Hey guys, any VG Strat users out there? I was recently turned on to this guitar as I had stayed away from it because of my experience with some of the earlier stuff like this. I have to say it is pretty amazing. Maybe some of you could give me some input on your experiences with this guitar. My main question is...if you are say, on the acoustic model sound, can you capo the guitar and get the same effect as you would normally on a acoustic? In other words, is the modeling software going to know that you have capo'd the guitar on the 3rd fret and playing an A position, so does it play a C? I would love to know. I didn't think about that when I was demoing the guitar.



Thanks,
G

I own one - I won it on the Fender Forum.

The VG Strat looks complicated, but isn't really - Fender and Roland tried to make it as simple as can be - you have two extra knobs to change what the guitar sounds like - not how it actually operates.

If you put a capo on the guitar, the notes that will play will be different than when there isn't a capo on - just like a regular guitar. Now, lets look at the electronics - like I said there are only 2 extra knobs.

One is to control what kind of guitar to model - you get a choice of a Normal non-modeled Strat; a Modeled Strat that is slight;y different than the normal Strat; you get a Modeled Telecaster; you get a Dual Humbucker Strat and finally an Acoustic. In all cases the only think being changed is what the guitar sounds like, ie, are you playing a Strat, Tele, Humbucker or Acoustic - the 5-way switch determines which pickups, or in the case of the Acoustic, which kind of Acoustic. What notes are being played remain the same. It doesn't matter whether a capo is on or off the guitar.

Now the other control will actually change the notes that are being played, this is the Tuning Knob. You get to pick a normally tuned guitar, or one that is in a different tuning. Only by selecting one of these, will a different note appear in the output.

Here's a quote from the Musician's Friend website entry for the VG Strat that explains this -
I play mine un-plugged, plugged in as a normal Strat, and sometime I pick one of the Models - the Dual Humbuckers sound nice too me - YMMV. I haven't really tried to play with the many different tunings, except for the 12-string one - that's a nice sound too - but a real 12-string sounds better.

Remember the guitar picks up the sounds of the guitar via a special Roland pickup - and the using the settings on the knobs, it determines what to do to the sound it is picking up - it doesn't know what your fingers or a capo are doing - it only hears what you play and then does it's thing.

I like mine a lot - it's a very nice American Strat, plus I get all these extras, some of which I don't use (yet) - I'm re-learning the guitar after many years (30+) away from playing.

I hope this helps.

Gil

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