Home repair for broken downstrum

[strtfghtr]

Hey everyone,
my friend got RB for the 360 the day it came out and i love it but last week when I went to play I found my friend's downstrum only worked about 1/2 the time...:(

So I read about this happening a couple time to a few people on the forums so instead of sending off my guitar to whos knows where and praying for a working replacement I decided to take matters into my own hands and fix it myself. :rolleyes:

Step 1: Unplug guitar

Step 2: Remove all screws from the back of the guitar including the 4 on the base of the neck (dont worry about the rest of the neck screws)

Step 3: remove the back to the guitar (the black part)

Step 4: play with the strumbar a little and find why its only working 1/2 the time, I found that the strumbar was contacting the "upstrum switch" 2 metal prongs perfectly but not making full contact with the "downstrum switch"...my solution take up some of the space needed for activiating the switch

Step 5: Repair...I took up the space with a thin piece of plastic cut from a package that an electronic device came in (think of like those pain in the butt packages that flash drives come in) and inserted it inbetween end of the metal part of the switch and the stationary plastic peg (it's opposite the strumbar part that pushes the "downstrum switch")

(Side step) I also removed the foam pieces that dampen the noise of the strum (I like a little clicking noise it helps me keep pace)

Step 6: Test..replace the cover and put back some of the screws and try it out ...maybe you need a second piece of plastic I know I did.

Step 7: YAY it works again!!! Hot glue that plastic in place, replace the cover, and put all the screws back in and you are on your way to rocking out..

My total repair time: 1 hour
Average replacement for a guitar time: 2-3 weeks

[webduelist]

ok let me translate that for people. he opened his guitar and saw the the down strum contact is bent because the pad behind the contact is too small, he placed something in there that pushed the contact back to where it was.


easiest way to do this is to use tape ill give directions on how to do this.

Masking tape (and something to cut it)
Screw driver
Tooth Pick

Step 1.

Open your guitar

Step 2.

Cut Masking tape into little peices about the size of the pad.

Step 3.

push the bent contact forward gently with the tooth pick and place a peice of masking tape behind it (sticky side faceing pad.)

put about 3-4 peices behind the contact.

Step 4.

Repeat on opposite strum microswitch (for people who cant figure it out its the up strum side now)

if it is not done it will bend after so much play and you will have to reopen your guitar to fix it.



small pad
---------------] this contact is bent and is the problem
---------------] this contact is fine leave it alone.
____Strum Bar____

[Sarg338]

would a piece of cardboard or something work just as fine? i dont think i have i have masking tape or anything like that.

[strtfghtr]

would a piece of cardboard or something work just as fine? i dont think i have i have masking tape or anything like that.

cardboard would be too thick, you need something probably 1/32" to 1/16" thick

[N_Peart]

I'm finding it terrible that people are "jerry rigging" they're guitars from duct tape and used chewing gum, AND IT'S WORKING. I hope they read this stuff. It wouldn't take any brain surgeon to fix this things properly.


I hope the Feb. release of the wireless Strat will be mass broken guitar free!


On a lighter note, the GH3 guitar works fine, she's just a bit small. Feels like madonlin hero 3. But works great with Rock Band! :cool:

[Quabong]

Feels like madonlin hero 3. But works great with Rock Band! :cool:

With a hey-nonny-no!

LUTE SOLO!

I demand Ren Band. If you play poorly, the king orders your beheading.

Wizards can cast spells to do special effects, it'd be awesome. Sell a million copies.

---
QuaBONG! Ooh, dat's gotta hoit.

[1guitarhero4]

Yep i did the same thing i stuck some paper in between that little spacer area and used a hot glue gun to glue it back to the plastic :)

[strtfghtr]

I'm finding it terrible that people are "jerry rigging" they're guitars from duct tape and used chewing gum, AND IT'S WORKING. I hope they read this stuff. It wouldn't take any brain surgeon to fix this things properly.


