Bonkers Logitech GHWT guitar priced

By Robert Purchese Published 5 December, 2008

A steal at just 150 quid.

Logitech has decided to charge GBP 149.99 for a guitar peripheral that only works with the Guitar Hero series of games. It's not real, doesn't do the washing up, and probably won't attract women.

Amazon.co.uk will be the exclusive stockist, and offer the PS3 and PS2 guitar from 22nd December.

The "Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller, Peripheral Edition" is, for that kind of money, naturally very lavish, as we told you when the instrument was announced for the US.

There's a wooden neck, for example, a rosewood fingerboard and metal frets. The 2.4GHz wireless allows play at a distance of 10 metres just in case you play on a cinema screen, which, let's be honest, you probably do if you'd fork out for this.

'Bonkers Logitech GHWT guitar priced' Screenshot wireless

Quite attractive, though.

More practical are the rubber dome fret buttons that make less noise than normal, plus there's the GHWT slider bar for those nifty solos. And to wrap it all up, quite literally, is a "gig bag" to put the instrument plus any odds and sods in.

We like the idea, but for GBP 150 you can buy a complete bundle of instruments for GHWT. We're not sure we understand.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (43) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Bealsy #1 3 years ago

    Oh dear

  • cyacomini #2 3 years ago

    Hey Logitech - suck my baws!

  • DFawkes #3 3 years ago

    Damn! I went out and bought the whole bundle, when I could've just had a slightly nicer guitar for the same price. How much of a chump am I?

    I can't see them selling any.

  • keyboardmonkey #4 3 years ago

    Take your £150 and buy yourself a real guitar :o

  • DoctorZoidberg #5 3 years ago

    I can't see them selling any.


    I reckon this will sell well, there are a lot of nerds out there.

    Take your £150 and buy yourself a real guitar :o


    Behave son.

  • superted1974 #6 3 years ago

    And stop playing FIFA and go and buy a real football

    etc

    etc

  • JahB #7 3 years ago

    Take your £150 and buy yourself a real guitar :o

    you don't get real guitar for 150 quid mate. try 1500


  • optimusprym8 #8 3 years ago

    worth it if it lasts longer than the GH pieces of shit

  • conners #9 3 years ago

    Ilogispec

  • Zomoniac #10 3 years ago

    If it worked with RB then I might've been tempted. But since GH is crap and I only bought WT because I needed a nice second guitar, I won't bother.

  • Toothball #11 3 years ago

    I'd be tempted if it were a Rock Band guitar. I know it'd work and all, but I'd want the Rock Band features. Already got the Ion drum kit, so I'm no stranger to overly unnecessary music peripherals.

  • DoctorZoidberg #12 3 years ago

    Behave farticusmaximus, you can get some beautiful Gibson ES-335's for that money.

    Don't be a guitar snob! May I ask which guitars you own then? I'm guessing a nice £3,000 les paul which you play in your band in front of 30'000 screaming fans?

    I thought not.... There are hundreds and hundreds of very good quality guitars for less than £1500!
    I do believe Jack White use's some guitars at times much less than even that, oh, but he's a terrible guitarist isn't he!

    Edit : Your probably going to come back with some remark about prices etc etc and Jack White is rubbish blah blah, so please direct me to a place where i can hear your (superior i bet) sounds....
    Edited by 1 at 05/12/08 @ 10:56

  • cyacomini #13 3 years ago

    farticusmaximus doesn't play in front of 30,000 screaming fans with his Les Paul....



    ...he plays an Ibanez

  • MKorkia #14 3 years ago

    Dear Logitech!

    Please make us a really good guitar that works with both Guitar Hero and Rock Band. It does not need to have real wood on its neck. Just a lot better guitar than is shipped with RB or GH, we all know You can make very good peripherals. 100 GBP / 150 EUR would be an ideal price for a very good guitar.

    Thank You in advance!

    Yours, MKorkia

  • EzyRyder #15 3 years ago

    LOL @ MKorkia and his exchange rate madness. At the rate the pound is going it is going to be 150 GBP / 100 EUR!!!

  • Bumhug360 #16 3 years ago

    "We like the idea, but for GBP 150 you can buy a complete bundle of instruments for GHWT. We're not sure we understand."

