Pogo pins actually aren't cheaper. The reason they probably opted this route is because even something like a db9 can wear out with repeated use, and at its heart these are toys meant for kids and kids don't treat things the best. Factor in they weren't really planning on these things lasting 10-20 years anyway and you have the situation in front of us.
The trouble began with my guitar after only a week or so of use. That particular guitar is what got me to learn how to solder since every replacement would have had the same issue.
Pogo pins are way less reliable over many insertions than most connectors as well. They are more of a prototyping tool or a put together a thing once tool.
that and if you reuse a connector, a child might assume they can plug it into something else, which could damage the product or the device it was forced into, its why sometimes on DB9 connectors they would sometimes made versions with missing pins or blanked holes, to make it harder for someone to accidentally plug it in the wrong place
There's a capacitor in parallel with the battery, in order to pick up the slack if a violent movement causes a lost battery connection during operation.
@@erolismailovski6504 you could likely remove it without issue yeah, smoothing isn't really needed for batteries unless there's a risk they might have flaky connections (for example if a child is shaking the controller around a bunch) just maybe don't get too into it if you don't want to risk a controller disconnect
@@HotClown It's actually common practice to do so in freestyle drones to avoid battery sag, granted in case of freestyle drones you can sometimes drain a shit more than the battery can realistically handle over a longer period. Which isn't remotely likely for a guitar hero controller unless there's a short.
If this hasn't completely turned you off to working on guitar hero controllers and you want a challenge, you should try putting in mechanical switches for the buttons. Love the video :-)
I’d love to see that. I’ve been thinking about performing the most myself for a while, but I’ve got a million and one projects on the back burner already so I just keep procrastinating it. Maybe seeing Matt take it on would motivate me to do the same.
Oh, something I actually know! The capacitor on the battery terminals is specifically a high-storage capacitor designed for motion controllers. The PS3 dualshock controllers did not have these, because they had an internal LiPo cell actually plugged in to the mobo, but wii remotes (AA powered) and wireless guitar hero controllers (also AA powered) were prone to such violent shaking, that the batteries would momentarily compress the springs and disconnect, so the job of the capacitor is to keep the juice flowing juuuust long enough that the bluetooth connection isn't lost :)
@@jek__ yup yup. Lots of the Wii Remote motions involved swinging it rapidly in an arc, sometimes creating 2-3 Gs of force on the internals (including the batteries, which were unfortunately aligned along the axis that almost always felt the strongest forces) If they had gone with the flat metal battery contacts instead of springs the problem would have been solved, but not all batteries are perfectly the same length, so springs + capacitor was the safer choice
being like a reasonably good player in my day (lmao) i do remember pushing the the neck in to fix dropped notes, its weird and cool to now know what was causing it
@@staringcorgi6475 Actually, GHWT and GH5 controllers are detachable, but didnt have these errors. I had a used X360 Genericaster (The Sunburst of World tour, the orange-black one), and works like a charm, I already did 4 FC songs with it.
Fun fact: “DB-9s” are actually DE-9s. The form factor of the connector corresponds to E, but the misnomer is so widespread that it’s probably not worth correcting, and the name stuck. A B size connector would be found on something like a DB-25.
@@Sykale If anyone tries to correct you for calling an ethernet jack "RJ45", they're just being difficult and you should ignore them. Professionals call them RJ45 in pretty much every setting. It's more of a fun trivia fact at this point.
highly energetic areas should be the first part to fail on any system, they are the biggest risk area. It's like the gas tank of a vehicle or the fuel storage room in a warehouse, where you store the energy is most likely to at least be the root of a catastrophic failure
Using a DB9 plug is actually a really elegant solution! It's videos like that that make me wish I'd taken the time to really learn soldering and electronics. I can program, sure, but electronics troubleshooting is a whole other ballgame!
Is not that hard actually. But sometimes it requires patience. I work as a programmer but do mods as a hobby and I repair what I can. Last thing I worked was making my DT 770 Pro headphones bluetooth and at a dettachable cable, it was kinda hard with the little space you have to work but is totally worth it
If you can troubleshoot code then you can troubleshoot circuits, I can promise you that much. It's the exact same skillset! It's all detective work and understanding the underlying systems - you got this!
Ironically I remember when game stores were begging people to take their excess guitar controllers at any price. They weren’t in demand at all. I guess just enough time has gone by for the supply to finally dry up.
Yup - because the game stores wouldn't even take them - I remember in about 2011 or so Gamestop told me to take my Rockband set to Goodwill because they didn't want it for any price. They would take the disc but would only give 10 cents for it. So I think I did donate the whole thing to Goodwill. I bet a lot of people just threw those guitars and rockband sets in the trash.
Yeah, Guitar Hero guitars are the last things I'd ever think I'd see in demand, lol. I used to see those things all over the place in Thrift Stores, and Gamestop trying their best to get rid of them.
@@dgpsf back when rockband 2 and GH4 were out, gamestop had put a corporate wide band on accepting any RB or GH peripherals due to their size and large amount quantity at the time of the newer units.
Very clever idea to use a db9 connector for this. The de facto standard way of deleting the old pogo connectors has just been simply hardwiring the neck. It's very simple and reliable, but the only real drawback is sacrificing the detachable neck capability. The Guitar Hero hardware modding scene has been trying many various different connector types to find a simple and easy replacement connector to retain the ability to detach the neck, I'm not sure if they've tried this connector type yet or not. Thanks for making this excellent video!
I wonder if you could just hardwire them but use a long cable with slack. Then you could detach them and fold them. Another option would be an RJ-45 and drill a hole in just the right place so you could poke the tab with your finger to disengage it before pulling the neck out.
@@dgpsf you could, but also, some people have multiple different necks, with mechanical and silicone frets. Afaik, that's the main reason for having a detachable neck. Its not much of a big deal in terms of taking up space
I resurected my GH3 controller by actually adding solder on top of the existing pads, this increasing the pressure. It still works great after years of abuse.
