Fix your 1st gen strum bar

**teamjimi** · Joined: 06 Nov 2007 Posts: 246

Here's my experience re: possible tampering evidence.

After following the motions, and fixing the strum, I noticed a small plastic cube had fallen out. After much searching for pics that showed this piece, and where it goes, I gave up and tried to locate where this piece should be, and after some seaching, I found the answer.

Near the bottom right corner of the guitar (when put together...top right if the guitar is in the two halves, and the neck is pointing towards your left hand), is a little notch where this piece sits. If seated properly, the square goes into a seating, with the little plastic nipple pointing outwards. If you take a look when your guitar is apart, and the plastic cube has fallen out, along the edge, you can see a little half circle where the plastic nipple should be seated.

I do have a feeling this is a low level tampering indicator, but once you reseat the plastic cube, its impossible to tell, since it comes out so easily.

For those that are curious, but havent opened their guitar, take a look at the area I mentioned, and you should see a little circle where the two halves of the body meet. The little circle should be filled with the aforementioned plastic nipple.

IF you have taken your guitar apart, in the past, and have put it back together, and you see a hole that goes right into the body of the guitar, I suggest you find the plastic cube, open the sucker back up and reseat it.

**Kataris** · Joined: 01 Sep 2006 Posts: 335 Location: Vegas

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST HARMONIX, WHY THE FUCK ARE YOUR SCREWS SO DAMN TIGHT!?

EDIT: This post is written in extreme anger and should not make you think less of its author.
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**Imperator209** · Joined: 25 Oct 2007 Posts: 13

Thank you for this tutorial. I was so pissed when the down strum stopped working after owning the game for only 3 days, but thanks to this thread its working again.

**zepp3lin526** · Joined: 12 Nov 2007 Posts: 104

I opened my guitar the other day attempting to do this fix. I was able to loosen the tension screw but to my surprise, the microswitch barely moved. I tried to wiggle it as much as I could, but it only moved very minimally (yes the screw was loose enough, I even went as far as removing it). When I was able to move it very slightly (after considerable jiggling) I tried getting the plasitc nubs closer. When i turned the microswitch (counter-clockwise), as soon as the nubs got close, the metal on the first microswitch seemed to stop and move the metal switches together (as if strumming but not as pronounced). This prevented for the attached plastic nub on the switch from touching the other one on the strum bar. I don't know if I'm retarded or something or just incredibly non-observant, but why would this happen? After thorough inspection I saw no reason why 1) my mircoswitch would not be "VERY loose" as in the guide, and also 2) why why plastic nubs refused to touch. Any help on this would be great. I tried everything I could think of for at least an hour, and my strum bar still sucks after I tried my best getting the nubs close.
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**NightlyCrab** · Joined: 26 Nov 2007 Posts: 692 Location: Minneapolis,MN

**machchunk** · Joined: 28 Oct 2006 Posts: 3829 Location: Pasco, WA

The back of my guitar won't open up after removing all the screws from the back of the body, the neck, and the pickguard. What the hell is up with that?
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**Komatoze** · Joined: 16 Dec 2006 Posts: 20

Quick question before attempting this - Do the model numbers on the stickers on the back vary depending on which model strumbar-mechanism is used, and if so, which is the number for the model this applies to?
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**russ7166** · Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:14 am Post subject:

**Nava** · Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 90

This is quite depressing as those insides dont look anything like the ones in my strat

this is what mine look like and the down strumming doesnt work for me... i dont have a good enough camera to show you a picture but this fix will not work for me............... any ideas for what i should do?
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**sfuentes** · Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Posts: 1

**gameboy673** · Joined: 02 Jul 2007 Posts: 161

So, my guitar is broken, and it will only upstrum about half of the time. How do I go about fixing this? Do I just make sure the nubs are touching and the microswitch is in alignment?
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**worldrunner** · Joined: 17 Feb 2007 Posts: 33

I've removed all screws on the front, I'm not sure what is meant by "pick guard" I've googled dozens of different search phrases and I can't find anything actually stating what it is.

I assumed there'd be some screws by the strum bar or some obvious screws but the only screws I see on the front are the screws for the face plate. I'd assume if I had to remove those two they'd just refer to it as "face plate screws"

So, after removing all screws on the back there's still something holding it in place around the middle of the body, but I don't see any screws that I can actually remove to remedy. Is there a picture someone could snap?

The back simply won't come off after removing all screws.

**Kanekutter05** · Joined: 25 Feb 2007 Posts: 1

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

For your strum bar, you could glue a thin flat piece of plastic on the edge of the post to hit the switch sooner. After you've done this, you may want to playtest it a while before worrying about the foam. This may also solve this problem, but a thicker piece of foam glued in place could make things feel tighter.
As for yout tilt sensors, they could in theory be adjusted in the same manner as the 1st gens by taping the sensors securely at different angles to find the sweet spot. Keep in mind that one is for lefties and the other is for righties. The farther away from horizontal, the higher you'll have to tilt it up. This is simple physics so if your sensor is still unresponsive, it could be a faulty sensor. In this case swap the position of the two sensors so that the lefty one is now where the righty one was. It doesn't matter which one is which, as long as one is triggered, your OD will go off.
Hope this helps, good luck!
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**kdb424** · Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 595

Another good quick fix is to put thick tape, like medical tape, on the strum bar on where it rubs the contact. That's the only fix that would work for me, and only makes the strum bar tough the contact. It does not bend it any, so it doesn't wear it out faster either.