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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: ComradeSniper on Thu, 22 August 2013, 21:15:02

Title: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: ComradeSniper on Thu, 22 August 2013, 21:15:02
I work for a company that does electronics scrapping on the side, so I was pulling apart a Guitar Hero Playstation 2 guitar apart a few days ago and found this under the strum bar.

(http://i.imgur.com/QzHwH41.jpg)

I guess alps switches or an alps switch clone are what make the strum bar clicky. Pretty interesting IMO.
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: CPTBadAss on Thu, 22 August 2013, 21:19:49
That's awesome man. Love me some alps and who doesn't like fun facts like that?? :D
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: johndavis33 on Thu, 22 August 2013, 21:32:49
That's just cool. I have an old one for the wii that I don't use, so i'll go take that apart later.
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: daerid on Fri, 23 August 2013, 10:15:07
Ahhhh Guitar Hero... those were the good old days
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: kmiller8 on Fri, 23 August 2013, 10:26:30
I had heard this before, nice to see it confirmed.
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: MTManiac on Fri, 23 August 2013, 10:52:11
cool to see! I had never know that
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: Moosecraft on Fri, 23 August 2013, 11:00:30
I was real good at GH3 back in the day. 100% on like 70% of the story :P
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: hasu on Fri, 23 August 2013, 13:33:38
I like that hot glue usage and will try the method some day instead of plate.
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: debt4lyfe on Fri, 23 August 2013, 13:39:25
so, what you're telling me is, i need to go collect about fifty of those guitars
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: tp4tissue on Fri, 23 August 2013, 13:42:34
wah, guitar hero's not cool no more? why did no one tell me. I still play.. ffff

(http://www.cute-factor.com/images/smilies/onion/189bbdde.gif)
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: tricheboars on Fri, 23 August 2013, 14:08:49
this is a random awesome factoid.
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: Techno Trousers on Fri, 23 August 2013, 15:38:00
I never played GH, but now I know I would have loved the switch feel!

BTW, this is the exact opposite of a factoid, but it is interesting!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoid
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: rootwyrm on Fri, 23 August 2013, 16:09:15
Wish they'd done that with Rock Band. (Yes, I'm a Rock Band loyalist.) Instead, they used ****ty leaf springs over cheap microswitches. Same for later GH guitars tho.
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: Daniel Beardsmore on Fri, 23 August 2013, 16:22:44
Those are not Alps switches:

[attachimg=1]

Someone reported on the DT wiki that they are "XM" (i.e. Xiang Min KSB series), but they might in fact be Hua-Jie AK series: I need a picture showing the mould numbering to have a better idea. There is no photo available of the internals, but someone's 3D sketch of what he thought he saw, matches both KSB-C and AK-CN2 (2), which are identical inside.

Guitar Hero Repair in the UK sell the YH-B Alps clone (http://deskthority.net/wiki/YH-B_Alps_clone) as a replacement, but to no avail, I've not succeeded in finding out who makes them, or in fact a single word out of them at all. Miserable toads. (And the stupid things aren't even the right part for some guitars.) The YH-B clone is something horrible like > 100 cN — it's stupidly stiff. I have no idea what spec the Guitar Hero switches are.
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: tricheboars on Sat, 24 August 2013, 23:28:38
well thanks for crushing our dreams. jk.

your knowledge is vast.
Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: BucklingSpring on Sun, 25 August 2013, 18:48:33
Dream crusher! Pfffffffffff

Even with fake boobs, I still find her pretty.

Those are not Alps switches:

Title: Re: Alps switches in Guitar Hero guitar
Post by: daerid on Mon, 26 August 2013, 11:15:39
Wish they'd done that with Rock Band. (Yes, I'm a Rock Band loyalist.) Instead, they used ****ty leaf springs over cheap microswitches. Same for later GH guitars tho.

Could never get into Rock Band. The feel of the instruments was just too weird. Loved GH though, rocked the crap out of GH 1 and 2 before it fell out of fashion.