I worked a goodwill as incoming production. we had a list of things so cluttering up all the stores that to always throw. the guitars controllers where number two behind copies of fifty shades of gray
Guitar hero, especially the controllers, have gone through 3 phases, initial explosion leading to over saturation, it becoming literally worthless junk, now nostalgia is kicking in (especially with Clone Hero) and the only way you can properly play the game is with the controllers
Yeah, I remember these being everywhere 10 years ago, so many people just giving them away and still had trouble getting rid of them. That and the drum set too, just take up too much space to really leave in a box somewhere forever
Wonderful video! The Clone Hero community has been leaning towards hard-wiring it (especially if you look into the custom guitars that some modders make). I've always wanted a solution like what you did, so it's amazing to see this proof of concept done justice.
you make it look so simple. mounting the new connectors securely at the correct distance and alignment to get a good connection seams like it would be the most frustrating part. but you just click the buggers in. was it really that simple
MattKC is back! I kept randomly stumbling across your content until I eventually gave in and subscribed and ever since I’ve been surprised by how often I was blessed with new content
graduated from guitar hero to rocksmith for guitar and from rock band to being an actual drummer myself. the drums for those games are way more effective practice tools than anyone gives them credit for--with the cymbals and some extra connectors and software, you have a full on e-kit
You can just slightly move the terminals that the pogos attach to up by like 1mm out of the designated slot and it removes the neck play and makes it so there is no button loss. Idk it worked for me, probably isn’t the best long term solution but it works
every single one of my guitar hero guitars suffered from this issue, i probably went through like 4 as a kid lmao. one of the ways it was "fixed" was by just duct taping it as far down as possible, but it doesnt matter. i was a kid and those pins broke from me slamming the guitar, or throwing it down, whichever one.. I didn't realize how fragile the things were.
Aayyy! I help out with clone hero dev and I'm the artist who wrote Moonhunter. I've watched you for a while and it's cool to see you doing CH stuff! Hope your guitar is rock solid from now on!
A lot of the time the C6 capacitor goes out on these Les Paul guitars. So if your guitar only blinks and won't sync, get yourself a soldering iron and some 10V 220 uf capacitors. It's time consuming but if a moron like me can do it most of you can too.
love to begin my birthday with a mattkc video. i’ve always wanted to rebuy the guitar hero stuff because i love rhythm games and old 2000’s crap so this already has peaked my intrest. keep up the good work my guy :)
My concern is going to be strain relief from plugging and unplugging the guitar. On our mice, we had this big molded chunky plastic cover that you gripped on to remove, but here you're effectively removing by grabbing from the cord. If you can make the connectors attached to the plastic (instead of a loose press fit) then you'll have a longer lifetime before the connections break.
seeing you open up that guitar hero controller reminds me of how my uncle used to tear apart controllers before and rebuild them as whese weird Frankenstein's monster controllers. he stuck an actual guitar head on an SG Guitar Hero Controller and threw away the whammy bar.
I really like this idea, I would say a dremel rotary tool would help in carving out the plastic to fit those db9 connectors without having to trim them, also likely giving them better support in the chassis.
Was having a rough night at work, and arrived home in a pretty terrible mood, but your new video really cheered me up, a lot more than I was expecting 😅 i love your sense of humor, and thank you for saving my night!
Could be worse, last night I got so drunk that I threw up on my mouse and super expensive Xbox Series controller and had to take both apart and wash them off and had to take the controller apart multiple times because I would forget a button and because of how finnicky the design is since for some reason all high-end electronics are hard to repair.
Other than making the video much more interesting, why would you want to keep the neck removeable? I assume that design detail was only necessary to keep the original packaging more compact. Seems like soldering the pogo pins in place would have been 50x faster...
I noticed that the pressure from the pins creates holes in the original contacts on the neck board. I just soldered over the holes and made new flush contacts, and then I applied some silver electrical connective grease for keeping the connection during movement. Worked better than I anticipated.
Would you ever consider letting people send you their boards and doing this for them? Could maybe be a bit lucrative and help out the Guitar Hero community a lot!
So here is a little example of how complicated this can be putting these older gen guitars back together, I found a old rockband wii guitar at goodwill and 1 button would not work. All the buttons clicked, the pads all worked, the electrical parts were all working but when you tried to use it the yellow button wouldn’t work. Turns out the buttons themselves were not in the correct color order and despite the fact that the buttons are all the same and don’t appear different in any way once I popped them all off and color coded them it worked perfectly.
Is it weird that I actually like the old serial/DB9 ports more than USB? Their so simple to work with for controlling things. no drivers to install just send data to the right port
@@diamondarrow4567 Nowadays it is, but you can encounter driver issues on older usb things and chinese knockoffs. I have a USB DJ set that i had to put an arduino since there was no software available and the ones that i found only worked on XP. And also cheap usb composite capture cards are a nightmare if you loose the driver cd or don't have a cd drive at all.
@@CraftingCake i only experienced that with old USB devices, newer devices tend to use either open source or generic drivers, unless is something too specific or tries to compete with Microsoft products for cheaper
bought one from goodwill, missing battery cover, 1 button wouldnt work, use alcohol and cleaned everyything, including these pins, now works with no problems.
I've been hoarding my two good controllers, one Kramer with the same crappy design as this Les Paul, and another old style one, for PS2, wireless. Good to know they might finally be worth something.
Rs232 connections are actually still widely used in the IT industry especially with networking as there is network equipment that uses that connection. This includes Cisco network equipment. Other devices that still use them including AV equipment like projectors and AV splitters/hubs that are meant to be used in rack mount. Servers are also known to have them as well
I'm trying to understand what the extra pins are for. 5 buttons, 1 ground, why 2 more? The Wii version has only 6 pins. And for that matter mine are still working fine, but I'll keep that in mind if it starts acting up.
@@garrynull6812 thanks for the information, still pretty odd. I feel like it would have been easier to design a single neck connection for each major revision
dang, I actually really wanna try this, I have 2 of those les paul guitar controllers sitting in my living room collecting because of this exact issue and it'd be really cool to have them working again
My guitar hero controller had the same problem right from the start. I jammed some plastics in there to add more pressure and it worked. I coudn't believe something would be relased in this state.
