The OFFICIAL "One of my REPLACEMENT Instruments is Already Broken" thread

[Huskie]

I don't know about you but I am having a hard enough time trying to find how the replacement instruments are holding up. Every topic in here is becoming a rant on how they didn't get their replacement yet, so and so cut in line and how to connect tab A into slot B.

These extra topics are just forcing new members to create their own topics asking the same questions that have already been answered .... numerous times.

Can we please have one topic to just report how replacement instruments are working?


So how are they working? Please post your experiences in here.

[Huskie]

adding someone's experience in this topic

My guitar broke on Saturday the 24. I order a new one on Monday the 26 (b/c of the weekend and the problems I was hearing from other people).

Well I got my replacement guitar last night (Wednesday, which is when I should receive it unlike others, sorry). Opened it up and checked it out.

Looked and felt the same way as the first (btw I love how it feels). Unfortunately it still is not registering. About 2/3 of the down strums and 1/3 of the up strums register.

I played Green Grass with the Strat and got 175k. Then I took out my Les Paul and played it again. I got 204k this time. As I was playing I could see when I messed up on the Les Paul it was my fault but on the Strat most of the time I was missing notes I was hitting the correct notes.

So I went to check the Strat in the menu screen and after about a minute of up and down strumming I could see that the guitar is still not registering.

So today I called EA they said that I had to send in one of the guitars and if i wanted another one I could expedite it so they would be holding 200 dollars. To tell you the truth I don't know if any of these new ones going out are anything different.

Anyways don't know what I am gonna do right now. I am obviously gonna send one back but I don't know if I will order another one.

Also this thread is not for people to start bashing EA or Harmonix. I love their games it is just unfortunate that there are so many problems with this hardware.

[Cabezone]

I got my replacement and it didn't work out of the box. I looked inside and it no longer uses physical switches, it's some kind of wireless sensor. Anyway, it seems to downstrum ok, but if I upstrum fast it will only register the first few then it will pause, then rapidly register the last few strums. I think that a lot of the problem is those crappy sponges do not recenter the strum bar fast enough.

So I ordered my second replacement last night.

[viisual]

#DEFINE "star power" overdrive

I got my guitar yesterday, ordered around the 24th (yea I was lucky) and out of the box it (the strumbar) felt sturdier. I played it from when I got home until I went to bed, 6 hours or so, and during that time any missed notes were my own fault. This guitar feels absolutely like butter, not like the first didn't, but it did break after a while. In a few days it should be pretty clear whether the new guitars will stand up to the torment of our hands!

There was one issue I ran into, star power wanted to go off holding my guitar, how I believe it should be held, around a 30 degree tilt upwards... so to not allow it to go off on me it has to basicly be paralell with the ground I am standing on, and some times when I tilt it to release star power it just ends up waiting a little. Other than that i'm happy so far.

[Huskie]

Adding another quote from a topic that was just started on a replacement instruction.

They are worse than the kit I have. My issue was the red pad not registering all the notes played. Any song on hard or expert that has any sort of rolls on the red pad you may as well forget, so it kinda sucks trying to play on anyting but medium which is too easy. So I filled out the for on the EA website Monday and got my replacement set last night. I hooked up the new set of pads and the red pad will not go off at all unless I hit right on the edge. I can pound the hell out of the center and get maybe 1 out of 10 hits to fire. So they are getting back the set they just sent me out and I am keeping my old ones. They are also getting a nice little note from me in the return box...

I am so torn by this game. On one hand I love it. It is so much fun I can't put it down. On the other hand I want to throw my hands in the air and say F--- it because of these hardware issues.

[Huskie]

Forget it. I tried.
Some would rather just make their own topic so it can be buried by the "Where's my replacement?!" type topics.

Guitars:
Thanks to the ones who responded so far. It looks like there are still some kinks to be worked out on the guitars because I am seeing replacements with issues.

Drums:
Someone found something interesting in the way the sensor is soldered in the red drum pad. Waiting to hear if they were able to do the fix themselves and see if it fixed the missed notes.

Broken kick? No idea where this stands now. Still checking around.



Happy hunting to the folks looking for this information.

[sawyer7as]

what happened to 46 page long thread of this? i actually spent the time reading all thsoe pages just to look for the similairities. I wanted to interject also, that the guitar sometimes flakes out due to having all three instruments plugged int eh USB Dongle. From what i understand its a cheap hub. My friend plugged the mic and drums into the Dongle and the guitar into teh XBOX restarted it and the guitar, which was double strumming and down slowly stopped working, was reacting fine after that. Not to rule out the guitars are apprently going at an alarming rate

[Huskie]

The other topic on the original instruments breaking has also been buried by these extra topics being posted here. It's still there, you just need to keep going through the pages to find it.

[vorpalchipmunk]

Well I ordered a replacement guitar and drum set. My original guitar had the strum prob and the drums were registering maybe 70% of my hits.

My replacements show up:
Guitar - broken out of the box. The down strum works.. Guess what, up-strum is fubared!

Drums - sensitivity is better, blue and green are close to 100%... red and yellow on the other hand can't handle fast eight notes (Vasoline on hard), let alone 16th notes.

