[StrayGuitarist]

On 11/14/2020 at 2:19 PM, Justjamie9090 said:

What browser can i use

 

 

It worked for me on Firefox and Opera.

[StrayGuitarist]

Glad to see how much everyone cares and how quickly they were to help. Either way, seems to be working again.

[StrayGuitarist]

Using another browser lets me access it again, but clearing cookies/browsing data, etc, doesn’t seem to affect it at all.

[StrayGuitarist]

whoops, double post..

[StrayGuitarist]

On 10/17/2020 at 1:28 PM, marty said:

Come on people.  This is all a work in progress.  If you don’t like it, don’t use it.

It’d be easier if there was an alternative. Either way, I think the new database looks kinda cluttered, but I’m glad it’s being updated, since the old one was kinda clunky. 

[StrayGuitarist]

I recently bought my first Strum Fix Plus and I’m loving it. It blows away the stock strummer on the sunburst RB2 stratocaster. I have another Strum Fix Plus and a duo in the mail to replace my other guitars. The other RB2 stratocaster will become a bass with the duo, and the other strum fix plus is destined for my RB3 Telecaster. I may have to get creative to install it as it’s not a compatible model, but I’m going to make it work. The stock strummer on the telecaster requires at least twice as much effort per strum compared to SFP

 

Hell yeah. It’s absolutely amazing. It breathed new life into my RB2 strat, and made playing so, so much easier. It does take a little getting used to, though, with not needing to force the bar all the way down for it to actuate.

 

I do testing for Scott (owner/designer of Strum Fix) and if you tell him you had a problem with the duo not holding the wires he may be able to help. He is a very good guy and wants everyone to succeed in replacing their broken guitars.

I too have the duo. I put it in my Hoffner (naturally) and it took some time to get used to it, but in the long run it makes playing bass songs much more fun. Almost all of my guitars have the replacement strum bars and I couldn’t be happier with them.

For your duo, you do have it setup that when pushing either bar down that onscreen one goes down and the other goes up, correct? That is proper function.

About your whammy bar….stay tuned

Cheers!

 

I did send an e-mail to guitar@bytearts.com, and got a response from Scott. He told me that some (although pretty few) guitars have thinner wires on their strum bars, not leaving enough wire to get crimped down by the screws, and complimented my solution. He said that he might just include some thick copper wire with them to fix that in case that becomes more common..

 

Nice. Ever since I started playing actual guitar, I wanted a Rickenbacker bass.. And when I started playing Rockband, I wanted a Rickenbacker bass controller. I still can’t afford either, lol.

 

Anyways, yeah, I do have it configured like that. I thought about changing the jumpers at first, but after spending a little more time with it, I do like it how it is now.

 

Ooohoho.. That’s incredibly exciting.

[StrayGuitarist]

The duo does take a bit of getting used to if you’re not used to alternating two fingers for sure.

 

Glad you got the duo working that the first time I’ve heard of an issue with the screws holding the wires in place. The issue that I had with my duo was figuring out which wires went where (but IIRC they fixed that since I got mine).

 

I hope your bread ties hold out – I think I would have asked for a replacement if that happened to mine …

 

I did contact support, too, but I was determined to make it work for now. I used to repair SNES power boards with bread ties, there’s a little wire that burns out after a while, and bread ties are almost exactly the same size as that wire, so if you strip it down and solder it on, it’ll work perfectly. I figured there wasn’t a lot of voltage, nor amperage going through those buttons, so it wasn’t that big of a risk to put those in there. The strum bar was totally fucked anyways, so I wouldn’t be losing much if it didn’t work.

 

Yeah, it’s really helpful for some songs, though. Especially the custom chart of Orion by Metallica on this forum, which has a lot of palm-muted triplets in the middle of legato sections, so being able to easily do alternate picking is really handy. Plus it plays to my love of bass guitars, as a musician. I feel more in tune with my actual instrument instinct when using it.

