With the new V-Guitars from Roland, the guitars of the future are officially here. They look, play, and feel like…well, the traditional guitars you’ve come to know and love. They’re authentic Fender Stratocaster® guitars through and through, with all the great playability, sound, and features you’d expect from the most popular and imitated electric guitar of all time.

So what makes the G-5 VG Stratocaster and GC-1 GK-Ready Stratocaster guitars so different? It’s that they have Roland’s industry leading guitar electronics built right in, allowing you to seamlessly extend and enhance the capabilities of the normal guitar experience. With a staggering array of new sounds and textures at your command, from electric and acoustic guitar tones to other instruments like synths, pianos, and strings, the sonic possibilities are almost limitless.

When Roland and Fender came together to design and build these groundbreaking instruments, their aim wasn’t to completely reinvent the guitar; the goal was to take it to its next evolutionary step, retaining what everyone loves about the instrument while greatly expanding its potential with Roland’s breakthrough innovations in guitar sound processing.

The V-Guitar: A Natural Evolution

The V-Guitar is truly a milestone in the long history of the guitar, and a natural transition into a new era. Over time, the instrument has been continually transformed to enhance its sound capabilities and increase its versatility for playing many different styles of music. Carrying on this tradition of innovation, the V-Guitar is simply the logical “next chapter” in the instrument’s ongoing story.

The acoustic guitar has roots going back to the 12th century. Well before the advent of amplification, innovators added various modifications to the basic instrument to increase volume and projection and refine the sound. These innovations led to the development of the three most popular acoustic types: the classical nylon-string guitar, the flat-top steel string guitar, and the arch-top guitar. These instruments remain with us today, representing three very unique voices in the primary guitar lexicon.

Starting in the 1920s, players began experimenting with ways to make the acoustic guitar louder so it could stand out more in large ensembles. This began with early microphones and electromagnetic pickups typically attached to the arch-top guitars used in the big band era. Ultimately, this led to Leo Fender developing an entirely new instrument—the solid-body electric guitar—that was designed solely for use with an amplifier. In 1949, Fender’s new innovation hit the market, paving the way for an explosion in music. Today, the guitar—in both acoustic and electric forms—is the world’s most popular and versatile instrument, used at the forefront of music styles from folk, blues, rock, jazz, classical, and beyond.

Since Roland’s inception in 1972, the company has been a leading innovator in products that extend the capabilities of the guitar. Important developments include the JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amplifier (introduced in 1975 and still in production today), which introduced the famous chorus effect to guitarists; BOSS compact pedals, which have remained the world standard in stompboxes for nearly 40 years; the GR-500, the world’s first guitar synthesizer, introduced in 1977; and the first floor-based multi-effects unit, a legacy carried on today with the BOSS GT series.

Even with these impressive achievements, perhaps Roland’s greatest contribution was the development of digital modeling technology for guitar. In 1995, the VG-8 V-Guitar System introduced COSM (Composite Object Sound Modeling), and the world of guitar was changed forever. This landmark product basically invented the instrument and amplifier modeling that is an essential part of guitar today, ushering in a new era of convenience and flexibility for players everywhere.

With the new V-Guitars, Roland and Fender have taken the guitar to its next step as the electronic guitar, an instrument that makes it simple and intuitive for players to integrate today’s amazing technological innovations into their music. These instruments either have Roland’s advanced modeling technology built right in, or have special interfacing built in that makes it super-easy to hook up to a Roland V-Guitar processor like the VG-99 or a GR-series guitar synthesizer like the monster GR-55.

Meet the G-5 VG Stratocaster—The World’s Most Versatile Guitar

Have you ever dreamed of having an entire collection of world-class guitar tones to pick and choose from, all in the same instrument? The G-5 VG Stratocaster makes that dream reality, with 25 instrument and/or pickup tones—plus alternate tunings and 12-string sounds—available at your fingertips. This lets you change sounds effortlessly using a single instrument, instead of having to switch out guitars every time you need a different sound or tuning.