That's why I go with the Wii version, there's even a program called WiiTar, so you're truly wireless, if you got a wiimote, which most true emulating people should have, didn't know the xbox version had such a bad neck connector, the wii's is very well built, It's sorta like a lightning connector
WiiTar user here; nope, it's the same shitty design. Ended up hardwiring my own to get it working. Only costed me a couple hours of my life and sanity. Also, the program WiiTar conflicts with ViGEm (which p'much every modern 'x controller for Windows' thing uses) since the program was built with the older Scarlet.Crush platform. Main reason people use WiiTars stems from the relative ease and critically low latency of the RandNet adapters. How much that matters to you tho is a YMMV thing.
@@ThatOneSeong Just looked at mine too, no pogo pins here. Wouldnt really describe it as similar to a lightning connector, but its nothing like pogo pins. Almost like a bigger HDMI with fewer contacts. I have the guitar hero 5 one, the one that's red and white around where you strum. I also dont see why being wireless is a GOOD thing, cause all of the wireless guitar hero controllers have noticeable input lag to me. But I'm too cheap to buy a raphnet and not good enough that a little bit of input lag makes a difference, so I just deal with it lmao
Very interesting! I never thought of COM ports as such versatile connectors. I don't have Guitar Hero, but will probably use this trick in tinkering project to connect sensors to a Raspberry Pi.
You could also potentially attempt to play "Gitadora" with this, which is essentially the Japanese counterpart with many differences. I really appreciate this video, very useful, especially because those Guitars will also work with the console of choice (360 in your case)
Strong flashbacks to desoldering the ribbon cable entirely and replacing it with a segment of Cat5 ethernet cable. In a pinch, you can also just drive a small screw into the lower frets while applying pressure on the neck to permanently attach it, which works nearly as well.
I did a similar mod to my les paul (plus many others) back in like 2007/8. I didn't have much on hand so just made due with a couple floppy drive power extensions (like to know how many others here have actually used those as intended lol) I started with a working corded guitar, and a broken wireless body I permanently mounted the neck to the body with epoxy, but cut away at the base of the back of the neck so that it could still open for service. Added weights for a more comfortable feel hanging from the strap. Mounted the mic input on top so it didn't get in the way anymore. And had a friend cast me clear epoxy buttons for the whole thing. Added LEDs to light up the neck buttons, strum bar, and the base of whammy bar. had a couple sticker bombed faceplates, 1 clean black and 1 clean aerosmith. Next I wanted to try something stupid that i didn't think would work. combine the 2 bodys i had. I turned the current wired connection into a mini-b to usb2.0 and then managed to find a way to mount in the batteries and wireless main board from the damaged wireless body. By adding 2 toggle switches that would control most of the grounds of the buttons, i need 2 xbox home buttons 2 joysticks and whammy only worked on wired mode. but i could switch from wired to wireless anytime i wanted with a badass looking and feeling fiddle. most of my mounting was done with cheap 2 part epoxy mixed with sawdust, i also used a type of plastic welder for lots of things. It heats up metal staples with an s profile to join edges, and i would use that to replace parts i didn't need to remove, cover holes, and on a couple pcb mounts where i soldered the staples to ground pads. this thing was a mess, but so much fun to build. It eventually began to decay, as did my passion for the game. I still love to jam out now and then, got a couple stock boys that still shred
"...and -oh my god WHO SH*T IN THE GUITAR???" has to be one of the most hilariously unexpected lines I've ever heard in a restoration video Matt. Thank you for that. XD
Recently had purchased this guitar from a secondhand shop for Pennie’s and dollars. And at first the guitar didn’t turn on. So I cleaned the battery tab box and turned on and synced to my 360 with no problem. But another problem occurred, the fret buttons weren’t working. Check the connection, the wire was detached and from my understanding this fix is going to revive this les Paul back into shape! Thank you for your awesome videos mane! Now I am waiting for my DB9 connector to arrive in the mail and make this happen!
Idk if this is relevant, but his rarity point is pretty accurate here in Japan It’s rare af - of course, you CAN find them in auction/used apps BUT, you won’t spend no less than $200 anyways, which is weird, ‘cause I presume GH wasn’t really a thing here - I couldn’t find any other than III and Aerosmith (for the PS2 at least), let alone the controller. Last month I saw an Aerosmith bundle for the PS3 selling for a little over $600
I made my own in boredom a few years ago with wood/copper, mechanical switches, and one of the random micro controllers I had laying around. Helps I'm a metal/wood working by trade and had the spare materials and workshop to do it all in. Still, it was pretty much all done by hand and if you didn't want it to weigh as much (bit less than a standard electric guitar, I used similar woods and techniques), you could always print parts, I guess. At that point I would just buy one and refurb it if need be if it's going to be plastic anyway.
9:26 When stuff like this is put together at a factory they obviously have proper charts on where everything is supposed to go, and oftentimes special jigs to make it easier.
While you can escape copywright claims by not allowing any music from the game itself to hit you, I believe those very audible perfectly-timed controller inputs might do it instead
9:49 a good way to protect the wires from screws in the guitar neck would be to encase them in "spiral wrap." You should be able to find it in various electronic/build-your-own computer stores, or online electronics/automation stores. you would need the smaller size (about 1/4" OD) to wrap the wires into a cable that would fit into the neck, but once you've done that, not only is it easier to route the cables without strays picking their own route, but the wrap also provides extra protection if a screw has a 'near miss.'
I took brass sheet that I circle cut (with leather punch) to make new surfaces. Clean, flux, solder paste with the circles on top. Hit with a iron for a sec and it drops flat. It never needed to be done again.
Did this for a friend yesterday. Kept breaking my amateur solder connections but otherwise it was a solid fix! Instead of trimming down the connector, I melted some ridges into the plastic around the connector, which worked really well for holding it securely. Not sure if you secured the connector more off screen but it definitely wasn't holding still for us without help. Left it wobbling about in the neck, but it does line up well enough when it's held flat and once it's plugged in, it's not going anywhere.
I managed to solve this issue by putting a small blob of solder on each contact pad. This lowers the space in between contacts making the springs compress much more, making a better connection. The simplest repair that worked for me.
