Roland GK-3

Setup is simple for your average Joe, but I'm an idiot. I drilled two small holes into my strat, but didn't drill far enough so the screw on the top hole broke off in the guitar while i was drilling the midi pickup in. I had to saw off and file down what was left of the screw end. After that debacle, I just stuck the GK-3 on using the supplied tape and it has never come off.

Again being an idiot I often am too tired after gigs to bring my stuff into the house, so it stays in the garage where it is subjected to wild temperature swings, etc... still, the midi pickup has never come undone.

8 instead of 10 because they didn't quite fool proof it.

With regard to sound quality i'm going to talk about tracking.

I have never had a problem with the normal tracking setting. If you hit the string you get sound, even if you didn't mean to hit the string. that's your fault not the device.

I have tried it in 'super sensitive' mode, and have discovered that sensitive tracking is best used in the studio rather than live or you will get octave jumps and LOTS of duff notes if you are not the stand still and play type.

I play in a Regg'go (Reggae/Dancehall/Go-Go mixed together) band and I have it paired with the Roland GR-33 which has JV-1080 sounds and is good-n-tweakable.

Most of the time, I'll put an organ on the top 3 strings and a piano on the bottom three. That way I can do 1-5-12 bubbles like a keyboard player while maintaining my skank on the other side of the beat.

We've got a song where I play a flute with portamento on the bottom 4 strings so that it slides from one note to the next, and as we exit the hook (that's the chorus for you L7's) i fly down the neck on the G-string from A (2n'd fret) to A (14th fret)... kills 'em!

On the top two strings of that patch (E-A) I've got an Orchestra hit sound that I hit after the flute gliss, then I switch back to the guitar skank.

Kills 'em...

everyone's looking around for the keyboard player... but we don't need one. 4 piece chicken dinner (mic, guitar, bass, drums)... One less dude to cut the money with.

I've been gigging with the GK-3 for over a year playing at least one gig (usually two) and one practice per week, so that's about 150+ official uses where it has been subjected to the threat of beer bottles, falling mic stands, drunk groupies with big booties and ghanja smoke... not to mention studio use.

past experience with roland (manuals, firmware upgrades, patch lists, etc...) has not been easy.

I have the GK-3 connected to a GR-33 connected to (1/4" and midi) Digitech GNX-1 both of which are connected to either a Fender HotRod Deville [large clubs and outdoor festivals] or a Fender Roc Pro 700 [smaller clubs and bad neighborhood outdoor festivals].

I'm going to treat myself to a Les Paul Custom for my Bday and I'm going to put a GK-3 on that too.

Well, 2 buttons, one volume control. Too easy. To set up, let's be realistic: take it to a luthier ad have it done prof and hassle free for your and your guitar's sake!

Using it with synths, GR 50 and GR 33 as well as VGA 7 amp. Compared to the GK2, the difference is massive! This thing seem to track much better. Interms of noise and stuff, if you play with care, it's similar to any DiMarzio pick up. Only thing is the tapping doesn't come out all that well, and fingerpicking can sound weak but tweaking your Midi device will help loads.

This this has had some major mishaps and accidents. Somehow it still works...

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Great for any Roland GK related products. Much improved in every way, even cosmetically, on the GK2. Been playing for 20years and I do Dream Theater stuff which the GK3 handles synth parts and also classical fingerpicked stuff. Technology will make this essential in the future. They still have tracking issues, but only for now...

This is a divided pickup for a midi controller or synth. It makes no usable noise on its own.

Because of the physical design of this pickup, it's a paion in the arse to set up correctly. It has a natural radius that can be adjusted, but Roland would have done far better with individually adjustable pole pieces. Also depending on the guitar you're attempting to attach it to, it can be straightforward or a miserable evening of bad tempers. To give them credit, Roland had completely redesigned the fitting and fixing kit from previous models, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution. My Warrior has a slightly recessed micromatic bridge, and this means that to adjust the pickup to the required clearance from the strings, I risked putting some nasty dings in the finish of the guitar. With some felt, shorter screws, replaced strings, a modified bracket, and much prayer, the pickup is now nestled between the bridge and the lead pickup, but I wish I had not bothered. Unfortunately, because of the radius of the device, the sensitivity settings on the GI-20 that I connected it to are all over the place. It's also completely unforgiving with regards to collisions and clicks, string noise and tapped harmonics (of which I use a lot).

only had it two days - it's not blowed up yet

as I said, I have only had it two days, but it does not in any way do what I hoped it would, so let's see how they are when I take it back.

I play fingerstyle jazz, blues, instrumentals, and the purpose for buying this thing was to record midi from it and use a transcription software to write what I played to the stave. Unfortunately, simply by the nature of the technology, the tracking can never be accurate enough (nor can my playing) even with good quantization, to put a useful score together.

In truth, I don't think it was ever designed for the task to which it was applied, and to that end I am not in a position to be disappointed. If you just use it for connecting to some synth or other to make your guitar sound like something else then you have yourself a winner. The tracking is certainly fast enough (at least with the GI-20) to perform some music, if you can live with the inherant nasty squeaks and pops that this configuration brings forth.

If you're trying to short-cut the arduous task of musical transcription, forget it. If you're bored with how your guitar sounds and want to be a synth jockey then this is probably a good toy to buy.