Fretting About the Future

An April 18 Financial Times article about the resurgence of the U.S. guitar manufacturer Gibson Guitar (http://news.ft.com/cms/s/39e1ac52-ce77-11da-a032-000079e2340.html) reports that the owner, Henry Juszkiewicz, "is also planning a digital future for Gibson, which this summer plans to introduce its first digital guitar -- fitted with a high-tech pickup that converts the sound of each string into bits and bytes. Ultimately, Mr Juszkiewicz sees Gibson upgrading the guitar's electronics with plug-in expansion cards. Players would buy the cards in the same way that computer users upgrade software, creating a new and potentially lucrative business." This kind of innovation would be truly noteworthy.