8:52 This a point where Engineers would be quoting Confucus (or a reasonable facsimile thereof): "Short pencil better than long memory." On a notepad, write down which signal is supposed to go to which pin number. The pins and holes on DB-9 connectors have the number by each pin on the solder side, and sometimes on the connector side as well. Having the wiring written down allows for quick double-checking before each connection, just in case one's brain blanks out between soldering the lines to pin 2 and pin 3, and forgetting if it's pin 3 that gets skipped or pin 4.
Wow, the DB9 connector definitely took me by surprise. I was expecting one of the fancy modular power supply plugs but the DB9 is a very cool idea and a nice throwback. Great mod man!
I don't play Guitar Hero but I had a project in mind involving one of the controllers. Coincidentally, this was the exact controller I wanted to use, and the connector was something I was worried about failing. Well that's one less thing I need to experiment with. Nice.
Our van actually uses pogo pins. It's to check if the sliding door is closed I'm guessing. There are 5 pins so not sure that the other three are for. Sometime we have to clean the contacts because the van is 17 years old.
3:26 I remember seeing an old video on how to take apart a ps2 that warned you about voiding the warranty. Just in case my 2nd hand 10+ year old ps2 still has a warranty.
Design flaw: The controllers get destroyed when you smash them against objects in a fit of rage. ..I have no idea where my guitar hero guitar is. I'd like to go back and play the games again one day, but I think that era is over for good. Plus it contributed to my arthritis; damn you Score Hero!
I remember fixing this with cutting the pin part and the connector part hardwiring the cabels ( had hard time fitting everything back) then putting it together. Considering i was younger had 0 experience with solding I was pretty happy with the results
My solution wasn't to put paper inside, I didn't see the value of a solid block in there to fill the gap, as the position and pressure were variable. What I did instead was to cut some soft, flexible rubber into the shape of a ring around the lower part where the pins stick up, so it lay flat on the lowest level. It was only half an inch or so tall, but it was the perfect height to cushion the neck when it's clicked in and keep a constant expanding pressure, keeping the neck much more stable and preventing it from moving far enough to disconnect during play. It's worked for several years on many controllers. But that's if you don't want to do all the wiring and such, all you need is scissors and the right material.
Pogo pins actually aren't cheaper. The reason they probably opted this route is because even something like a db9 can wear out with repeated use, and at its heart these are toys meant for kids and kids don't treat things the best. Factor in they weren't really planning on these things lasting 10-20 years anyway and you have the situation in front of us.
The trouble began with my guitar after only a week or so of use. That particular guitar is what got me to learn how to solder since every replacement would have had the same issue.
Allignment is also easier.
Pogo pins are way less reliable over many insertions than most connectors as well. They are more of a prototyping tool or a put together a thing once tool.
that and if you reuse a connector, a child might assume they can plug it into something else, which could damage the product or the device it was forced into, its why sometimes on DB9 connectors they would sometimes made versions with missing pins or blanked holes, to make it harder for someone to accidentally plug it in the wrong place
Having a detachable neck is dumb in the first place. I suppose it's more practical for storage and shelf space.
There's a capacitor in parallel with the battery, in order to pick up the slack if a violent movement causes a lost battery connection during operation.
So in theory could you just remove a bulging one and take the risk of it losing a battery connection? Or is it essential for it to work
@@erolismailovski6504 you could likely remove it without issue yeah, smoothing isn't really needed for batteries unless there's a risk they might have flaky connections (for example if a child is shaking the controller around a bunch)
just maybe don't get too into it if you don't want to risk a controller disconnect
@@erolismailovski6504 I removed mine without any issues
@@erolismailovski6504 It shouldn't be essential. Capacitors are flywheels for electronics.
@@HotClown It's actually common practice to do so in freestyle drones to avoid battery sag, granted in case of freestyle drones you can sometimes drain a shit more than the battery can realistically handle over a longer period. Which isn't remotely likely for a guitar hero controller unless there's a short.
If this hasn't completely turned you off to working on guitar hero controllers and you want a challenge, you should try putting in mechanical switches for the buttons. Love the video :-)
Yes! Hopefully Matt notices this comment :3
That would be funny.
I’d love to see that. I’ve been thinking about performing the most myself for a while, but I’ve got a million and one projects on the back burner already so I just keep procrastinating it. Maybe seeing Matt take it on would motivate me to do the same.
some kailh chocs on the buttons would do wonders i think
I would love to see that
Oh, something I actually know! The capacitor on the battery terminals is specifically a high-storage capacitor designed for motion controllers. The PS3 dualshock controllers did not have these, because they had an internal LiPo cell actually plugged in to the mobo, but wii remotes (AA powered) and wireless guitar hero controllers (also AA powered) were prone to such violent shaking, that the batteries would momentarily compress the springs and disconnect, so the job of the capacitor is to keep the juice flowing juuuust long enough that the bluetooth connection isn't lost :)
Good to know. That makes much more sense than "smoothing out" the batteries. Battery's don't' have ripple like AC/DC power supplies do.
@@xeostube Yep! Glad to be of help!
Wish my Xbox 360 controller had a similar solution, if there'd be room for a capacitor. Its batteries didn't manage to keep contact through any bumps.
Huh I never considered that physically shaking a spring connector can apply so much force to the spring as to actually disconnect the battery
@@jek__ yup yup. Lots of the Wii Remote motions involved swinging it rapidly in an arc, sometimes creating 2-3 Gs of force on the internals (including the batteries, which were unfortunately aligned along the axis that almost always felt the strongest forces)
If they had gone with the flat metal battery contacts instead of springs the problem would have been solved, but not all batteries are perfectly the same length, so springs + capacitor was the safer choice
So you’re saying I can blame the design for sucking at the game? Thanks, Matt!
I always wondered why my friend made me use the same guitar every time
@@Wflash00 WE WERE BOTH TRICKED!!! i always got the shitty controllers because "they worked better"
Just buy any other guitar that isn’t detachable
being like a reasonably good player in my day (lmao) i do remember pushing the the neck in to fix dropped notes, its weird and cool to now know what was causing it
@@staringcorgi6475 Actually, GHWT and GH5 controllers are detachable, but didnt have these errors.