    I would rather pay £150 for something thats going to work and has decent build quality. I payed £150 for the instrument pack and got a set of drums that dont work (calibration kit in the post) and a guitar that lasted a weekend before the green button started sticking and became useless. So I ended up paying £150 for a game and microphone. Crazy as it sounds I would consider this along with the £230 Ion Drum kit you can get ([link url=http://www.drumrocker.com/ )
    ]http://www.drumrocker.com/ )
    [/link]

    The quality of both Harmonix and Red Octanes instruments is shockingly poor and as it stands I will probably have to fork out another £150 next year to replace the broken instruments I got this year. Only thing stopping me getting the premium kit is this nagging feeling that the feckers at Activision and Harmonix will add something else to the instruments next year

  • kangarootoo #17 3 years ago

    @JahB

    Anyone who spends £1500 on a guitar is either buying it as a collector's piece, or is mad.

    You can get a completely brilliant guitar for under £500 and the best playing guitars on the planet cost less than £1k.

  • LiamK #18 3 years ago

    "@DoctorZoidberg

    I'm not saying there aren't superb guitars out there for considerably less than £1500, it's just the particular one's I'm after are a bit pricey, no in fact scratch that, the one's I'm after are rediculously expensive for what you get. :)

    I have ....

    Wow. I suddenly feel a lot less bad wasting money on imported Transformer figures. Especially as one is a guitar that TURNS INTO A BIRD! Can your guitars do that? Eh? Eh?

    Also, "ridiculous".

  • DoctorZoidberg #19 3 years ago

    I've always half wanted a Flying V, but They looks so impractical (but cool).

    I'm a lot more in acoustic / fingerpicking myself, whilst I appreciate electrics, they will only be a side hobby of mine (which explains my only electric guitar as a rather cheap £200 tanglewood). I have a ton of acoustics lying all over my house, from cheap Lorenzo's to mid Fenders up to my prized seagull mosaic (not that great, but I love it).

    Gibson Doves in Flight, that's my goal one day!

    Edit : @ Kangarootoo : Anyone who spends £1500 on a guitar is either buying it as a collector's piece, or is mad.

    That's like saying spending 20k on a car is mad. If its you love, and you feel your good enough (and can afford) 1.5k on a guitar, more power too you! that Gibson above I want is about £3.500!
    Edited by 1 at 05/12/08 @ 11:33

  • kangarootoo #20 3 years ago

    @Bumhug360

    Can that ION kit can be used a normal e-kit trigger system? That would add value to it right away. I thought you could add a normal e-kit brain and just play drums on it, I may be wrong.

  • kangarootoo #21 3 years ago

    P.s. just saw the third clip on that web link. You can indeed use the ION kit as a trigger system for an e-kit. That makes it worth £230.

  • kangarootoo #22 3 years ago

    @DoctorZoidberg

    Well I guess that falls into the collector's piece category then. I'm not saying collectors are mad, but the guitars they buy are not bought purely for the quality of playing experience.

    I've bought guitars for aethetic reasons in the past, but I would usually buy something based on how it played above anything else. And some really nice vintage guitars that cost a lot of money simply don't play as well as a top end modern guitar. This is perhaps not so much the case with acoustics, but I'm on the other side of tyhe fence to you and I don't know much about acoustics :)

    Which Gibson is it incidentally?
    Edited by 1 at 05/12/08 @ 11:42

  • DoctorZoidberg #23 3 years ago

    http://ww w.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/gibs...

    Thats my dream guitar.

    I'm an odd player though, I have my acoustics with a really high action, playing electrics is a bit odd to me because they are always a lot lower (I could change them of course). I just prefer slower more melodic playing. One day I'm going to go the whole hog and get a nylon stringed classical.

    And I too have bought guitars for aesthetic reasons. I have a fender Tiki Femme Fatale, which sounds super bassey, but looks amazing. I have one of these too, http://ww w.fallonemusic.com/images/Ibane...
    Its probably the worst sounding acoustic ever, but it looks pretty next to the more boring looking ones.

  • Toothball #24 3 years ago

    @Bumhug360: Playing with the Ion kit is something else. It's worth considering if you really like your peripherals, although only really works with Rock Band for now.

  • kangarootoo #25 3 years ago

    "One day I'm going to go the whole hog and get a nylon stringed classical."

