GHIII - Has your guitar worn out?

[SportiveUK]

I have had GHIII since last December and as time has gone on the buttons on my guitar have become more and more "squidgy". I first notice problems about 4 months ago when pressing two buttons together (red & green) started to not register but putting new batteries in seemed to help.

The problem has got worse to the extent that I am now missing loads of single notes as well and I know it's not me because I changed over to a second guitar I have and it was like a dream! Now I know why I keep getting cramp... having to press the buttons so hard to get them to register. The second guitar just needs a light tap.

The thing is the guitar has probably not had nearly as much use as some others here and I would have expected it to last more than 9 months. How have other peoples guitars lasted? Are your buttons worn out too?

 

[Alun]

I've been thinking along those lines myself. Mine gets a good hammering on an almost daily basis, I've started to notice missed noteswhere they shouldnt have, and Im by no means cack at it

No squidgy buttons though..

 

[Tufty McTavish]

Are your buttons worn out too?

It's probably the connection between the neck of the GH3 Les Paul guitar and the body. It wobbles and over time get looser. It's a very, very poor design. If this is indeed the problem then are bucket loads of suggestions on the web about solutions. These range from cardboard inserts through internal circuit board position changes, all the way to soldering the connection more securely.

My Les Paul is sat beside me on my workbench in need of some soldering work to resolve my own loose connection at the neck problem. You can see it getting better when I push on the back of the neck to get a better connection from the contacts.

I bought GH3 when it came out around about this time last year. The guitar finally got to the point of being useless just before Rock Band was released. I've been using the RB Stratocaster ever since.

 

[shagaboopon]

From a while ago:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/guitar-hero-xbox-360-discussions/762714-my-stupid-les-paul-tale.html

Just my little story of a broken guitar.

 

[SportiveUK]

It's probably the connection between the neck of the GH3 Les Paul guitar and the body. It wobbles and over time get looser

My neck has become very loose indeed so this morning I applied a fix as per this solution:

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=628006&st=0

Apart from the slightly squidgy buttons (probably from me pressing so hard on them to try and get them to register over the last few months) it's like new again. The neck is rock(!) solid and the only notes missed are down to my dodgy playing. I am now clocking up 200+ note streaks again, which is better.

It looks like the old guitar might have plenty of life left in it yet after all

 

[PlexShaw]

I fixed mine by applying solder to the contact points on the circuit board as some of them were damaged and using the electrical tape shim method to stop it wobbling around.

Seems to be working fine now.

The new guitar also has a detachable neck, but uses a much more robust USB-like connector which should ensure that problems like this are a thing of the past.

 

[Big]

If it is less than a year old get it repaired/replaced under warranty. Took my Guitar Hero III controller back to Game last month (10 months old) and they replaced it with a new one.

 

[King Tones]

If it is less than a year old get it repaired/replaced under warranty. Took my Guitar Hero III controller back to Game last month (10 months old) and they replaced it with a new one.

Agree
If its under 12 months then take it back.
Get a new one and all sorted

Does the RB Guitar work with GH3 ?
I did not think it did. Might be wrong though.

Deftones82

 

[SportiveUK]

I played through a few songs this evening and was getting new high scores on nearly every one. I am guessing my guitar must have been pretty bad right from the start, I had just assumed it was my dodgy playing!

It does seem that my Star Power activates totally automatically now although it's not a massive problem unless you are after the highest possible score or in one of the boss battles. I'm just happy the guitar works

 

[JUS]

I superglued the neck to the base. Works fine now ...too much hassle taking it back as I'm in India at the moment and bought it in play-asia.

 

[oasismark]

My LP seams to be missing blue notes alot. and the neck does move in and out of the slot.

I'm gonna try the electrical tape fix.

I bought it 2nd hand so cant return it. I'll be selling it soon anyway with my RB kit.

 

[kismet110]

I'm glad I saw this thread Lately I've had notes not registering and thought it was just down to my jumping to Hard and being cr*p but when I dropped back down to Medium for a couple of tracks to test it out the same happened.

I might try the fix linked above first as it does look quite straightforward, if that doesn't improve things then get it swapped at GAME (only had it 4/5 months).

Red Octane kit is generally OK but the design effort for these controllers was definitely lo-tech...

 

[monkey00]

My LP seams to be missing blue notes alot. and the neck does move in and out of the slot.

I'm gonna try the electrical tape fix.

I bought it 2nd hand so cant return it. I'll be selling it soon anyway with my RB kit.

same here mate minus the 2nd hand bit

 

[shagaboopon]

Just to make you guys aware I did the quick fix where you move the contact pcb closer in the neck and while it worked for a month it eventually went again when a pin snapped off. The ultimate solution is to just solder the damn thing and never mess with the neck again. I didn't bother getting mine replaced under warranty as I was confident of my ability to fix it and also a new one would have broke just as quickly as its a poor design.