I had a used X360 Genericaster (The Sunburst of World tour, the orange-black one), and works like a charm, I already did 4 FC songs with it.
Fun fact: “DB-9s” are actually DE-9s. The form factor of the connector corresponds to E, but the misnomer is so widespread that it’s probably not worth correcting, and the name stuck. A B size connector would be found on something like a DB-25.
Same thing with un-keyed 8P8C connectors for ethernet being referred to as "RJ45", which is technically incorrect.
@@sypwn oh good to know
I love how all this tech shit sounds like names they give star wars blasters sometimes
@@dominikbury2 RJ45-DB9 sounds like a monitor name tbh
@@Sykale If anyone tries to correct you for calling an ethernet jack "RJ45", they're just being difficult and you should ignore them. Professionals call them RJ45 in pretty much every setting. It's more of a fun trivia fact at this point.
I love how this channel’s theme has become “why capacitors are terrible”
More like capacitors from that era.
Modern capacitors don't really just up and melt your motherboard after a few years unless you torture them.
capacitors are great. it's just a matter of getting good ones.
@@vulduv thinks abut my friends pc running 24/7 always doing some graphical rendering (it's been running for 1 month lol)
hulking bulging boy
highly energetic areas should be the first part to fail on any system, they are the biggest risk area. It's like the gas tank of a vehicle or the fuel storage room in a warehouse, where you store the energy is most likely to at least be the root of a catastrophic failure
I have an offbrand guitar that uses a regular HDMI plug as the connector in the neck. always thought it was super cool
what happens if you try to plug it into an hdmi port if possible
@@g_freakman never wanted to I'm afraid it will short something
Probably just nothing.
@@onometre nah dont worry. It wont happen
you guys have disconnectable necks? my offbrand guitar is just one piece so it doesn't have this problem lol
This is so cool! Love to see this issue tackled while still keeping the neck detachability. Also thanks for the shoutout to the CH community!
Hey @CarnyJared Glad to see you here!! Good luck on the Supernovae FC on stream dude, you got this!!
Really nice to see these more frequent uploads. Always look forward to what you make
Same
I agree. We need more frequent MattKC
Using a DB9 plug is actually a really elegant solution! It's videos like that that make me wish I'd taken the time to really learn soldering and electronics. I can program, sure, but electronics troubleshooting is a whole other ballgame!
It's never too late to learn and start repairing more stuff. Worst case you learn and some stuff just stays broke while you're learning
Is not that hard actually. But sometimes it requires patience. I work as a programmer but do mods as a hobby and I repair what I can. Last thing I worked was making my DT 770 Pro headphones bluetooth and at a dettachable cable, it was kinda hard with the little space you have to work but is totally worth it
If you can troubleshoot code then you can troubleshoot circuits, I can promise you that much. It's the exact same skillset! It's all detective work and understanding the underlying systems - you got this!
'A bit thick for my taste' MattKC setting himself up for another YTP
7:46
Leave that to me
Ironically I remember when game stores were begging people to take their excess guitar controllers at any price. They weren’t in demand at all. I guess just enough time has gone by for the supply to finally dry up.
Well they're in demand by Clone Hero players. It's a pain because near me I've been completely dry for months at all the thrift stores.
Yup - because the game stores wouldn't even take them - I remember in about 2011 or so Gamestop told me to take my Rockband set to Goodwill because they didn't want it for any price. They would take the disc but would only give 10 cents for it. So I think I did donate the whole thing to Goodwill. I bet a lot of people just threw those guitars and rockband sets in the trash.
@@dgpsf I sold my rb set last year for $300 on ebay
Yeah, Guitar Hero guitars are the last things I'd ever think I'd see in demand, lol. I used to see those things all over the place in Thrift Stores, and Gamestop trying their best to get rid of them.
@@dgpsf back when rockband 2 and GH4 were out, gamestop had put a corporate wide band on accepting any RB or GH peripherals due to their size and large amount quantity at the time of the newer units.
Been subscribed for a while and was not expecting this video. Very cool to see! We need more guitar modders out there ;)
same boat (also i love you and really want to buy a guitar from you some day lol)
Very clever idea to use a db9 connector for this. The de facto standard way of deleting the old pogo connectors has just been simply hardwiring the neck. It's very simple and reliable, but the only real drawback is sacrificing the detachable neck capability. The Guitar Hero hardware modding scene has been trying many various different connector types to find a simple and easy replacement connector to retain the ability to detach the neck, I'm not sure if they've tried this connector type yet or not.
Thanks for making this excellent video!
I wonder if you could just hardwire them but use a long cable with slack. Then you could detach them and fold them. Another option would be an RJ-45 and drill a hole in just the right place so you could poke the tab with your finger to disengage it before pulling the neck out.
@@dgpsf you could, but also, some people have multiple different necks, with mechanical and silicone frets. Afaik, that's the main reason for having a detachable neck. Its not much of a big deal in terms of taking up space
I resurected my GH3 controller by actually adding solder on top of the existing pads, this increasing the pressure. It still works great after years of abuse.
I actually put small bumps of aluminum foil on every pad, attached with honey .. Actually no idea how it ended up working ..
@@alvinnorin8820wait, why honey?
I was looking to see if someone did this, glad it’s worked for you I’m gonna try it myself soon
I worked a goodwill as incoming production. we had a list of things so cluttering up all the stores that to always throw. the guitars controllers where number two behind copies of fifty shades of gray
Guitar hero, especially the controllers, have gone through 3 phases, initial explosion leading to over saturation, it becoming literally worthless junk, now nostalgia is kicking in (especially with Clone Hero) and the only way you can properly play the game is with the controllers
Yeah, I remember these being everywhere 10 years ago, so many people just giving them away and still had trouble getting rid of them. That and the drum set too, just take up too much space to really leave in a box somewhere forever
6:38 You had to make me see that accursed coin again didn't you, riffing on the video myself wasn't enough lol
Its always a gem when he uploads any new video. The repair process is awesome to watch
Wonderful video! The Clone Hero community has been leaning towards hard-wiring it (especially if you look into the custom guitars that some modders make). I've always wanted a solution like what you did, so it's amazing to see this proof of concept done justice.