Use what you have, that and watch a whole bunch of Macgyver when you were a kid like i did and fixing these controllers is no problem at all

[TribalDancer]

Glad the GH3 guitar works for you on your 360. We PS3 players don't have that option. :(

We, too, had downstrum issues, and had to try two different repairs. So far so good on the second repair. We found it online--just an issue of the contacts being slightly out of alignment, so we readjusted and screwed it in so it's more sensitive.

Our first repair worked for a couple days before both up and down strum became unreliable. This fix worked out good so far the last 48 hours of heavy play!

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=40188

And here is a "paper" fix similar to what the OP wrote about:
http://schlaghund.wordpress.com/2007/11/22/rock-band-guitar-fix/

And for those of you who would like to avoid double strums (we have them now and again), here is a rubber band fix. It's interesting that the nubs are there for a tension spring, but no spring. What the...
http://forums.maxconsole.net/showthread.php?p=774206

[AvalancheBeast]

I'm finding it terrible that people are "jerry rigging" they're guitars from duct tape and used chewing gum, AND IT'S WORKING. I hope they read this stuff. It wouldn't take any brain surgeon to fix this things properly.


I hope the Feb. release of the wireless Strat will be mass broken guitar free!


On a lighter note, the GH3 guitar works fine, she's just a bit small. Feels like madonlin hero 3. But works great with Rock Band! :cool:

I never noticed how small the GH guitar was until i played RB

[ar3tardedllama]

I wish I knew this stuff before I shipped my guitar

[5150]

All these posts helped ALOT as far as adjusting the micro switch and adding a piece or 2 of tape. The foam blocks are a BIG joke. Is this supposed to help cushion or add resistence to the strum bar? Anyway, keeping the warrenty in mind, (just incase):rolleyes:
I wanted to modify the strum bar without drilling and such not. I've added some springs to the strum bar. 289

290
The spring is from an old R/C Truck shock tower. I have a few lying around and it looked like a good idea. It is! The strum bar is not flimsy anymore and, I like to play Bass and up strumming was impossible before ,due to flimsyness and double note'n and sometimes not even registering.
Some foam , a glue gun(since they glue gunned the snot out of mine already) and a spring about the thickness of your pinky ,But not a stiff spring. You want some rebound not alot. Just cut the spring to about 1/2inch max and glue it to the new thicker foam block and slide the end of the spring around the white tab on the bar. Anyway ... 420 and the brain turns to McGyver.:p
Happy New Year All!!!:D

[TribalDancer]

Yes, this tape fix so far is superior to our previous fixes. This is number 4, so hopefully this will be better.

Now we have to decide...is our repaired guitar going back on hte RMA or the new one they sent? The upside to the old style guitar is that it is something we can repair ourselves. Not necessarily true of the magnetic system... Thoughts?

[elopezgil]

I am wondering if ANYONE has gotten a Rockband kit that did not have any issues. For now my mic and drums are going alright (though after playing the Aerosmith song with our band the red pad is kinda loose) but I have had to "repair" the guitar twice for the strum issue (the remedy I used was not permanent so to "send it back whenever they decide to fulfill their obligations to Puerto Rico residents) and now the wammy bar gave out. Upon inspection the spring seems to be quite small for the amount of work it has to carry out. I was able to use the same one to fix the wammy using a pair of thin pliers but I suspect it will require a better fix. I will be using a spring from a click ball point pen and that should work. They say this is violating the warranty but if they had done a better job in producing a QUALITY product, we wouldn't have to be doing this to enjoy our $170 game. Happy New Year to everyone.

[chugabeer]

I ordered it as my Strat finally stopped registering the down strum.(After 10 months...using my LP now that the ps3 has the patch

Anyone with advice??

[Music-life]

i have a good question i have a broken down strum
i looked at it and nothing looks like its contacting or stuck
but its the guitar that has a magnetic contacts
when you down strum its dose not return to the center