Gibson Guitar Goes Virtual with Gibson Island in Second Life

by Tom Watson.

After 2006's forward-looking HD.6X-Pro Guitar System (the digital Gibson Les Paul) and 2007's Robot Guitar, Gibson Guitar's entry into the world of virtual reality should come as no great surprise and neither should the fact that they've done it with great style and amazing attention to detail. Today marks the opening of Gibson Island within Second Life, an Internet-based metaverse in which visitors interact with each other and various objects through individualized avatars. Though sometimes referred to as a game, Second Life is essentially a mix of chat, social networking and various forms of audio and video entertainment set in a graphical environment.

Gibson Island offers a large number of Gibson-related infotainment opportunities. Think of it as a virtual Gibson theme park - you can even tour the island on a virtual trolly. Highlights include The Blues Theatre that offers audio/video clips of historic blues greats; Gibson Theatre, a two-screen multiplex in which you can currently select among 18 Gibson movies; the J200 Building where Second Life residents will be able to obtain a virtual copy of their favorite Gibson acoustic; Gibson Custom Guitar Shop where Gibson's official virtual luthier, Myriam Beck, will customize virtual Gibsons; the Wurlitzer Diner, highlighting the Wurlitzer jukebox; Gibson Radio, which will broadcast (on Second Life) music by Gibson artists and present live interviews; and the two performance stages: the Main Stage and the Acoustic Stage, both designed to host live performances.

Today, for example, the Main Stage offers this lineup (times are PDT) of live entertainment:

8 a.m. Mimi Carpenter, French pop musician performing live from Germany
9 a.m. Hathead Rickenbacker plays blues piano from Toronto, Canada
10 a.m. Forsythe Whitfield plays the blues from Manitoba, Canada
11 a.m. Cylindrean Rutabega from Atlanta, Georgia, plays guitar and piano in an exclusive blues performance
12 p.m. Joaquin Gustav, Latin jazz guitarist from Buenos Aires, Argentina
1 p.m. World music from Peregrine Singh in California
2 p.m. Etherian Kamaboko Blues and Folk from North Carolina
3 p.m. Charles E Bristol XI, 86-year-old authentic blues singer performs with his Gibson Lucille from North Carolina
4 p.m. Julian2914 Hifeng performs jazz instrumentals from Montana
5 p.m. Cypress Rosewood is live with "Space Music" from Nashville, Tennessee
6 p.m. Von Johin is playing the Country Blues from Nashville, Tennessee
7 p.m. Finale concert with Bob Welch performing acoustic pop from Nashville Tennessee as avatar Bob Welch Magic

And it works. 8 a.m. I'm online in Portugal listening to Mimi Carpenter, who's French, perform live from somewhere in Germany. The audio quality is excellent as is the price - free.

Gibson Island is the result of a suggestion Mike Lawson (Von Johin on Second Life) made to Gibson Guitar Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz late last year. Lawson, the person who oversaw taking Gibson online in the '90s, had learned about Second Life almost a year before from Tony Gerber (Cypress Rosewood on Second Life), with whom Lawson now partners in Metaverse Media Group, when Gerber told Lawson that he was performing online in a place called Second Life. Lawson followed in Gerber's footsteps and has since become a well known blues performer on Second Life - for which he earns more than $1,000 (real money) a month from the comfort of his own studio.

"I emailed Henry last December," says Lawson, "and said I got a proposal to put Gibson on Second Life. Are you interested? He said, 'Absolutely.' He replied in five minutes. I sent him the proposal, which was like 12 pages long. He replied 20 minutes later and said he loved it, let's do it, lets meet to discuss, and he copied everybody in the company." Island building began in February by Lawson, Gerber, Lawson's wife, Sandra, and Myriam Beck who was hired to build the virtual guitars and who has become the official Gibson virtual luthier.

When you visit Gibson Island you'll be amazed at the work this group of four has done. The experience is classy, informative, entertaining, and the eye for detail that went into this virtual creation will impress any Gibson fan. There are a good number of videos that can be watched, you can own a wide variety of virtual Gibson guitars (and even have Myriam Beck customize one for you), instructional videos are down the road and Gibson Island could serve as an important venue for the growing interest in live online performance.

What's missing? Pure economic motive. Everything on Gibson Island is free.

To download the free software needed to experience Second Life, go to www.secondlife.com. Once connected to Second Life, click on Map, search for Gibson Island, then click teleport.

Photo Gallery

Related Links
Gibson Guitar's Second Life Web Page
Von Johin's Website
Cypress Rosewood's Website

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