Defective Rock Band guitars get defective patch

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 24th 2007 at 12:45PM }

Our complaints towards Rock Band are few and far between, and mainly focus on the artists that Harmonix failed to include (no Elvis Costello, AC/DC or Michael McDonald? Unbelievable). However, when the big blue box dropped this Tuesday past, many people were experiencing issues with the Stratocaster peripheral that came packed in -- namely that the guitar eventually stops registering down strums (or, for our southpaw readers, up strums) after only a few hours.

Harmonix, much like the agile roadie, posted a quick fix for the crippled periphs by dropping a day one patch that was supposed to fix the guitars with no down strumming, but responses to the patch have been mixed. For some, the guitars are now in perfect working order. Others report the patch didn't fix the problem at all. More troubling still, some have reported that their down strums now register twice, making them just as useless.

EA is honoring warranties on all Rock Band equipment; many in the Rock Band community are reporting that EA's customer service department says the guitar replacement procedure will take nearly two weeks. In the interim, the rockers rendered axeless can still use their old X-plorers and Les Pauls in lieu of the Stratocaster. They may lack the extra frets and effects, but they work just as well, and they miss you.

Tags: EA, Harmonix, Rock-Band, RockBand

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Christopher7xii @ Nov 24th 2007 12:51PM

Thats great... If only the GH3 controller worked with Rock Band on the PS3, then I might be happy...

Wonderflex @ Nov 26th 2007 1:37PM

yeah, how about those of us with the PS3 - who have NO other controllers to play with? Or how about all those wonderful people who bought the stand alone version of the game and can't play it at all.

AirIntake @ Nov 24th 2007 12:52PM

Elvis Costello and Michael McDonald are rock bands now? I hope that's sarcasm or else I must have missed that part of their music.

ill trooper @ Nov 24th 2007 3:05PM

Doobie Brothers/Michael McDonald have their moments, and Elvis Costello has at least five songs that better be made into expansion packs for this game, or there is no justice in this world.

What you need to remember is that you may be thinking of 'Guitar Hero' when you dismiss those artists; Rock Band adds drumming and singing, so this game can can include songs that might not 'rock out' but are still fun to perform, which would be where I'd put something like Elvis Costello's 'Radio,' 'Peace Love and Understanding,' or 'Watching the Detectives.'

Which is what makes the downloadable Police pack great. I'd like to see some Cure, more Clash, more Ramones, Joy Division, Dead Kennedys, Agent Orange, Ministry, Pantera, ACDC, High on Fire... I already bought the Queens of the Stone Age and Police packs, and I'm probably going to buy more the moment they go up for sale. Great platform, this 'Rock Band.'

Matthew @ Nov 24th 2007 12:57PM

When they say down strums don't register, do they mean occasionally or that it all together stopped? Because I'll be in the middle of something and just bomb and entire patch of notes with the down strum. It's not a problem on my Les Paul.... (I'm willing to accept the fact that I may suck, but its also happening when set on Medium)

Blurrz @ Nov 24th 2007 1:02PM

For some it registers every fourth or fifth stroke, for others it stops completely.

If it is happening on Medium (and also not happening on your Les Paul) tnen it is probably broken and needs to be replaced.

Fernando Rocker @ Nov 24th 2007 1:12PM

Griffin McElroy for the weekend FTW!

Raikage (NDF - PK THUNDER RING) @ Nov 24th 2007 2:19PM

I see what you did there...

TrenchyC @ Nov 24th 2007 1:24PM

EA still hasn't released a patch for Madden and NCAA Football 08... so don't get your hopes up on anything being fixed soon. They love to release broken games.

Supporting EA and buying their games new, is supporting video game terrorism.

Truepatriot @ Nov 24th 2007 2:49PM

except in this case EA is doing nothing but distribution.....
i enjoy hating EA as much as the next gamer but atleast try to get your anger right

Tiptup300 @ Nov 24th 2007 4:07PM

harmonix will probably do something about this. The developers don't actually make the calls, but they do some part in the whole bug fixing area.

aristokrat @ Nov 24th 2007 1:32PM

I was terrified that my nephew was going to break mine over the Thanksgiving break. I don't think EA's warranty would've covered that.

wipsaunders @ Nov 24th 2007 1:59PM

The two weeks is only if you don't register a credit card with them. If you do, they send you the new guitar, and you send back the old one--for free, so long as you send it back before 28 days are up.

We've all got our problems with EA, but their replacement plan is pretty damn amazing.

TheChaz @ Nov 24th 2007 1:40PM

Mine broke. It worked perfectly for several hours, then right in the middle of a song, down strum didn't work a all. The patch did nothing. According to the support site, they just send you a new guitar, though, and you send the old one back in the same box. It said 3-5 days processing time with 2 day shipping.

debbie @ Dec 3rd 2007 2:36AM

Can you tell me who to call or who to write to get my sons guitar replaced? He just bought the rock band set on friday and the very next day the guitar controller stopped working. I have heard about the patch, but don't know anything about it either or how to get one. He bought his rock band set at Best Buy but we live in the country and the nearest Best Buy or any other store that carries the rock band set for ps3 is almost an hour drive for us. Can you help us? thanks, in advance. debbie

SJ @ Nov 24th 2007 1:43PM

I tried the guitar at Best Buy yesterday and down strums weren't working well there either. Maybe it's a mechanical thing? Who knows.

Tim @ Nov 26th 2007 5:14PM

Yea, I tried Rock Band at 3 different Best Buy's and each one had stum problems. One's upstroke didn't work, one's down was flakey, and the third strumming didnt work at all.

