Squier help

[PuckJunkie]

I'm having an issue with a recently acquired Squier that I suspect is me rather than the guitar, and I'm hoping someone here can help me make sure that's the case.

First: IANAG (I Am Not A Guitarist)... I have lurked on dozens of eBay auctions of Squiers since they became difficult to acquire, because it just looked like a ton of fun. I finally got one, and it's hard as hell but just as fun as I suspected. My problems tend to fall in one of three categories: 1) I'm really incompetent at this. 2) The game seems to decide I'm playing on a different fret if I bend the string at all. 3) The game freaks out entirely if I strum too firmly. I am playing with my fingers, btw.

The first problem I hope to solve on my own. The second problem, where slightly moving the string up or down (perhaps halfway to the adjacent string) results in a different note being sensed, I don't know about. Maybe it's normal, maybe not. I just don't know enough about guitar to know if that's an issue.

The third problem is what has me concerned. Going through the pro guitar chord trainer was possible, but only if I was careful about not plucking at the strings too hard. A Townshend-style windmill was out of the question. If I take the first two strings and strum them firmly with my fingers on the "power chord" tutorial, I can watch the numbers indicating what fret I'm playing on jump from 5 to 17 to 2 and back, extremely quickly. To get it to actually register properly, I have to just lightly touch the strings.

Again, knowing nothing about guitar, this may be 100% normal behavior and something I can fix by address problem #1. Or by using a pick. But I'd just like some quick advice about it, since I have a limited window in which to talk to the seller about any problems with the actual guitar. I really appreciate any feedback from you guys, since I know there are a lot of people on here who know a lot about this. I did do a more-than-casual search for a similar issue, but if it's been discussed here in the forums, I missed it. My apologies if that is the case.

Puck

[mikeyts]

For problem #2, if you look at the frets closely (as in this picture), you'll notice little silver separations between the areas beneath the strings; if you move the string across that separator into the area below an adjacent string, it will read as you holding that adjacent string on the fret.

Problem 3--are you playing with the mute up and in contact with the strings? (Little pop-up piece of foam just under the fretboard). If the mute is not touching the strings and damping their ringing, sustained ringing will be reported as mutiple strums. Sadly, you cannot play the guitar out loud while using it to play the game.

[PuckJunkie]

First, thanks for the quick reply.

On problem #2, I'm not seeing the game read the input as a different string (not unless I move it a little further than I'm talking about); I'm seeing the game read the input as a different fret on the same string, which is a little odder, I think. But as long as I don't move the strings around it's all good.

I have tried playing both with and without the mute, and the problem does seem less pervasive with the mute on, but it's still there. I borrowed a pick from a friend today, I'll see if that helps. I'm not sure it should, though?

[mikeyts]

Make sure that all frets are operating on all strings. I do this by starting a tutorial exercise without running it, then sliding a finger down each of the strings on the fretboard over every fret watching the fret number change. If it doesn't change as I go from one to the next, there's probably some gunk on that section of the fret for that string. Rub the string vigorously on that fret segment until you see the fret number pop up reliably. This gunk-on-the-frets problem was extremely common, though a guy who was buying them for and shipping them to people outside of the US and testing them before he shipped said that the last ones he bought didn't seem to have any gunk on their frets. Whatever--make sure that you test and fix every fret on every string.

Also, try very hard not to bend the string while you play. Unless you're trying to produce vibrato, which you shouldn't do while using the instrument to play the game, it's poor technique.

You should always use the mute while playing the game; it's what the manual tells you to do and taking it off will create overstrums. You can score 100% with those overstrums but they break combo so your numeric score will be horrible because your multiplier won't get up very high or stay there for any length of time. Since you're seeing the problem with the mute on, you might need to adjust string strum sensitivity; there's an undocumented set of adjustment screws, one for each string, located under a little screwed-on plastic cover inside of the battery compartment. (Its possible your mute is worn and you might need to beef it up somehow--it is pretty flimsy seeming foam. If mine becomes ineffective I'm going to try gluing a strip of bicycle innertube or something like it.

[Derrek42]

Since you're seeing the problem with the mute on, you might need to adjust string strum sensitivity; there's an undocumented set of adjustment screws, one for each string, located under a little screwed-on plastic cover inside of the battery compartment.

Adjusting the strum sensitivity can be a pain. You might be able to do it in the game by observing the "strum" while playing something...but it may not be the best results. I connected my guitar via midi to a PC with MIDI software running, and then observing the MIDI input values (0-127, IIRC). I was able to adjust each string to register a mild value equally across all all strings with a mild to medium "pluck" with a pick (I tried to be very precise so that each string was picked with the same force and register the same MIDI value. I think I based it off of one of the strings that registered the best in game so all strings would react the same in game). I also verified that a hard strum would register at the upper end of the MIDI values without over running the peak values (127). After adjusting, I went back to the game and verified each string was being detected on strum without producing over-strum.

For your problem #3, if when strumming a bit past medium to hard and the frets are jumping past what you are fingering (from 5 to 17) an adjustment to the torsion bar may help....but, first, make sure you have the "mute" engaged. The mute should solve this by dampening the strings so they don't vibrate and touch unintended frets. (The mute should sound similar to you putting your hand across the strings in the same place as the mute. If you have strings that still ring out, then the mute may not be functioning properly)
Also, a guitar is fairly sensitive....you should not have to strum hard (or finger hard) to be able to make the proper sound. If you had an amp connected, you can get a proper sound out of the guitar without having to try to hard. Once you get to a certain point in strumming, you are not gaining anything by strumming any harder except distorting the pure sound (string vibration) going into the amp. If you take the pick and "pluck" it against your skin...it should not hurt...if it hurts, you are plucking too hard
Also, make sure that when you strum or pluck, that you are doing it over the pickup and not over or beyond the mute.