Jamstik Studio MIDI Guitar Review
The Jamstik Studio MIDI Guitar is a headless electric guitar that includes a midi pickup and all the necessary connections to trigger software and hardware MIDI-compatible instruments. As someone who can somewhat navigate around a piano but feels more at home on the guitar, this premise seemed like a godsend, as I’d be able to trigger my many software instrument libraries on a guitar rather than fumbling around on my MIDI keyboard. While the Jamstik is by no means a perfect instrument, it is one that I’ve come to have a lot of fun with as I spend more time with it.
This article will serve as a brief, bullet-pointed summary of my thoughts on the Jamstik. For my full thoughts as well as some sound examples, please see the video embedded above.
Spec
Mahogany body
Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard
25.5 inch scale
14” radius
“Lightening” humbucker pickups
3 way switch, single volume with push pull
MIDI pickup
Rechargeable battery (mounted in the rear of the guitar)
Guitar output
USB C port (for charging and connecting to computer for use with software instruments)
3.5mm TRS/MIDI out (for connection to MIDI hardware)
Evaluation as an Electric Guitar
This Jamstik’s construction quality and tonal offerings were far from perfect out of the box. I would have hoped for better given the $800 price tag.
Negatives:
Fret crowns were incredibly rough and unpolished
Fretboard was very dry
Tool marks and obvious signs of grain-filler being used on the fretboard
Several places where there is bubbling/debris under the finish
Very poor routing for the rear cavity
The router appears to have taken excess chunks of wood that were not intended for removal
The cavity cover does not sit flush in or on the route and has quite a bit of movement
There is a strange black line tracing the edges of the route, which I assume to be the router template
Mediocre sounding pickups with too much honky midrange
Positives:
Neck finish is very smooth and the profile is a very comfortable, thin C-shape
The fret ends were dressed well (i.e. no sharp edges or fret sprout of any kind)
Frets all seem to be level
Headless hardware is stable and restringing is not cumbersome
After polishing the frets, overall playing experience was quite good
Evaluation as a MIDI Controller
Thankfully, the Jamstik works quite well as a MIDI controller, which is ideal since that was really the main selling point of this guitar for me. I don’t think it will fully replace a MIDI keyboard, but it is something I see as being a utility for myself and other producers/songwriters who mainly play guitar.
The Good:
Very accurate tracking
Works well with both chords and single notes
Low latency when tracking
Easy to adjust settings thanks to the included Creator Software
Each string can be processed individually, allowing for lots of flexibility
Creator Software includes many sounds/presets for getting started
Jamstik has made many tutorials on the guitar/software to help newcomers
Plug-and-play for most software instruments I’ve tested
Alternate-tuning friendly
Can be used to write tabs in Guitar Pro
It is a lot of fun to use
Things to Be Mindful of:
Occasional tracking hiccups (double triggering, mistriggering, etc.)
Likely due to the fact that the Jamstik uses an audio/MIDI conversion rather than being a purely digital signal
Sustained notes may die off prematurely as the MIDI pickup may no longer be able to detect string vibration after a certain point
Pitch tracking is fairly sensitive
May be best to disable pitch bend to ensure midi notes playback perfectly in tune
Getting the most out of the Jamstik may require purchasing additional software instruments
Not the best fit for all software in my testing
Keys and synths work incredibly well
Orchestral instruments tend to have a hard time sounding natural as many are reliant on modulation wheels/expression pedals for controlling dynamics