    I learnt to play on one of those. Far from an ideal guitar for a beginner, but it probably helped my finger strength. Too many kids start playing on cheap acoustics, and get put off by the fact they have a terribly high action. Much better to start them on a cheap but well set up electric.


    Anyway, /checks link. Holy crap that is a pricey guitar! It doesn't even have any flames on it ffs ;)

    I think if I were to pick any guitar as my all time fave it would be one of these two.

    http://www.seibass.com/ (no particular item, they are all custom made anyway)
    [link url=http://www.p rsguitars.com/513/index.html
    ]http://www.p rsguitars.com/513/index.html
    [/link]

    Hmmm. I guess I am into overpriced dream guitars as much as the next person. I just took issue with the suggestion that you couldn't get a "real" guitar for under £1.5k (which I know wasn't you comment).

  • Thunderbolt #26 3 years ago

    DoctorZoidberg,

    Sorry to have a go but that is one of the gayest guitars I've ever seen ;)

  • DoctorZoidberg #27 3 years ago

    Those Paul Reed Smith's look very nice!

    And Thunderbolt!, admittedly it looks a bit fruity, but it is a good talking point, and it always amuses my friends when we have a jam!

    Edit : That looks nice Zerolight, but I'm not a fan of that spangly faceplate!
    Edited by 1 at 05/12/08 @ 12:52

  • neilka #28 3 years ago

    Peripheral Edition? As opposed to what, a guitar welded to your console?

  • Corben_Dallas #29 3 years ago

    it is bonkers......

    I'll have 3 in different colours! :p :)

    looks sweet tho'

  • Daikon #30 3 years ago

    worth it if it lasts longer than the GH pieces of shit

    Amen to that. I'm about to throw my GH3 guitar out due to button presses not registering at all sometimes.
    Very frustrating as I love the game. Doubly frustrating as I live in Japan and they don't sell any X360 guitars without a copy of the game over here for some reason...

  • Thunderbolt #31 3 years ago

    Daikon

    'Amen to that. I'm about to throw my GH3 guitar out due to button presses not registering at all sometimes. '

    I have the same problem and will be getting a new guitar this weekend, unfortunately not this one. LOL

    I find that using fresh quality batteries helps and as someone suggested using an elastic so that the neck and base of the guitar are firmly together so the connectors are held in place.

  • kangarootoo #32 3 years ago

    @zerolight

    I'm not really getting into details about at what price bracket you enter the collectors market. That wasn't really my point. What I am saying is that you don't need to spend £1500 to get one of the best PLAYING guitars on the planet.

    I would challenge any guitarist on the planet not familiar with the range to tell the difference between a selection of Ibanez guitars from between £900 and the top of their range. When people talk about the "best playing", a lot of it is simply smoke and mirrors and placebo. Once you get into the top echelons the differences are simply not discernible outside of people's own imaginations. Its the same as with cars, sometimes you are paying top whack just to have the right badge on the front of the radiator grill.

    Your own guitar is very nice indeed, and certainly looks unique and expensive, but I would dispute whether it plays better than a good guitar half the price that is properly set up. It is clearly a collectors guitar, and some of the money you spent on it did not go into making it play any better than a cheaper model. I'm not saying it isn't a worthwhile purchase, but its not JUSt about how well it plays (going back again to the comment about "real" guitars";).

  • Fab4 #33 3 years ago

    I have an Ibanez RS440 which I bought for 80 of your English pounds, from a fire sale. It had 2 scratches on the back, but apart from that it plays like a dream...lovely action.

  • captainrentboy #34 3 years ago

    I'll take 12....
    I once tried to get into playing Bass, this was waaaay back when Limp Bizkit were as cool as fuck, I was soooo clueless I bought a 5 string one (Almost bought one for left handed people first), I think I managed to become skilled enough to play Three Blind Mice and then gave up.
    Guitaring isn't for folk with hands the size of a Gorrilla's, combined with the finger dexterity of an Elephant:/
    I do respect anyone who is particularly skilled at playing them mind, it's sooo fooking tricky!

  • kangarootoo #35 3 years ago

    @zerolight

    You make a convincing case, and tbh without actually playing some of the guitars you describe it would be more than a little self centred of me to dismiss the playing experience they provide out of hand as not being any better than guitar XYZ.

