Converting a Real Guitar into a Controller
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I realise this may polarise everyone but here goes… I know its been done elsewhere on the internet before but I wanted to take my love of Rock Band to another level with a little project. I bought an old broken electric guitar destined for scrap very very cheaply and then an old Guitar Hero controller that was cracked, broken and had a broken strum off eBay. I have removed the electronics from both, replaced the strum switches on the circuit board and I am now converting the old electric guitar into a Rock Band controller, to give both a second life. Im trying to keep the look of the old guitar as close to how it was, but obviously cleaning it up and looking at repairing the cracks and chips. Has anyone else here done the same thing before? I cant wait to finish it and use it as my main controller. Ive seen so many hateful comments elsewhere on the internet when people have tried it, which is a little unfair when people have basically taken two broken instruments and given them a loving second life but Ill ready myself for a torrent of abuse in any case! I must point-out that the guy I bought the electric guitar from said I was mad as it would cost me more to repair it than buy a new one (he didnt know I wasnt going to use it as a real guitar), and it was a fairly cheap one at that!
Sounds great to me man. I’m all for restoring/reusing what would be junk. Plus it’s not like there are any premium rock band guitars available out there anyways – they’re all very light and cheaply made. What type of guitar is it? Are you going to use the guitar hero frets then or custom?
Keep us posted!
I was intending to put the exact same Guitar Hero fret controls from the Band Hero controller into the real guitar, minus the bright colours. Im also thinking of them painting them brown like the wood to make them less obvious. Its an old Cort G-Series electric guitar with beautiful body colours just like the Guitar Hero World Tour guitar, if a bit worn and in need of sprucing up. The guitars are £210 new and this one cost me £15. Thats how banged-up it is. Im going to be rocking my pants off with this when its finished. Shell never miss her strings!
I don’t understand why you’d think there’d be hate? I only wish you’d show your process so I could do it too.
Bring on the haters! See if I care.
I have a similar project in the works but havent touched it much. Will get started on it (with pics)
I’m following a rough guide that some guys did back in 2006 but they weren’t GH/RB fans and they made a bit of a mess of it (as cool as it was!). Thankfully the tech has improved a bit since then and the internal circuitry is a bit smaller. It brilliantly fits into the guitar I have, although I’m doing some serious cutting inside it. The big problem is the fretboard, which I’m removing with a steam iron, taking the truss rod out from inside and running the cables along that pre-carved tunnel. The 2006 guys cut drilled straight through the neck, put the controls in the back and used wood filler to make the butchered back look mildly acceptable again. I’ll keep taking photos as I’m going and if anyone likes the end product, I’ll make a really simple guide for how to do it. I love how many people are getting rid of ‘broken’ GH and RB instruments on eBay. Most of them just need new switches re-soldering or other cheap parts replacing.
If you come across any issues before I do rubydanger, let me know and vice versa!
This sounds amazing. What if someone were to take a real guitar and convert it into a Pro Guitar controller though?
Ive never seen inside one of those Pro Guitars so I hate to think of the amount of wiring and switches! Id probably be able to learn to play a real guitar like a pro in the time that would take me to make!! You could theoretically put the circuitry from a GH/RB guitar into anything and play it though. After this project I have a friend with an actual drum kit who Ive bet I can hook-up to the game by placing the sensors on the real drums. And I dont even need to butcher a GH/RB drum kit for that because you can buy the sensors off the internet and just wire them into the control box that clips out.
Go for it. Maybe one of these years I’ll get a project bug and make me a genuine lefty RB controller out of a broken electric.
I’m actually really curious to see the end result. Please share pictures when you’re finished.
And if you’re planning to make a guide, I would love to see that too!
Well in my situation, it’s a little bit different – some may say cheating….
I have a real guitar that has been hollowed out already for PS3, It was an early First Act – Actually this one
https://uedata.amazon.com/First-Act-GE-2000-Guitar-Controller-PlayStation-3/dp/B001MLGSJS
(Sorry if that link is not allowed – I will pull down if not)
And I have gutted IT to replace with wireless XBOX 360 guts. My first attempt, I used a RB Strat but realized that would be so much more work than a GH Les Paul. At this point in time I do not want to take a chance on destroying my current Les Pauls so I will be picking up one soon to continue this project!
Here it is gutted
This sounds like a very cool project!
I am very interested to see how people go about this – I might be inspired to give it a go too one day!
” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />Thanks for the picture rubydanger. Ill take a photo of mine tomorrow to show a comparison. Mine has a front and back void, which means I can stick the battery compartment inside the rear one and get to it easier when they need replacing. To me it looks from your one that you might need to hollow the front a bit more of it if possible, or the circuits may have to overlap each other. Thats one of the main problems Ive identified, along with positioning of the whammy bar and how to get to the fret keys inside the neck easily if they need replacing at any point (may have to cut a section from the neck and screw it back-in). Once you start boy do you realise its difficult to get everything in there in the right places!
How do you insert photos into these messages? The guitar is really coming along. I have just managed to re-wire the circuit in the Guitar Hero guitar and connected the START button to the original volume knob on the actual guitar. So now in the game when you want to press START, I just twist the Volume control! Its a beautiful thing! Im going to hook-up the SELECT to the tone control or pick selector now. Its a real faff so once Ive done it and know how to post photos Ill give you guys the info. Once the whole project is done Ill do a YouTube video to explain it – but Ill wait until I know its successful so as not to waste anyones time.
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