar. It's acoustic, but it's a real one.
AlucardX24's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 11:31
AlucardX24
Dynasty Warriors controller?

This man is a GENIUS!
Ace Flibble's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 11:37
Ace Flibble
@ Chronic Logic
$200 for a guitar isn't actually that much - it'll get you a starter guitar at best. Intermediate guitars run in the £600/$900 range. A guitar decent enough to play regular gigs with will be from that up to £1200/$1800. Professional quality guitars cost into the multiple thousands; I've got a Gibson Custom Shop that cost more than my mum's car. A few days ago I was having a bash on a Telecaster with a £13,000 price tag. People really under-estimate how much guitars cost.

I'm not saying this controller isn't stupid and a complete rip-off at $200, but y'know. Comparing this to a real guitar is a bit of a silly exercise because no controller will ever be as excessively expensive as some guitars can be.
Usedtabe's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 12:06
Usedtabe
@Ace Fibble: I've played many gigs on my sub-$400 guitars. My Ibanez RG series guitars have an awesome sound and can be picked up from $250-$400. Don't get me wrong, they are no where near the quality of PRS guitars or higher end models, but they are very versatile. What most people are not factoring into the cost equation are the amp/strings/effects pedals cost.

I love the RB/GH games, but it is starting to get out of hand when it comes to instrument pricing.
n0brein's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 12:47
n0brein
@Ace Flibble: I play a squier telecaster custom that cost me 225€ (300$ but I guess you can get the guitar for 200$ in the US) and I've recorded an album with it and I play concerts regularly.

It's obvious that the fender edition of my guitar is better crafted and not made in korea but they sound pretty much the same and an my hands I try to take everything out of my guitar and I love the sound of it :)

Instruments don't have to be extremely expensive to make nice music :)
bruceleethree's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 13:31
bruceleethree
When I bought an acoustic for $200, Les Paul, and an Electric Les Paul faded cherry for $900. I learned I can now play with musicians, I can learn a new talent I can pass time and enjoy playing whatever song I want on demand instead of waiting for a company to release it for a video game at their leisure.

Your favorite songs on demand played by you is priceless. If you don't see that then you shouldn't be playing a music game, as you clearly are not into music.

So all these defenders of the game over real music are phonies. And you're a stereotype if anything.
Ace Flibble's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 13:35
Ace Flibble
@ Usedtabe: Eww, Ibanez RG. Well if that's what floats your boat man then go for it. I had an RG once, RG321MH I think it was called, horrible little thing. Neck was so thin it physically hurt to play on for more than literally just twenty seconds. I prefer ESP's as far as thin necks go. Bit rounder, much more comfortable.

But yeah I've been thinking, this controller is even stupider than it first seems. Rosewood needs regular treatment with lemon oil or it dries up and cracks; necks need truss rods or they'll warp from changes in temperature and from just regular use. I'm assuming this controller doesn't have a truss rod - or if it does then that's going to make it really neck-heavy and it'll be useless for playing the game with. Basically you'll be paying $200 for a controller that will in all likelihood break after a couple of months of use, especially since we're coming up to the high heats of summer.
Greylocke's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 14:29
Greylocke
If you guys really want to push the envelope on cheap guitars, you can buy a really bad one for less than it costs to buy a PS3 game, so isn't the price of a guitar irrelevant to the price of this controller?

Where talking about controller costs, not instruments, seeing as its not one. I wouldn't think of buying a $200 controller, no matter what it was for, not even a $200 keyboard for my PC, when I use it all the time.

With that said though, people who do want to buy this controller probably wouldn't want to touch an acoustic or electric guitar in the first place. So again, I think it not really worth bringing up. Besides, its just a regurgitated topic thats been gone over already.

People who play RB or GH, are playing it because they want to play GH or RB. People don't play those games because they want to play an instument. I think its a misconception that people who play those games think they can really nail out the same song on an actual instrument. Even though I could be entirely wrong, I just don't feel people really think that.

Second, I don't see why you need a truss rod. You don't have any strings on the controller to actually apply pressure to the wood, so its not like it will bow completely out of shape in a couple of years making it entirely unplayable. I have cheap furniture, that isn't made out of solid wood, so if that can withstand years of heat from the summer, I'm a wood controller neck can withstand a couple months. The controller isn't going to warp completely out of shape and break.

I have a banjo-mandolin that my grandmother gave me that has been laying up in her extremely hot attic for years untouched. It's not cracked nor as bad as you make out the controller to be. Nice looking instrument too. Got some good age on it, even though it wasn't take care of. I think it dates back to the 20s. I'd really like restore it.
Naim Master's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 15:15
Naim Master
Waiting for a gold made Wii Mote ...
Braumeister's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 17:59
Braumeister
I bought a Paul Reed Smith (a dinged-up SE series, but it's still a PRS) in a pawn shop for $250 once.

This is insane.

Then again, this is a company that sells boatloads of universal remotes at $300 a pop.
DaedHead8's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 20:08
DaedHead8
@bruceleethree

I wouldn't know anything about being tone deaf. I own three different "real" guitars, an electric, an acoustic and a semi-hollow body. In short, it sucks being an asshole, huh?
Ace Flibble's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/12/2009 23:33
Ace Flibble
@ Greylocke: truss rods are more to balance out the natural expansion of the wood during use and changes in temperature. It has little to do with string tension after initial adjustment and setting, despite popular belief.
Also any rosewood on instruments from earlier than 1970 is going to be deep Brazilian Rosewood, that can survive a longer time. That costs a premium though - $300+ for a piece the size to make a fretboard from - and isn't likely to be what this controller will use. Logitech will much more likely use the much cheaper Indian Rosewood which dries up, cracks and splits very quickly.

I'm actually really quite intrigued now how this controller is made and how it'll fare. I may have to buy one just to experiment with. Damn my wood obsession! [insert homoerotic innuendo here].
exodus1925's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/13/2009 10:38
exodus1925
I'd totally buy one if I had more money than sense. But then if I had more money than sense I'd totally buy alot of things. Hmmm.
CountZeroOR's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/08/2009 12:49
CountZeroOR
Well, it's less expensive than a Fender Stratocaster or a Gibson Les Paul, but not by much. I don't really play enough Guitar Hero or Rock Band to want to spend the money on this, maybe if I played more (or participated in competitions), I might consider it, but only in those circumstances.
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