    As for your scratchplate, its not to my tastes either but I say stick to your guns. Its all subjective really. I think it actually suits the overall look of the guitar better than a plain white one would.

    I think I have farticusmaximus on ignore, 'cos all he ever does is troll. But reading your responses it feels like this might actually be a subject on which he can say something remotely adult (though the reference to toilet seats hardly supports that theory).

  • Redeye #36 3 years ago

    Guitarists: +1. Nuff said.

    This peripheral: Looks nice, bit ouchy pricewise for a one-game peripheral though, IMO.

    LiamK: TF Animated Laserbeak FTW! :D

  • BlackKraken #37 3 years ago

    I completely forgoed buying an expensive guitar like those once i reached a decent skill level.
    I custom built one from different parts so i could get a sound i wanted out of it, i was a little nervous about doing so before, but it turned out to be pretty simple really.

    But then i did my grade 8 with a fender starcaster, so im obviously insane XD

  • Zomoniac #38 3 years ago

    You can get a completely brilliant guitar for under £500 and the best playing guitars on the planet cost less than £1k.

    In my house there is:

    An ES-335, 2 standard USA Telecasters, a standard USA strat, a 1980 Telecaster Elite (uber-rare thing), an alpine white w/gold hardware custom shop Les Paul Custom, a PRS single-cut, a Ric 620-12, a Ric 360-12, a Gibson Chet Atkins, and probably some others I can't remember (they're my dad's, I'm not that rich!). The only guitar in that list that cost more than £1,500 was the PRS, which was around £2,800. And it plays exponentially better than all the others. Therefore your statement is wrong.

  • kangarootoo #39 3 years ago

    "Therefore your statement is wrong."

    Well, that kind of assumes that your own collection is representative of all the guitars out there, which it clearly isn't.

    Anyway, I don't really want to continue that avenue of discussion further, 'cos it actually feels like it is getting in the way of an otherwise rather nice thread full of guitarists talking about their hobby. I regert raising the point and I retract it :)


    So BlackKraken mentioned building a guitar to suit his/her needs. I completely recommend this, if only from a self fulfilment point of view. I started building guitars in my late teens and actually studied it at uni (among other things) and it can be immensely rewarding. It is extremely unlikely you will end up building your perfect playing guitar, but with a bit of practice you can build exactly the guitar you want to build and feel rather pleased with the results.

    I will often say when the subject comes up that building guitars is half ability and half patience, and for a newby it is 90% patience. So long as you just take your damn time the results can be awesome, and you will never stop being proud of what you have created.

    Anyone even remotely considering building their own instrument should check this book out. It is by far the best reference I have found for someone undertaking their first build (you can probably find it cheaper elsewhere)

    http://ww w.amazon.co.uk/Make-Your-Own-El...
    Edited by 1 at 06/12/08 @ 02:48

  • jetsetdemo #40 3 years ago

    Guy's check out a Music Man Axis, i love mine and it gets a lot more play than my Les Paul and you can pick them up for les than £900! it play's as well as the £1700 Washburn N5 i spent the afternoon noodeling on a few weeks back. I did like the frets on the Nuno though!

    Oh forgot to add ESP M in Camo, £1300 now please Santa if your on the Forum Bring it to me baby (i think my wife will shit bricks if i buy another £1k guitar)
    Edited by 1 at 06/12/08 @ 09:07

  • BlackKraken #41 3 years ago

    for clarification Kangarootoo, i am currently male
    i have this to add:
    if you dont electrocute yourself at least once while building your guitar, you're doing it wrong.
    i also built my own amp. (fiddling with electrical equipment is a hobby of mine [that isnt a euphemism])
    A word of warning, get the wattage right, unless you have very good insurance against fire damage.
    And dont stick a humbucker from an old gibson into an acoustic guitar and expect it to sound anything more than bloody awful.

  • WJF #42 3 years ago

    I started learning guitar at the start of the year and I agree with that comment about the Pacifica. It's a pretty decent git for £150 and unlike one of my friend's old first guitar, of which I cannot remember the name, it's keeps its tuning very well.

    Doesn't sound or look anything special though, but it's a fine guitar for the price.

  • Canyarion #43 3 years ago

    I heard they have guitars that work without electricity, is this true?
    If so, technology is amazing...