RB2 Strat Dissected - Secrets! Booby Traps! (big pics!)

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

Here's my follow up to my RB1 Strat Dissected thread to show you the inner workings of this beautiful piece of hardware. Even though it may look almost the same from the outside, they have overhauled almost every inch of the Strat. It looks like they have learned a lot from the first 4 models of Strat and hopefully this one will prove to be solid and reliable.

Here's the full view:

It's got the nice new sunburst finish, and dark wood grain look to the neck. You calso can't see it very well, but there are the two calibration sensors just to the left of the start/select buttons and there is a raised rim around the Start button to help prevent mistaken pausing mid song while reaching for the Select button OD.

The neck is detachable this time by pressing in this button on the head. This pic was lovingly stolen from Dakvac's pic thread who also tipped me off to the hidden screw in the neck. Thanks!

Here's a pic of the back with the new and improved battery cover which can now be opened with your finger and doesn't require a screwdriver like the RB1 Strats (duh!) Also on the lower right edge is the new port for an OD activation pedal. The standard drum pedal can be used but the curly chord makes it awkward if you are standing up.

Here's a shot of the main guts. The newer style tilt sensors are in there, just like the RB1 wireless. You can see the main differences in the next pics.

Here's the new strum unit. It is similar to RB1's v3 with the magnetic sensors and sponge impact guards. The thing that makes the big difference is the small black rectangular impact pad to the left of the sponge. This simple addition was enough to make the Strats stum feel a lot more substantial.

Here's the underside of the Start/Select/Dpad board. The newest additions are the light and sound sensors. The light sensor looks like a clear christmas light bulb and only the very thin tip sticks through the hole in the body. The sound sensor is the grey thing with silver border just below the board. It slips right into the round spot in the body and is held in place by the grey foam thing on the board.

This is the main circuit board. I removed the two sets of plugs from the battery pack so I could take the pics. Those are the 2 pin and 3 pin plug spots in the middle. The 5 pin plug on the upper left is unused. The fret button connections are on the right in two sets of 6 connections with one below the other. They both have 5 leads and 1 ground each. They cannot be separated and switched around (like the low tech RB1 solo swap mod)

Taking the back of the neck off is extra tricky this time because after you remove the screws from the back, there is one more screw that is hidden underneath the red (or yellow) button. You can remove the fret buttons by pulling from the side, they will come off without much force. I don't see much need in this screw. If you plan on opening up the neck more than once or twice, I would skip putting this one back in because removing the ret fret like this many times may damage the new silencer strips (ooooh!)

Speaking of which, these are the secret to the new quieter fret buttons. They have added a thin rubbary ring around the fret buttons and adhesive strip along the back side of the button casings. The ring helps to mute and soften pressing the buttons in and the strips help to mute the click once you release the buttons. Brilliant!
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**Deathblooms51** · Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 1686 Location: Toledo, Ohio

It's like porn for us scoreheroians.

Thanks for the pics

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**Bu11ze1** · Joined: 11 Feb 2008 Posts: 6

hrmm, so its impossible to swap the fret sets? not sure how i feel about that, was a nice mod i used for the tough solo's.

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

**pkeistler** · Joined: 11 Feb 2007 Posts: 155 Location: North Carolina

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

**baylxr** · Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Posts: 309 Location: Oakland, CA

overall great thread.. i was wondering if/when you would make this

a couple things you may or may not want to add:
*the whammy bar doesn't hit the body of the guitar anymore like it used to on the RB1 strat
*the back of the neck is slightly textured as opposed to the completely smooth back of the RB1 strat... not sure if theres anyway to take a picture of this but you could mention it b/c it is definitely noticeable when you first pick up the new strat
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**Bu11ze1** · Joined: 11 Feb 2008 Posts: 6

**Kered** · Joined: 24 Sep 2008 Posts: 36

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

**DeanHartley** · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 308 Location: pa

Looks a lot different than the rb1 strat.
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**echorocks** · Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 224 Location: Massachussetts

cool but i cant get it till christmas

i wish i was high tech i would make a lot of mods so my guitar
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**malklavious** · Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 94

Thanks for the pics, BriGuy!

How is the tilt sensor? Does it still have the reset lag that the wireless gen-4 has from the ball-tilt sensor? Good to see it's the same board design however, will make doing my mercury switch mod the same.
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RB Guitar Tilt Sensor replacement mod

**english724** · Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 7

Is it possible to swap out the strut bar from one RB 2 strat into another RB 2 strat without HMX finding out about it? I ask because I am on my 4th guitar, and my 3rd one has a great strum bar but sticky buttons, and the 4th has great button but a mushier strum bar. grrr.

Or would it be easier to move the button panel from my 4th guitar to my 3rd?

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