I needed this video about 10 years ago 😂. Thanks though, it was fun to watch.
Is it Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Artist Rock "The Dwayne" Johnson?
genuinely didnt expect to see you here, been a massive fan of your indian scams and tours for years now.
Literally the LAST video I watched was the Jim Browning police raiding scammers
What are the chances
I remember we had to put a little piece of folded paper in between the neck and the body to make the connection work. Good ol' days
you make it look so simple. mounting the new connectors securely at the correct distance and alignment to get a good connection seams like it would be the most frustrating part. but you just click the buggers in. was it really that simple
Holy CRAP this could be a game changer for top players who have to constantly mod or buy guitars all the time
MattKC is back! I kept randomly stumbling across your content until I eventually gave in and subscribed and ever since I’ve been surprised by how often I was blessed with new content
Awesome I hope this comment gets hearted
nice pfp B)
I don’t have a clue about 90% what you talk about in your videos but that doesn’t stop me watching every time. They’re fascinating
Guitar Hero for me was a gateway to learning real guitar, it teaches basics of rhythm and song structure/layers. Good stuff, very fun.
graduated from guitar hero to rocksmith for guitar and from rock band to being an actual drummer myself. the drums for those games are way more effective practice tools than anyone gives them credit for--with the cymbals and some extra connectors and software, you have a full on e-kit
You can just slightly move the terminals that the pogos attach to up by like 1mm out of the designated slot and it removes the neck play and makes it so there is no button loss. Idk it worked for me, probably isn’t the best long term solution but it works
10:53 That reference definitely caught me off guard! 😂
I've seen this video before and only just now noticed 11:30
he played one of my worst memes
one of my biggest regrets
And that is hilarious
Thank you Bandi, very cool
every single one of my guitar hero guitars suffered from this issue, i probably went through like 4 as a kid lmao. one of the ways it was "fixed" was by just duct taping it as far down as possible, but it doesnt matter. i was a kid and those pins broke from me slamming the guitar, or throwing it down, whichever one.. I didn't realize how fragile the things were.
Aayyy! I help out with clone hero dev and I'm the artist who wrote Moonhunter. I've watched you for a while and it's cool to see you doing CH stuff! Hope your guitar is rock solid from now on!
A lot of the time the C6 capacitor goes out on these Les Paul guitars. So if your guitar only blinks and won't sync, get yourself a soldering iron and some 10V 220 uf capacitors. It's time consuming but if a moron like me can do it most of you can too.
Could this happen on WoR guitar? I had a customer return stating it "wouldnt sync" and now its sitting here collecting dust
love to begin my birthday with a mattkc video. i’ve always wanted to rebuy the guitar hero stuff because i love rhythm games and old 2000’s crap so this already has peaked my intrest. keep up the good work my guy :)
Frets on Fire was the OG Guitar Hero clone for PC
My concern is going to be strain relief from plugging and unplugging the guitar.
On our mice, we had this big molded chunky plastic cover that you gripped on to remove, but here you're effectively removing by grabbing from the cord.
If you can make the connectors attached to the plastic (instead of a loose press fit) then you'll have a longer lifetime before the connections break.
seeing you open up that guitar hero controller reminds me of how my uncle used to tear apart controllers before and rebuild them as whese weird Frankenstein's monster controllers. he stuck an actual guitar head on an SG Guitar Hero Controller and threw away the whammy bar.
So he was basically Sid from Toy Story 😂💀
I really like this idea, I would say a dremel rotary tool would help in carving out the plastic to fit those db9 connectors without having to trim them, also likely giving them better support in the chassis.
Was having a rough night at work, and arrived home in a pretty terrible mood, but your new video really cheered me up, a lot more than I was expecting 😅 i love your sense of humor, and thank you for saving my night!
Apparently that attachment group can be conductive and or corrosive, it's seen in older radios.
Could be worse, last night I got so drunk that I threw up on my mouse and super expensive Xbox Series controller and had to take both apart and wash them off and had to take the controller apart multiple times because I would forget a button and because of how finnicky the design is since for some reason all high-end electronics are hard to repair.
Holy shit, this is the earliest I've been to a MattKC video
Other than making the video much more interesting, why would you want to keep the neck removeable? I assume that design detail was only necessary to keep the original packaging more compact. Seems like soldering the pogo pins in place would have been 50x faster...
I guess it would be for repairs
Ch developer here, suprised to see ch content on your channel been subscribed for a bit now. Thanks for the shout-out!
Matt is love. Matt Is life
Lol
I noticed that the pressure from the pins creates holes in the original contacts on the neck board. I just soldered over the holes and made new flush contacts, and then I applied some silver electrical connective grease for keeping the connection during movement. Worked better than I anticipated.
Would you ever consider letting people send you their boards and doing this for them? Could maybe be a bit lucrative and help out the Guitar Hero community a lot!
There might be repair kits sold online. Worth taking a look.
Almost a year later seeing this comment but I offer this mod
@@toynoob2051 yooo toynoob haha
@@SoraluverEternity yes?
So here is a little example of how complicated this can be putting these older gen guitars back together, I found a old rockband wii guitar at goodwill and 1 button would not work. All the buttons clicked, the pads all worked, the electrical parts were all working but when you tried to use it the yellow button wouldn’t work. Turns out the buttons themselves were not in the correct color order and despite the fact that the buttons are all the same and don’t appear different in any way once I popped them all off and color coded them it worked perfectly.
Is it weird that I actually like the old serial/DB9 ports more than USB?
Their so simple to work with for controlling things. no drivers to install just send data to the right port
Most usb stuff is plug and play anyway so drivers is a moot point
@@diamondarrow4567 Nowadays it is, but you can encounter driver issues on older usb things and chinese knockoffs. I have a USB DJ set that i had to put an arduino since there was no software available and the ones that i found only worked on XP. And also cheap usb composite capture cards are a nightmare if you loose the driver cd or don't have a cd drive at all.
@@ppprime98K Plug and play often only works when the manufacturer registers their driver with Microsoft.
And the Chinese brands don't bother...
