Casio PG-380 Synth Guitar, (front1  front2), (back1  back2), (headstock), (controls), (trem/Midi pickup), (Midi switches/serial plate), (acc.), (case).   Museum condition - the cleanest one I've seen!  An incredible piece of technology, entirely self-contained Midi guitar, and an excellent quality guitar made by Fuji Gen Gakki (Japan), who also built the Roland and Ibanez Midi guitars.  Unlike a lot of other units, which required separate D/A converters, the PG-380 was complete.  It converted the pitch to MIDI, deriving the pitch information from a magnetic hex pickup next to the bridge, and sent out Midi pitch, velocity and program change data over standard MIDI jacks, and converted it back to an audio signal which was sent to standard 1/4" guitar jacks.  This made the Casio units the only "complete" midi guitars, with no external units or special cables needed.  Tuning is crucial to Midi signals so the unit includes an accurate onboard digital tuner.  If tuning is off, it takes a unit extra time to determine the closest pitch, thus slowing down the tracking, early Midi's worst enemy.  For this reason Casio used a quality double-locking tremolo system, virtually impervious to going out of tune.  Unlike other units, the tremolo, as well as string bends, track just like a guitar, rather than jumping to the next closes whole note.  The internal synth also operates in legato mode - while in chromatic mode, if you pick a fretted string and then slide your finger up the fretboard, you won't get a new attack from the synth at each fret.  I worked retail at Hotlicks in '84 when Roland released their futuristic Roland G-707, with its wacky "stabilizer bar" parallel to the neck, and huge, external synth/converter floor unit, connected by multiple cables including a massive multi-pin cable.  While it sure looked cool and sounded pretty good, the tracking left a lot to be desired, not to mention the complicated transport and set up.  The PG-380, released in '87 and was Casio's second generation of synths, blew away the Roland unit, with accurate tracking, and minimal time lag, and connection can be as easy as a regular guitar - just a regular guitar cable into your amp, turn it on, and play.  At $1500, the PG-380 was the flagship of the Casio line, which also included the PG-300 and PG-310, as well as the MG-500 and MG-510, which was the most popular unit with a "modest" $900 price tag.  Keep in mind that in 1987 you could get two Kramer Barettas for the price of the PG-380 and it's, arguably, as good a guitar, irrespective of its Midi function.  The guitar featured a solid alder body that's roughly a Strat shape, maple neck with sleek 22-fret ebony fretboard; quality Gotoh hardware including a licensed Floyd Rose tremolo with fine tuners and locking nut.  Controls are simple:  top knob is guitar volume, middle is synth volume, bottom is guitar tone with a push/pull to split the bridge humbucker.  With the push/pull knob, you have 7 quality guitar sounds.  Synth controls are a 2-digit LED, angled up for easy viewing while playing, to indicate program number with a dot that indicates internal sounds selected, or sound card sounds.  There are 8 program buttons to select any of the sounds, from "11" to "88".   Click here for a list of the internal sound chart.  There are also Octave up and down switches, as well as a build-in chromatic tuner.  On the back there are additional controls, most of which are set it and forget it including mini Phillips screws to adjust individual string sensitivity (pitch/velocity), and 10 mini DIP switches for Midi functions (shown here).  I never changed them and the thing works fine but if you're doing some elaborate stuff, like a different Midi channel for each string, you'll have to change them.  This guitar has obviously seen very little use with no scratches or fret wear, hardware is likewise in clean shape.  The only non-original parts are the capacitors (originals included in the case), which are famous for going bad if the guitar isn't powered up from time to time.  It has fresh caps (originals are in the case) and is good to go for many years of hassle-free use.  Also, a look inside the battery compartment shows that the six AA batteries has been changed over to a single 9V battery, which puts out the same voltage but is much cheaper to replace.  This unit also *includes* and optional 9V wall adapter.  I've had a blast playing with this guitar.  It has very good synth sounds (especially the organs and strings), excellent guitar tone, and superb playability.  It really shines using separate amps for the synth and guitar signals.  A crunchy guitar playing along with a string pad is a thing of beauty.  You'll be hard-pressed to find a cleaner unit anywhere, and it includes original case, manual, tools, and trem arm.  Whether you're a collector of all things cool - or just a player looking for a ready-to-go synth unit, it's hard to beat, in collector's condition, for $850.