Ryan J. @ Nov 24th 2007 1:49PM

I experienced 2 Rock Band sets of equipment and no software patch would fix what was wrong with the guitars. Right out of the box, you could notice that something was wrong with strumming. I would strum, and the button would stay sagged down... there was NO "spring back" to each mechanisim. You would literally have to lift the button up and then push it back down to work.

It was funny when I had to return mine; Circuit City wouldn't let me return it until an employee that happened to be passing by noticed that I was returning mine and exclaimed loudly that his broke within three hours the exact same way...

It's obvious to any idiot that the build quality of these early packages is subpar, hense the gigantic bright piece of paper that greets you when you open the box and begs you not to return it to the store in case of defective equipment... which in my case is ALL of them.

Mabooza @ Feb 5th 2008 1:49PM

Anyone having trouble with the overdrive tilt? Mine is intermittent at best. Extremely annoying especially when I have to save a band mate. Looks like I'll be sending it back.

heyo007 @ Nov 24th 2007 2:04PM

I have the same problem. I figured it was cause I couldn't pull an overdrive tilt at the time when I wanted. Never thought anyone else had the same problem.

Warlord @ Nov 24th 2007 3:06PM

My guitar activated overdrive by tilting up exactly once before it stopped. Now, when reclining slightly and playing the game, the guitar occasionally activates overdrive for me, randomly. I've just gotten used to hitting back to activate.

And I hear a rattling of a loose part in the guitar. I'm waiting for the replacement guitar.

Kriegs @ Nov 24th 2007 2:03PM

Nothin wrong with mine or any of my buddies. Guess we lucked out. Although we bought a Y-splitter and hooked up two kick pedals at once :)

Cox Attack @ Nov 24th 2007 2:06PM

I'll pick this up once there is Elvis Costello or Black Flag downloadable content.

aimee @ Nov 24th 2007 2:07PM

My strum bar never stopped working, but it started doing the double registering after a few hours. It makes it impossible to hold any notes because it cuts it off right after starting it. And of course, you end up failing because it thinks you're hitting all these wrong notes that you're not.

I also have issues with the tilt. Sometimes I have to try four or five times before it'll register, which of course inevitably makes me mess up.

I've requested a new one. I just hope it doesn't do the same thing. I'm wondering if they're doing something to "fix" the ones they're sending out, or if they're from the same batch.

Shagittarius @ Nov 26th 2007 11:26AM

Mine is doing the same thing. About 50% of the time on a downstrum the double strums and this makes it hard to hold notes or to do hammer ons/ pull offs properly while downstrumming.

Will @ Nov 24th 2007 2:18PM

Mine stopped working after about the first 6 hours. I switched to my GHII Gibson, and didn't have any trouble. Tried it again the next day and it lasted a couple of songs and then no down strum again.

I noticed that someone had posted fix-it instructions and, having take apart our couple of GHII Gibsons for custom paint work, I felt pretty comfortable opening up the Fender.

I was intrigued to make a couple of notes.

1) My guitar had a couple of screws holding the body together from the FRONT under the the pick guard, which I had to remove.

2) My strum switches are plastic, not metal like the models I have seen gutted on the internet.

Everything looked fine, though, so I put it back together and fired it up. About 4 songs in, same problem.

My theory is that the plastic switches are bending after some (even very ginger), use, and setting it aside lets them stiffen up or whatever so it works for a few songs.

I applied for the warranty replacement on midnight of launch day after that first six hours of play, but have not gotten any kind of confirmation of shipment yet.

shadow024 @ Nov 24th 2007 3:15PM

make the rock band guitar compatible with guitar hero 3!

DCBlack @ Nov 24th 2007 3:54PM

Boy, all this negative feedback about the equipment is really discouraging me from looking into this game. Sounds like I might have to wait for some higher quality manufacturing.

Harold @ Nov 24th 2007 3:56PM

Me and two of my friends have rock band. None of the strum bars work properly. They work fine if you play a slow song but when you have 10+ notes in a row and are strumming fast it stops registering your strums. I am extremely disappointed, I am amazed that this was not realized during testing! The guitar is very nice but the strum bar is crap and just doesn't work even out of the box. No problems with the GHII guitars, they work great. What a let down, again, I am absolutley amazed that they could ship a product that doesn't work and that nobody realized this issue in testing.

Neon Jebus @ Nov 24th 2007 4:07PM

Doesn't fix my bass drum pedal which works every great now and again. The way it connects with the drum set is a terrible design idea.

jesus_bon_jovi @ Nov 24th 2007 4:58PM

I'll say it again.. i hate the Rock Band guitar... bring back the clicking... Fisher Price my ass...

Stan @ Nov 24th 2007 6:37PM

They need to redesign the bass pedal as well. Both my friend's and mine have cracked in half right above the spring.

P. Reardon @ Nov 24th 2007 5:19PM

I'm disappointed with the entire game. Drums are decent, but not worth the cash I had to dole out for a Karaoke game (meh) and a crappy guitar (even the guitar parts with the GH guitars aren't all that much fun).

I hope demand picks up so I can sell it for retail even though it's used..

fattycop @ Nov 24th 2007 5:25PM

Actually, if you want to you can give EA your credit card and they will ship u a brand new guitar, then you have 28 days to ship back your defective guitar in the same box, or they charge you 125 dollars. So if you honestly need a new guitar, there isn't any downtime where you cant play the game.

T @ Nov 24th 2007 5:48PM

I've noticed that my drums also don't work. Red pad occasionally won't register (and yes I know it's the pad and not me...I often can't get it to work in menus).

The other pads aren't as bad, but I've noticed they're occasionally not being picked up even when hit dead center.