How to adjust overdrive (tilt) sensitivity

**BriGuy** · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 1894 Location: Boston

Many people are having trouble with their overdrive sensitivity. Depending on how you hold it it can go off unexpectedly. Here is a simple method to adjust how high you have to raise the neck for OD activation.

The tilt sensors are back to the old school style of ball bearings in a tube (vs the ultrasensitive and non adjustable accelerometer of the GH3 Les Paul)
When rolled around or shaken you may hear a rattling noise coming from these...this is normal.
If you unscrew the tilt assembly screws, you can reposition the sensor and tape it in place. My guitar was too sensitive and the sensor has been adjusted so
it requires you to raise it higher to activate the OD. The more you angle it down, the higher you can hold the guitar without OD activation.

Normal position:

(thumbnail)

Tilt sensor adjusted for higher angle:

This fix applies to the 1st-3rd gen guitar models. This 4th gen tilt sensors are different but can be adjusted in a similar fasion if needed. Here's a pic for a reference:

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**malklavious** · Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 94

Last night I opened my recently acquired replacement guitar (RMA'd on Jan 7th) to adjust the tilt sensor and found the 4th gen sensor as shown here:

At first I wondered why it had 2 sensors, then realized that they are for righty/lefty flips. Instead of one sensor and the guitar needing to be held level this version can be held at an angle and still detect a higher degree of tilt when both sensors are tilted far enough.

I adjusted the lower sensor to be at a lower angle and it seemed to help at first. Granted I needed to hold the guitar almost vertical to trigger overdrive but at least the sensor seemed to be resetting when I went back to regular play.

That lasted through the first few songs then it started behaving just like before I adjusted the angle. It seems like this kind of switch is either not going back to it's reset position or the balls are getting stuck in the 'off' position somehow. I need to shake the guitar a bunch of times, then hold it up for about 1-2 secs before the switch triggers.

I think I may move the switch back into it's original position then try to find out exactly what angle triggers the switch and take another stab at this or just find some mercury based switches and replace the rattlers.

**DorkmasterFlek** · Joined: 14 Oct 2006 Posts: 1968 Location: Toronto, ON

Very interesting...I adjusted my 3rd gen model so it wouldn't go off so easily, however because both sensors were on the single board, it has the opposite effect if you're playing lefty. Granted, I don't know many lefties, but still. The 4th gen model is a much better design.
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**edgekrusher187** · Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 1

The 4th gen version of the Tilt sucks major ass. It doesn't work. I'm now waiting on my 4th guitar because the other 2 that I got had the damn tilt sensor not working problem. I'm going to fuck around with my "new" replacement that I got 2 days ago until the box for my "new new" replacement comes. then I'm just sending the box back without the guitar and going to see if I get a new guitar.

**malklavious** · Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 94

It's a good design with the two switches, but I think the problem is with the tilt switches themselves. Once I track down a couple mercury tilt switches and put them in place of the unreliable switches I think it will work better. My only problem is finding a source for the switches that doesn't make me order in mass quantity

**gitarzann** · Joined: 02 Apr 2007 Posts: 544

I received my 3rd guitar the other day and also got the 4th generation. The Overdrive does not work on this guitar either.

I'm getting tired of going through this exchange only to get a new generation peripheral that still doesn't work as it's supposed to.

i tried re-adjusting the sensor and taping it down but found that I too had to put the guitar up almost completely vertical and sometimes there would be a couple of second delay before Overdrive deployed.

I'll keep messing around with taping it down in different locations to get it right but man, this is just ridiculous.

**malklavious** · Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 94

So that does seem to back up my idea that it's not the angle of the 4th-gen switch but the response/reset time of the switch.

I saw on the official Rock Band forum that you can connect a 360 Strat to a Windows computer via USB and have it detected as a game controller. In the game controller control panel you can test all the buttons, including when the tilt sensors trigger since they should show up as a "button". I'll play around with that over the weekend and see what I can figure out with these switches.

**BobaFrets** · Joined: 23 Jan 2008 Posts: 222 Location: Buffalo, NY, USA

Sorry to necro, but I wanted to thank BriGuy for this thread.
I opened my Strat today to see if I could fix the tilt sensor instead of an RMA. I have an earlier generation (not sure if it's 1,2, or 3) so the mercury switches won't work

First attempt wasn't enough of an angle so I didi it again. Second time seems to be the charm, and if not then at least I know how to adjust it.

**exegence** · Joined: 02 Feb 2008 Posts: 35

just did this fix a few minutes ago on my 4th gen RMA replacement.

all i did was switch the two sensors around. works perfectly

before i had to hold the strat at a 90 degree angle and wait a few seconds for it to work. now it works at around 45-55 degree tilt.

**Hackerboy603** · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 2

I have one of the older gens. (not 4 I know) Can I just remove the sensor to make the tilt utterly ineffective and you have to hit the select button or will that mess it up somehow? (ie making overdrive instantly go off or just making the guitar not work in general)

I'm doing this mainly because I don't use the tilt function at all and recently it's been firing off whenever the hell it feels like it. Can I just cut one of the wires leading out of it (the white, the red, or the black) or do i need to remove the whole thing?

**BriGuy** · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 1894 Location: Boston

In most cases, you should be fine to either simply pull out that component from the board (if it's detachable) or to cut it out. If it looks like the tilt sensor wires run through the select/start button circuit board before connecting to the main board, this could be a problem (this model is rare)

Before disconnecting though, I'd recommend trying this mod out as I have done for nearly all of my guitars. They are all now very reliable with no false activations.
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**Hackerboy603** · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 2

I just tried angling/taping it and it still goes off whenever it feels like. Time to take the plunge and see if i need to drop another $60 on a guitar...

EDIT: I just tried my guitar after cutting out all three wires and removing the sensor entirely. Everything works fine and it doesn't randomly go off anymore. Pass this on to anyone who'd rather always use the select button.

**Hammertime** · Joined: 27 Jul 2011 Posts: 1