Fretlight USB Guitars Go Pro

So you wanna me a rock and roll star? With OpTek's FG451-Pro, you can use your computer's USB port and this guitar's built-in fingerboard LEDs to learn some riffs.

New Hampshire’s Optek Music Systems is a music education company that developed the Fretlight interactive learning system for guitar: at a basic level, Fretlight guitars sport a USB port and LEDS embedded in the guitar’s fingerboard; in conjunction with learning software, the LEDs light up to show aspiring players where to put their fingers. Software packages guide players through everthing from learning their first chords and learning scales to note-for-note renditions of favorite tunes and learning to improvise leads.

Today, Optek announced that it is adding a high-end “professional” model to its existing electric and acoustic-electric guitar offerings. Available for pre-order and expected to ship in September 2006, the new FG451 adds some upscale appointments to the Fretlight offerings, potentially giving players an instrument that can both get them started and let them grow for a while. Loosely based on a “fat Strat” design, the 25.5-inch scale FG451 features a swamp ash body with flame maple top, a single-piece 22-fret bolt-on maple neck (with truss rod and stainless steel frets), locking tuners, neck and bridge humbucking pickups with a middle-position single-coil pickup, 5-position pickup switch, master volume and tone controls, and a fixed bridge with through-body string mounting. The guitar features both a recessed 1/4-inch output for connecting to a standard guitar amplifier (or other device, like an amp emulator) and a 10-foot 8 pin DIN cable for interfacing with a computer and software.

The FG451 will be available in natural blonde and translucent blue finishes, at a suggested price of $899.95.

Whether or not the FG451