NOTE: the model #'s for the replacements were exactly the same as the originals.

So, as soon as my originals get back to EA and the holds get taken off my card, I will start again.

AND I SWEAR THIS TO YOU EA...I WILL KEEP SENDING THEM BACK UNTIL YOU SEND ME EQUIPMENT THAT WORKS! AND YOU WILL PAY ALL THE SHIPPING CHARGES. (hopefully at some point, we'll burn thru all the crap equipment and get to the ones that actually work)

But the game is good. GG Harmonix. It just sucks that the equipment that is being sold with the game can't handle what the game requires the equipment to do.

[devorama]

I ordered a replacement guitar because the down strum was unreliable. When my replacement showed up, the strumming was fixed (it has the magnet sensors instead of the physical leaf switches), but the 5 way switch for Chorus, Echo, etc. does not work correctly. The switch has 5 distinct positions but each one is sort of in between the electrical contacts for the settings. So you can't reliably change to one setting.

I was thinking of pulling this part from the old guitar, but it's glued in there pretty good. I think I may just live with it, as I don't use the effects switch really. It never seemed to do much anyhow.

[BiffMan]

(hopefully at some point, we'll burn thru all the crap equipment and get to the ones that actually work)

You know that at some point they're going to start having people check out the returned ones to see if they work well enough to be sent out as refurb replacements, right? So the longer this goes on, the odds of getting back something someone orginally turned in likely go up not down.

[Xevin]

lol draw a nice big black "X" mark with a sharpie on your returned guitars... =)

[pgdz]

My out-of-box guitar had faulty downstrum issues (double-registration, missed strums) like so many others. I got my replacement guitar on Tuesday, 5 days ago. The upstrum no longer works (at all) as of today.

I'd love to fiberglass them together into a dual-neck axe, with one fret to handle downstrums and the other for upstrums. Instead I'll just request another warranty replacement. sigh.

[davidshek]

You know that at some point they're going to start having people check out the returned ones to see if they work well enough to be sent out as refurb replacements, right? So the longer this goes on, the odds of getting back something someone orginally turned in likely go up not down.

Let me state once again that this is an outright lie.

See here the statement made by an EA employee (Violet) on this very forum:

http://community.rockband.com/vbforum/showpost.php?p=178801&postcount=16

From this thread: http://community.rockband.com/vbforum/showthread.php?p=178801#post178801

Get your facts straight before spreading misinformation like this.

And now on to the OP's original question.

My replacement Strat is fantastic. My original was not fully functional right outta the box, but the replacement is perfect so far. I played it for probably over 10 hours over the past 2 days, mostly on Hard and Expert, and haven't had a single problem with it yet.

Oddly, I notice that sometimes it's a little hesitant to scroll up in menus using the strumbar, but it never ever has a problem with an upstrum during a song. Strange...

[TrunkMonkey]

YEP my replacement guitar came back broke the first one would not register down strums and the replacement will not register up strums.......so they are sending my 3rd one.....I will still probably use the GH3 Les Paul......awesome guitar.

[glide]

My replacement guitar is junk. It has the same downstrum issue as the one I originally got. Which is not surprising because they shipped me the same model number guitar...

On top of that it took 2 weeks for delivery and I ordered it 2 day express. Way to go Harmonix.

[toad3000]

I've already posted elsewhere that the customer service from EA on my replacement guitar has been great, it took exactly two days from the moment I entered my warranty request on support.ea.com until I got my replacement via UPS.
My original guitar had the downstrum problem. It took more than 2 weeks of playing at least 2 hours a day, so I don't think I even fit in the 10-20 hours window, more like 30-40. But by that point the downstrum was completely done and the upstrum barely registered.
My replacement guitar's strum works fine, but I will say that its tilt sensor is goofy. It doesn't recognize Overdrive as well as it should, and sometimes just when I give up and return it to my natural playing position, THEN the Overdrive activates. Bizarre. It's a big enough problem on some songs that I'll probably request another guitar, but only once they've received my original.

[GibGirl]

Just got my replacement guitar on Friday... 30 minutes, and the down strum is already having significant issues. I haven't even sent the previous one in yet and now I have a second bad one.

At least I have a GH2 guitar to use... and my drums are working absolutely great.

[SeanBrooks]

I started a new thread about this as well...

I to have received my 2nd replacement guitar with the down strum not working again. I just ordered my 3rd replacement.

It is time for everyone on this forum to file an official complaint with the Better Business Bureau unless EA / Harmonix does something to resolve this issue immediately.

Here is the link to file your official complaint. This will only work if everyone on this forum that is tired and frustrate with the faulty equipment takes the time to file.

https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/GetStarted.aspx


~ Sean Brooks

[me723]

I've already posted elsewhere that the customer service from EA on my replacement guitar has been great, it took exactly two days from the moment I entered my warranty request on support.ea.com until I got my replacement via UPS.
My original guitar had the downstrum problem. It took more than 2 weeks of playing at least 2 hours a day, so I don't think I even fit in the 10-20 hours window, more like 30-40. But by that point the downstrum was completely done and the upstrum barely registered.
My replacement guitar's strum works fine, but I will say that its tilt sensor is goofy. It doesn't recognize Overdrive as well as it should, and sometimes just when I give up and return it to my natural playing position, THEN the Overdrive activates. Bizarre. It's a big enough problem on some songs that I'll probably request another guitar, but only once they've received my original.