Using the guitar’s five-way pickup selector and Mode knob, you can dial up a host of COSM tones, including vintage Strat, Telecaster® (including a “wide-range” variation), fat humbucker pickups (including a “bright” option), and even an arch-top jazz box. There are also steel- and nylon-string acoustic tones (with onboard digital reverb), plus a very cool sitar sound. Of course, you can also dial up the guitar’s built-in single-coil pickups, bypassing the COSM section entirely.   

The G-5 doesn’t stop there; in addition to all these sounds, you have the ability to change your tuning instantly without touching the tuning keys! On any of the G-5’s COSM tones, you can dial up Drop D, DADGAD, Baritone, or Open G at will, all with a simple twist of the Tuning knob. Another useful option available with this knob is a 12-String tone, which can be applied to any COSM guitar model. How cool is that?

As an instrument, the G-5 is a 100% authentic Fender Stratocaster, with the same legendary sound and feel that players have coveted for over 50 years. It features a solid contoured body, 22-fret maple neck, three American Strat single-coil pickups, a synchronized tremolo bridge, three-ply pickguard, American inline tuners, and chrome hardware. The G-5 is available in black with an all-maple neck or three-color sunburst with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard.

The amazing power and versatility of the G-5 is quickly being discovered by the world's top players, and Jude Gold, the Guitar Program Chair at the renowned Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California, is one of them. “I love having the G-5 with me whenever I want to have several guitars on stage, but only want to bring one, which is quite often,” he relates. “I use all the different pickup sounds and tunings it has onboard. It's great for clinics, too, because I often teach about different tunings, such as DADGAD and open G, but don't have time to switch guitars for each, or to retune one guitar (going from standard tuning to, say, DADGAD takes forever on other guitars with floating trems, but only half a second on this one). I also love showing the power of baritone guitar without having to bring one, and that's great—there's no way to get baritone out of a standard Strat unless it's a G-5.”

The GC-1 GK-Ready Stratocaster—Tap into Unlimited Sounds

Like the G-5, the GC-1 GK-Ready Stratocaster is a real-deal Strat, with the same features and finish options. In addition, it has a Roland GK Divided Pickup system built in, giving you instant access to any GK-equipped product, including the VG-99 and GR-55. Using the GC-1 with one of these incredible devices gives you a palette of sounds no other guitar can achieve, from classic Strat tones to unlimited synth textures and beyond.

The GK pickup is mounted in a rather stealth fashion, right in-between the bridge and the rear Strat pickup. Underneath its plain white cover, the GK pickup actually consists of six separate miniature humbucking pickups, one for each string. These individual, isolated string signals—along with the guitar’s regular output—are routed to a 13-pin jack on the side of the instrument. Using a special 13-pin cable, you then connect the guitar to the Roland GK device. With separate signals for the normal guitar sound and the six individual strings, the GK device can do some absolutely magical processing—emulating a huge array electric and acoustic guitars, triggering synth tones, playing different sounds on different strings, and instantly switching into nearly any tuning imaginable. And that’s just the beginning...

Also integrated into the GC-1 are some built-in controls for the connected GK device, giving you quick and convenient access from the guitar. There’s a three-way selector for choosing between normal and GK sounds (or both together), as well as a dedicated volume knob for the GK device. There are also two function (S1/S2) switches, which can be assigned at will in patches in a GK device to control anything from patch selection, effects control, tuner on/off, and more, all right from your axe!

With the GC-1, you have instant GK compatibility in an off-the-rack, pro-quality instrument with the familiar playability and sound of the classic Strat design. If you’d like to add GK compatibility to an existing instrument, Roland offers the GK-3 Divided Pickup, an external system that can be easily mounted on nearly any steel-string guitar with no modification, as well as the GK-KIT-G3, a kit that can be installed internally (pro installation recommended).

Guitars Built for the 21st Century

With the G-5 and GC-1 V-Guitars, you have two classic, great-playing instruments that make it easy to explore the vast creative potential of Roland’s amazing innovations in guitar processing. Grab yourself a V-Guitar (or two) and step into a whole new era of sound creation, convenience, and versatility.

Get additional info, view in-depth video demos, and much more at RolandVGuitar.com.