@@CraftingCake i only experienced that with old USB devices, newer devices tend to use either open source or generic drivers, unless is something too specific or tries to compete with Microsoft products for cheaper
bought one from goodwill, missing battery cover, 1 button wouldnt work, use alcohol and cleaned everyything, including these pins, now works with no problems.
I've been hoarding my two good controllers, one Kramer with the same crappy design as this Les Paul, and another old style one, for PS2, wireless.
Good to know they might finally be worth something.
I like how you kept referencing hot glue as **windows 98 error sound**
Rs232 connections are actually still widely used in the IT industry especially with networking as there is network equipment that uses that connection. This includes Cisco network equipment. Other devices that still use them including AV equipment like projectors and AV splitters/hubs that are meant to be used in rack mount. Servers are also known to have them as well
Really enjoying seeing more on your channel! I love the mix of both hardware and software
I'm trying to understand what the extra pins are for. 5 buttons, 1 ground, why 2 more? The Wii version has only 6 pins.
And for that matter mine are still working fine, but I'll keep that in mind if it starts acting up.
Some guitar necks have 3 ground lines. You can still combine them into 1 and the frets will still work just as fine.
@@garrynull6812 thanks for the information, still pretty odd. I feel like it would have been easier to design a single neck connection for each major revision
dang, I actually really wanna try this, I have 2 of those les paul guitar controllers sitting in my living room collecting because of this exact issue and it'd be really cool to have them working again
If somebody would create a business around fixing Guitar Hero/Rock Band "inustrments" they would make a fortune
You dont even need to fix them tbh, just find ones that work!!! $$$$$$
My guitar hero controller had the same problem right from the start. I jammed some plastics in there to add more pressure and it worked. I coudn't believe something would be relased in this state.
That's why I go with the Wii version, there's even a program called WiiTar, so you're truly wireless, if you got a wiimote, which most true emulating people should have, didn't know the xbox version had such a bad neck connector, the wii's is very well built, It's sorta like a lightning connector
I use a raphnet
WiiTar user here; nope, it's the same shitty design. Ended up hardwiring my own to get it working. Only costed me a couple hours of my life and sanity.
Also, the program WiiTar conflicts with ViGEm (which p'much every modern 'x controller for Windows' thing uses) since the program was built with the older Scarlet.Crush platform. Main reason people use WiiTars stems from the relative ease and critically low latency of the RandNet adapters. How much that matters to you tho is a YMMV thing.
@@ThatOneSeong huh, I'm looking at mine, and I don't have it, I have like a true connector, actually more similar to a super large lightning connector
@@ThatOneSeong Just looked at mine too, no pogo pins here. Wouldnt really describe it as similar to a lightning connector, but its nothing like pogo pins. Almost like a bigger HDMI with fewer contacts. I have the guitar hero 5 one, the one that's red and white around where you strum. I also dont see why being wireless is a GOOD thing, cause all of the wireless guitar hero controllers have noticeable input lag to me. But I'm too cheap to buy a raphnet and not good enough that a little bit of input lag makes a difference, so I just deal with it lmao
Very interesting! I never thought of COM ports as such versatile connectors. I don't have Guitar Hero, but will probably use this trick in tinkering project to connect sensors to a Raspberry Pi.
You could also potentially attempt to play "Gitadora" with this, which is essentially the Japanese counterpart with many differences.
I really appreciate this video, very useful, especially because those Guitars will also work with the console of choice (360 in your case)
Strong flashbacks to desoldering the ribbon cable entirely and replacing it with a segment of Cat5 ethernet cable. In a pinch, you can also just drive a small screw into the lower frets while applying pressure on the neck to permanently attach it, which works nearly as well.
I did a similar mod to my les paul (plus many others) back in like 2007/8. I didn't have much on hand so just made due with a couple floppy drive power extensions (like to know how many others here have actually used those as intended lol)
I started with a working corded guitar, and a broken wireless body
I permanently mounted the neck to the body with epoxy, but cut away at the base of the back of the neck so that it could still open for service. Added weights for a more comfortable feel hanging from the strap. Mounted the mic input on top so it didn't get in the way anymore. And had a friend cast me clear epoxy buttons for the whole thing. Added LEDs to light up the neck buttons, strum bar, and the base of whammy bar. had a couple sticker bombed faceplates, 1 clean black and 1 clean aerosmith.
Next I wanted to try something stupid that i didn't think would work. combine the 2 bodys i had. I turned the current wired connection into a mini-b to usb2.0 and then managed to find a way to mount in the batteries and wireless main board from the damaged wireless body. By adding 2 toggle switches that would control most of the grounds of the buttons, i need 2 xbox home buttons 2 joysticks and whammy only worked on wired mode. but i could switch from wired to wireless anytime i wanted with a badass looking and feeling fiddle.
most of my mounting was done with cheap 2 part epoxy mixed with sawdust, i also used a type of plastic welder for lots of things. It heats up metal staples with an s profile to join edges, and i would use that to replace parts i didn't need to remove, cover holes, and on a couple pcb mounts where i soldered the staples to ground pads.
this thing was a mess, but so much fun to build. It eventually began to decay, as did my passion for the game. I still love to jam out now and then, got a couple stock boys that still shred
"...and -oh my god WHO SH*T IN THE GUITAR???" has to be one of the most hilariously unexpected lines I've ever heard in a restoration video Matt. Thank you for that. XD
I was hoping you'd look into everyone's favorite Wii guitar controllers in this. They're quite fascinating and surprisingly reliable
Recently had purchased this guitar from a secondhand shop for Pennie’s and dollars. And at first the guitar didn’t turn on. So I cleaned the battery tab box and turned on and synced to my 360 with no problem. But another problem occurred, the fret buttons weren’t working. Check the connection, the wire was detached and from my understanding this fix is going to revive this les Paul back into shape! Thank you for your awesome videos mane! Now I am waiting for my DB9 connector to arrive in the mail and make this happen!
Also, the "shit" is probably just mastic adhesive... unless I'm missing an in-joke where you call adhesives "shit".
