Guitar Switch & Foam Replacement MOD

**ZenNye** · Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 8

Copied from my original post on Rock Band forums.

Totally warranty voiding!!!

Well after really wanting the guitar to last and not cry foul for a BAD BATCH of gear, mine also ate it. I was one of them that had the total junk little "reed switches" in there. Ya know the strips of metal making a switch.

I will not be seeking a replacement via EA RockBand Support. Why?
Well I have two 360 explorers that are fine so I decided to blow any warranty I had on the Strat.

Popped it open (for the third time) and went into modding hell. First thing that went was that completely ignorant foam. My god was that craptastic... Those were each replaced with a real spring. The little tabs on the strum bar that used to hit foam were attacked by a dremel tool to make the undersides flat instead of wedge shaped like they were. They hit the springs and have nice fast return now.

Next the switches were cut out. Not too long ago I built a full size MAME arcade cabinet and still had a couple REAL microswitches left over from the arcade-grade joysticks.
There was too much mounting junk from the old switches in the way for the new switches to fit so that stuff was cut out with the dremel. The whole area was ground down to nearly flat. Then the microswitches went in. The strum bar makes contact with the switch plungers using the same tab as the old switches.

Since both surfaces (microswitch plunger and strum bar tab) are rounded, I used a very thin tab of plastic between the two that is adhered to the top of each microswitch.
All of the new parts- springs & microswitches and held in place with 5 minute epoxy. Ya know, the kind you dont want your kids to play with

After all that was done, I realized the battery box hit one of the swiches. Dremel time again. Cut that sucker out! Served no purpose in the 360 Strat anyway.

Now my Strat holds notes and registers strums correctly once again. Bonus being the nice spring return on the bar now. Oh and there is a slight click now from the micros'. Meh, I dont care either way I guess...

PS>The swiches are from Happ Controls: http://www.happcontrols.com/joysticks/95073301.htm

**BobDole** · Joined: 25 Sep 2006 Posts: 2150 Location: Troy, New York

Very nice, too bad it voids the hell out of your warranty.
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**TheGlow** · Joined: 18 Feb 2006 Posts: 2748 Location: J Train Brooklyn!

Nice. the happ controls are back

**ZenNye** · Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 8

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

**ZenNye** · Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 8

Oh I like it a lot! It's a vast improvement over the whole foam acting as springs idea (for me anyway). The click doesnt bother me. It's not near as audible as any of my GH controllers....

**TheGlow** · Joined: 18 Feb 2006 Posts: 2748 Location: J Train Brooklyn!

Nothing wrong with happs.
I remember when i was looking into making my own arcade stick for dreamcast and happ controls were the only thing people recommended.