Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Consoles => Topic started by: JonnyBoy on January 09, 2006, 02:34:30 pm

Title: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: JonnyBoy on January 09, 2006, 02:34:30 pm
Well, I haven't had a chance to play the game yet so I don't know much about the SG controllers, but wouldn't it be cool to sacrifice an old guitar and build a controller from scratch?

First thing I would do is remove the truss rod from the neck and keep the channel (for wiring of course) and lead the wires to the control cutout under the pickguard. Problem is, can I find buttons shallow enough to fit inside the neck of the guitar? Frets are made of nickel, so I could drill through them most likely.

For those who have played the game...how does the whammy bar work? Is it detected as a button press? If it is, then you can just mount a button underneath the bar and when it is tilted back, it could engage the microswitch, I'd switch out the springs for lighter tension. The only thing left is the thing that you strum. Is it a button or a switch or something? Can somebody possibly explain it? This could be really cool if done right. All we would need to do is hack PS controller.


Tell me what you think...
Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: Luxury on January 09, 2006, 07:41:31 pm
I've played it and it is a TON of fun.  I've been trying to get it at my local stores, but nobody has the damn thing.

As for the wammy bar, it felt like it was an analog control.  It does pitch the note, and has a visual representation of it happening on screen.  The more you bend it, the larger the waveform gets, and the more out of tune it gets.  I don't know how you could do something homebrew, but there must be a way.
Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: JonnyBoy on January 09, 2006, 07:45:54 pm
analog...hmmm. I wonder how it's detected for the consoles, if it is detected as a movement of the analog joystick, then I guess maybe I can rig up an intricate movement of pullies and string to get it to tug on the stick. ::)

Man, there goes any hope of a homebrew one, what kind of movement is the strum component? Thanks for your help by the way.
Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: JonnyBoy on January 09, 2006, 07:54:43 pm
I'm looking at my guitar right now, and I'm worried there won't be any room for the microswitches of the buttons...hmm. Maybe I could use a smaller button, maybe something from Radio Shack.
Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: spiffyshoes on January 11, 2006, 01:03:59 am
Why don't you make a Guitar rather than use a real Guitar.
Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: GGKoul on January 11, 2006, 09:27:17 am
http://forum.guitarherogame.com/Default.aspx?g=topics&f=10
Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: versapak on January 11, 2006, 09:30:46 am
http://forum.guitarherogame.com/Default.aspx?g=topics&f=10



Weird...

I could have swore that I already had a post in here that linked to those forums.


Is this thread posted in multiple locations?


Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: JonnyBoy on January 11, 2006, 03:31:19 pm
A real guitar would make the game much more of an experience, I just think it'd be fun. And Versapak, you posted the link in the main guitar heros thread.

Thanks for the help guys, I think I'm going to just hang back for a bit and see what others do, then mooch off their ideas.
Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: Generic Eric on January 11, 2006, 11:48:24 pm
That is pretty cool
Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: JonnyBoy on January 12, 2006, 12:10:15 am
Well, I guess the whammy is a pot, not a switch or an analog control...

I guess the way that the strum works is a rocker switch that presses on two buttons underneath, the rocker has "fingers" on the bottom that press the button.
Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: versapak on January 12, 2006, 01:23:09 am
Well, I guess the whammy is a pot, not a switch or an analog control...

I guess the way that the strum works is a rocker switch that presses on two buttons underneath, the rocker has "fingers" on the bottom that press the button.


A pot is an analog control. :P


Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: JonnyBoy on January 12, 2006, 08:19:08 pm
Okay okay okay, sorry for my igorance  :-[.
Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: dennis808 on January 17, 2006, 08:34:16 am
Check out this thread, where a guy made his SG-controller wireless!

http://forums.makezine.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=33
Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: MameMaster! on February 09, 2006, 03:24:57 pm
hmm...there's already a kiddie ripoff of the Guitar Heros!-- -but it's only $24.99!

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4016670
Title: Re: Homemade Guitar Hero Controller?
Post by: MameMaster! on February 09, 2006, 03:24:58 pm
hmm...there's already a kiddie ripoff of the Guitar Heros!-- -but it's only $24.99!

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4016670