I am having an issue with cutting out notes. I do not think it is the strum bar, since this is on my replacement guitar from EA. On the first guitar you could feel the missed note with the mushy strum bar. This bar still has the same feel but on long consecutive notes (like on Paranoid), every eighth or ninth note would be missed. Other members of my family have the same issues to a varying degree.

Also, my wife cannot activate the overdrive and I have some sporadic issues with it not activating. I have it activate by itself sometimes as well.

Overall we are very unhappy with the guitar and all of its issues.:mad:

[DrummerKamikaze]

Got my second guitar in last week and it has had problems right out of the box.

On my first guitar the down strum stopped working all together.

On the second guitar, the whammy bar wasn't working at all out of the box. Now, for some reason, it only works every once in a while. The down strum is having issues again as well, while registering, it only registers every so often and misses notes.

My second drum set is working fine. All pads have full sensitivity.

I'm going to order another guitar in a minute.

By the way, I'm sending the first guitar back but it won't fit into the packaging because of the top of the guitar. How do you remove that part of the guitar neck without breaking it? There is no switch I can see.

[Cain]

Got my replacement guitar in, it has that clicky feel others are reporting on the frets. Don't like it.

Main issue, overdrive on this one does not work. You can swing the guitar all you want, it won't kick on. So this one will be going back as well.

Its great I can get them to 2 day air me a guitar, but ultimately, if it doesn't work, just a waste of money and time. And whoever is supposedly checking these off as being A-ok should be fired.

And I still don't know why they made the frets clicky, its pretty annoying. Louder than the strum bar on GH2 or 3.

[dweekie]

The new clicky buttons are awful feeling to me. I wanted to take the fretboard off and keep my old one, but I didn't want to mess around with them. Now the replacement guitar automatically registers overdrive all the time. Augh.

[-Q-]

Star Power doesn't work on my replacement guitar either. Sometimes it goes off without moving the guitar every time the bar fills up enough, other times it won't go off to matter how you swing it up and down and around.

[mtitelbaum]

Original guitar: Mysterious overdrive problem. Faulty tilt sensor, perhaps.

Replacement guitar #1: Mysterious overdrive problem. Faulty tilt sensor, perhaps.

Hopefully third time will be the charm?

Also, why isn't "faulty tilt sensor" listed as one of the replacement reasons?

---Matt

[BearFan51]

Yep......bass drum pedal is developing a crack after around 3 hours of gentle use. Luckily I have my Roland HH trigger for a back-up.

Somewhere in the R&D process, did they not try this thing out for durability? I've never seen a design so perfectly set up to fail.

As punishment, the person responsible for the design should be forced to face our wrath, here on these boards, for at least 2 hours/workday.:D

[nstalker42]

my first guitar was jacked up outta the box. after giving my credit card, they sent me an EMPTY BOX! they assured me it was an accident and were gonna get me a new guitar out asap. i recieved my replacment guitar today and the downstrum is messed up and it has super glue and scratches all over it. i was told that i needed to put another 125 dollar hold on my credit card to get another guitar..... i wish i could take this game back to gamestop

[Visceralguy]

Just got my replacement guitar in today.

I'm pleased with the fast shipping. I heard stories about long delays, but I placed my order late Sunday night and it arrived Wednesday.

I was suspicious taking it out of the box though, because it's covered in fine scratches and what appear to be red marker-marks.

The strum is working fine up and down, at least so far.

The frets are NOT clicky, they make the same sound as the original guitar, which was a pleasant surprise given how many reports of loud frets there are out there.

The overdrive sensor is totally off: sometimes overdrive kicks in as soon as enough energy is ready, without me raising the guitar at all. Other times, even raising it perfectly vertical and holding it there won't trigger overdrive and I end up missing notes because I have to keep it bent at awkward positions and shake it a bit to get it to kick in. Very strange.

[geo2n2]

I just ordered my 3rd replacement guitar. Overdrive was going off automatically on my 1st and 2nd replacement guitars just like all the other reports here.

This is ridiculous.

The strum bar may be better, but it sounds like the tilt sensor is screwed up on all the replacements. No way I'm voiding the warranty and trying to fix this myself. They owe me a 100% working guitar. I'll keep replacing mine until I get one.

[RBrafter]

I sent in my pedal last week and I am afraid that Im going to get another pedal of the same design back.

There's no way that pedal will last a month with me playing drums on Hard/Expert.

Can anyone confirm one way or another if the replacement pedals are the same design as the originals?

[Swanton]

My first guitar had a malfunctioning strum bar within a few days. The second guitar had a problem with the tilt sensor right out of the box. So, I'm in the process of sending that one back as well.

So far, the original drums are holding up but I have not had a chance to play much over the past week or so.

[Scarlet_Fire]

get this my buddy went to california for a week, and during this time i got my replacement guitar and it broke again, so i just got my second replacement today and havent had the chance to play it yet.