[StrayGuitarist]

Speaking only of GH instruments, having not yet taken-apart a RB version but imagining that theyre very similar, the circuit boards are custom made, so if anything goes wrong with one of them you cannot order a new one. You either have to replace it with one from another spares version or you can try to repair it yourself. Shop around for any sort of tiny switches and then get some 0.2mm insulated copper wire, which you then solder onto the switch connectors and run directly to where theyre needed, bypassing or bridging the printed board connections. For example, by doing this Ive successfully wired the Volume and Pickup Selector on an old real electric guitar I am converting to use in-game to the Start and Select buttons on the motherboard and in doing so have ditched the entire circuit board they put in for the start and select buttons. They work an absolute treat too. You CAN replace the tiny switches on the circuit board for the GH frets too – watch this short video to see a rather messy but successfully example of how to do it and what to replace them with –

Ah, fun stuff. Reminds me of fixing PS3 slims with dead Wifi chips. (The chip is soldered to the motherboard, and due to the PS3 Slim’s poor ventilation, often gets ruined by the console overheating, so you have to reball it or replace the whole mobo.) I guess I’ll keep an eye out for guitars at thrift stores to part out.

[StrayGuitarist]

Yeah it DID exist…I’m not crazy…well, not for THAT reason…

 

We’re all a little bit crazy. Anyways, I’m not new to forums at all (I was on theisozone for a number of years, and I’m still active on GBATemp), but I’m definitely new to this one, so my bad for the initial mistake in forum topic placement. Anyways..

[StrayGuitarist]

A cheaper route may be to look at your local thrift stores, yard sales, craigslist, etc. These will be rarer but every now and then they pop up. Last week I saw a PS3 wireless Fender guitar with some scratches that still worked at Goodwill for $7. Unfortunately I don’t have a PS3. I guess it depends on how desperate you are to find them; they are readily available on eBay but are more expensive, secondhand stores and marketplace ads are usually cheaper but will take longer.

 

Yeah, I’ve just popped into a local thrift store and found an RB1 or 2 drumset for $5 today. Didn’t have a pedal, nor does it support my pro cymbals, but it seems seldom used and works well, so I’ve been using it happily, even without the support for pro drums.

 

Id like to second, third and fourth everything the chaps above have written. I have always used Guitar Hero instruments but the theory remains the same. Keep an eye out for replacements (for replacement parts/spares you cant buy anywhere – such as the motherboard), and get hold of replacement switches etc. online. They are REALLY easy to repair once youve done it once. Ive repaired so many now and you can even put foam inside to quieten the strum etc. whilst youre at it. There are a few good videos on YouTube about doing it. Dont chuck an instrument out for something that can be fixed quite easily – these instruments are becoming rarer and more valuable over time. Love the fact youre back showing love for RB again with your mates though. Awesome stuff!

 

Where do you go to find replacement parts? I ordered two of the Strum Fix Plus’es that Doa recommended, but I’d like to know where I could find replacement fret buttons/whammy bars, if such things exist.

 

Completely agreed there. I always love to at least attempt to fix something before deciding to huck it in the bin, especially when the quantity of such item is so limited, like with my CRTs, older consoles, and now, especially my Rockband instruments.

 

Yeah, it was a really big part of our gaming sessions for quite a few years before, for some reason or another, we took some hiatus.

[StrayGuitarist]

I highly recommend this site for replacement strum bars (I’ve bought two already): https://www.bytearts.com/strumfixplus

 

For replacement instruments – second hand shops, facebook market place, and apps where people sell stuff that they don’t want.

 

I can’t help with replacement buttons or whammy bars though …

 

Ooh, definitely gonna check that out. I’d love to get my guitar with a fucked strum bar working again, it’s one of the Stratocasters with the rosewood fretboard and the automatic calibration sensor..

 

Facebook Marketplace – I get just about everything from there (the rest from local pawn shops). I think I’ve picked up around 20 guitars in the last year alone.

 

Another tip: I have multiple ads running in a few ‘video game buy/sell’ groups, the ads basically say “In search of Rock Band / Guitar Hero guitars”, the ads themselves have brought me a handful of free guitars and people selling different kits and collections.

 

 

Here’s the my latest marketplace purchase from August 30th, the 2007 Peavy Riffmaster.

 

 

I didn’t even think about posting a classifieds ad. I’ll get around to that.

 

I always order from Ebay and so far it’s all been pretty great.

 

I would do that, but I feel like I’d get gouged on shipping. When I’ve bought actual guitars online, it always ends up costing an extra 20-30 bucks to ship it.

[StrayGuitarist]

Duplicate Post – I would delete one of them. Maybe someone will be interested in charting this…

Duplicate? I don’t see two.

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