“Whatever bro, void these nuts!” I’m dying
Who remember Frets on Fire
Wonderful time playing it 15~ years ago
Amazing, this video unearthed something that plagued me daily over a decade ago but I hadn't thought about it since then, what an awesome fix btw
I got both my guitars for like, 10 bucks at some thrift stores
I find lots of guitar hero stuff at thrift stores too
@@STICKOMEDIA I have a Stratocaster and an Xplorer, both for Xbox 360
@@MaximNightFury nice
@@MaximNightFury stratocaster pretty fire
Idk if this is relevant, but his rarity point is pretty accurate here in Japan
It’s rare af - of course, you CAN find them in auction/used apps BUT, you won’t spend no less than $200 anyways, which is weird, ‘cause I presume GH wasn’t really a thing here - I couldn’t find any other than III and Aerosmith (for the PS2 at least), let alone the controller.
Last month I saw an Aerosmith bundle for the PS3 selling for a little over $600
Bought two wired X-Plorer Controllers (the Guitar Hero 3 ones) 12 years ago. Still work like new.
I made my own in boredom a few years ago with wood/copper, mechanical switches, and one of the random micro controllers I had laying around. Helps I'm a metal/wood working by trade and had the spare materials and workshop to do it all in. Still, it was pretty much all done by hand and if you didn't want it to weigh as much (bit less than a standard electric guitar, I used similar woods and techniques), you could always print parts, I guess. At that point I would just buy one and refurb it if need be if it's going to be plastic anyway.
9:26 When stuff like this is put together at a factory they obviously have proper charts on where everything is supposed to go, and oftentimes special jigs to make it easier.
when one of ur fav YT'ers mention a game you work on, FeelsGoodMan
While you can escape copywright claims by not allowing any music from the game itself to hit you, I believe those very audible perfectly-timed controller inputs might do it instead
9:49 a good way to protect the wires from screws in the guitar neck would be to encase them in "spiral wrap." You should be able to find it in various electronic/build-your-own computer stores, or online electronics/automation stores. you would need the smaller size (about 1/4" OD) to wrap the wires into a cable that would fit into the neck, but once you've done that, not only is it easier to route the cables without strays picking their own route, but the wrap also provides extra protection if a screw has a 'near miss.'
I took brass sheet that I circle cut (with leather punch) to make new surfaces. Clean, flux, solder paste with the circles on top. Hit with a iron for a sec and it drops flat. It never needed to be done again.
Great video!
2:51 “OMG! Who *DUN* in the guitar?!” 😂
Okay the Hotel Mario “they push back” joke got me. I did not expect that
Did this for a friend yesterday. Kept breaking my amateur solder connections but otherwise it was a solid fix! Instead of trimming down the connector, I melted some ridges into the plastic around the connector, which worked really well for holding it securely. Not sure if you secured the connector more off screen but it definitely wasn't holding still for us without help. Left it wobbling about in the neck, but it does line up well enough when it's held flat and once it's plugged in, it's not going anywhere.
I managed to solve this issue by putting a small blob of solder on each contact pad. This lowers the space in between contacts making the springs compress much more, making a better connection. The simplest repair that worked for me.
my god, those pogo pins were the bane of my adolescent, Guitar Hero obsessed existence. loved watching this!!
8:52 This a point where Engineers would be quoting Confucus (or a reasonable facsimile thereof): "Short pencil better than long memory."
On a notepad, write down which signal is supposed to go to which pin number. The pins and holes on DB-9 connectors have the number by each pin on the solder side, and sometimes on the connector side as well. Having the wiring written down allows for quick double-checking before each connection, just in case one's brain blanks out between soldering the lines to pin 2 and pin 3, and forgetting if it's pin 3 that gets skipped or pin 4.
“Whatever bro. Void Deez nuttz”. This is my favorite channel lately. Great work!
Wow, the DB9 connector definitely took me by surprise. I was expecting one of the fancy modular power supply plugs but the DB9 is a very cool idea and a nice throwback. Great mod man!
God I love all these MattKC videos. 2022 will be a great year at this rate!
I don't play Guitar Hero but I had a project in mind involving one of the controllers. Coincidentally, this was the exact controller I wanted to use, and the connector was something I was worried about failing. Well that's one less thing I need to experiment with. Nice.
I was just watching some of your older vids and this popped into my notifications, a welcome surprise!
Your videos are some primo awesome content.. can safely say you make and do some of the coolest tech related stuff on this platform.
Our van actually uses pogo pins. It's to check if the sliding door is closed I'm guessing. There are 5 pins so not sure that the other three are for. Sometime we have to clean the contacts because the van is 17 years old.
When you release the neck and smell where the pins are, 👌👌👌 real good electronic smell right there.
There's a nice ASMR feeling I get whenever people unbox things, or click on a game controller, or take apart electronics and put them back together.
3:26 I remember seeing an old video on how to take apart a ps2 that warned you about voiding the warranty. Just in case my 2nd hand 10+ year old ps2 still has a warranty.
Design flaw: The controllers get destroyed when you smash them against objects in a fit of rage.
..I have no idea where my guitar hero guitar is. I'd like to go back and play the games again one day, but I think that era is over for good. Plus it contributed to my arthritis; damn you Score Hero!
I remember fixing this with cutting the pin part and the connector part hardwiring the cabels ( had hard time fitting everything back) then putting it together. Considering i was younger had 0 experience with solding I was pretty happy with the results
I have one of those. I don’t know if it’s a pin problem, but the star power only works when it wants to.
That capacitor is probably there to keep the controller powered if the battery terminals lose contact for a moment while being shaken violently.
My solution wasn't to put paper inside, I didn't see the value of a solid block in there to fill the gap, as the position and pressure were variable. What I did instead was to cut some soft, flexible rubber into the shape of a ring around the lower part where the pins stick up, so it lay flat on the lowest level. It was only half an inch or so tall, but it was the perfect height to cushion the neck when it's clicked in and keep a constant expanding pressure, keeping the neck much more stable and preventing it from moving far enough to disconnect during play. It's worked for several years on many controllers. But that's if you don't want to do all the wiring and such, all you need is scissors and the right material.
what happened to ur microphone at 5:52 ?