what, no new features?

VixDiesel

I think they could be a little more realistic and not such plastic with button guitar. Well, i see that guitar hero 2 guitar it's getting closer... so maybe in the version of GH4, we will have a decent guitar. LOL More plastic to the house... more garbage in fact.

bubble-bee

Ugh, the fake wood on the fretboard is WAY OFF. It's so ugly. The grain in rosewood is not that big. It looks like someone used pine and stained it cherry colored.

Didn't they have a real Strat on hand?

cringer8

Looks good but i hope its sturdy unlike the GH guitars.

Walker

So there's nothing new besides the sexy finish?

DigiMish

@Robomonkey: What was wrong with the first one?

Amazon_Chris

@Thassodar: You showed me.

Nex Antonius

@dynendal: Look closely at the neck and body. Sunburst would just be the color of the body, but the whole thing has the wood look to it.

Drake Lake

Hmmm, so both RB2 and GH4: World Tour created Sunburst guitars independently of one another? Sure thing....

LittleBigPlaneteer

Ahh, I await the many future looks of shock and awe that will briefly light up friend's, family and relative's faces when they see that you've finally bought a guitar until they turn to faces of disgust when they realize that, yes, it's just another toy.

Then they will berate you on why you didn't take the high paying position at your job's new Ohio department and chastise you on somehow screwing up your 12 year marriage to a woman who couldn't be, by any stretch of the imagination, over a 4. After you usher them out of your studio apartment in an effort to regain some dignity you turn on the good ole Xbox 360 and realize what you have truly lost.

Good job, Harmonix.

Zerbrechen

That looks really nice. It also looks exactly the same as the the first Strat, just with a different paint job. Unless they do something like make the tremolo bar easier to reach from the strum bar (getting extra overdrive from the shorter hold notes was never easy with the Strat), there's no reason for me to get it since I already have one like it.

sanyo

let´s see if this one is gonna b compatible with g hero world tour if NOT, i guess i´ll stick with guitar hero world tour and buy rock band 2 game only

johnnystahl

Yeah I'm hoping they made the strum bar offer some feedback on whether or not you hit a note. The way it is now is great for playing more simple songs, but when you have to really wail on it, it isn't too practical. It doesn't have to click, I don't need audible feedback, but if there was something that popped or clicked (silently) within the guitar, registering each strum, telling you that you've strummed or not, and what rhythm you are strumming in, it would be great.

Shame there's no new features, although I could care less about the bridge and touch neck on the GHIV guitar. An extended strum bar would've been neat though.

Odd that both guitars comes with a sunburst design on them stock. Although I'd definitely say this takes the cake in the looks department, compared to GHIV's fugly 'original' guitar design.

Mit

going for the real look huh, should atleast keep it looking like an actual game peripheral instead of trying to be all real. Trying not to be something ya not , ya know?

dashyt2dafulliz

Yeesh, what's with the woodgrain they're going for now? I like my fake plastic guitars to look fake and plastic-y. That just looks like something I'd play on a 2600.

Nobuyuki

i think drum will more likely be replaced by people bcuz its so freakin loud... and damn pedal always breaks.

darktorns

Does the the strum click yet?

JayD16

Looks the same. I'll probably keep my old Rockband Guitars. what will sell it is the Drums. I do wish they made them full scale. or offered a longer, wider necked bass version

Rurik

Count me in the group that never liked the RB controller. The strum bar was horrible, and the frets felt sticky and unresponsive sometimes. Give me GH3's guitar any day.

Though, the new grain makes this look pretty good. I just hope it doesn't play like ass.

Infil

Looks great. I'm probably going to hold out for RB2 now... may as well.

WEGGLES90

@Nex Antonius: Like ur face, OHHHHHHHH!!!

Thassodar

@Nex Antonius:

Looks like my for real guitar, which is a POS

SortaKindaAGamer

Looks ugly.

Nex Antonius

It's alright, I would've preferred a Telecaster. Rock out like Springsteen.

The Magnificen7

Damn, looks way better than the first. I like how the buttons are more spread apart. I hate how close they were.

HoxtonHero

Faux Wood? You mean Sunburst?

dynendal

Wow, looks good. Hopefully they make the strum bar a little better, and I'm all over it.

KaneRobot

The strum bar sure looks the same as the RB1 guitar...

dowingba

Nice, but they need to make a full size version too. I hate the small size of the controllers they have now. I know it works for most people (particularly kids) but kids also learn how to use full size Strats too.

BigPanda

Oh man, that's a snazzy controller.

Tako Attack

Oh yes.

Babylonian

The neck looks really weird with the grain. Couldn't they have drawn some string fake strings or something? Doesn't really look like they added anything in the way of features. I'd say the edge goes to GH4's new guitar.

Aerundel

I hope it comes in a wired flavor. I tend to still prefer my controllers wired. Beyond that, though, I don't see any real differences, for better or worse.

HTTenrai

I love it, I would buy this now.

Better action...PLEASE!

yashichi8bit

If you wouldn't have said It, I'd probably think that was a real guitar.

AngelMayLaugh

The strum bar better not be complete garbage like the first one. >:[

Robomonkey

i'd love to see a Telecaster version.

ronhascrazypants

This makes me kind of glad I didn't actually buy Rock Band and just used my buddies setup.

Replica23

I know that the controller doesn't actually have a bridge or strings, but when they try to make the effect selection look like a pickup switch and the 360 guide button work into the cable connector, it seems weird that the whammy bar is centered in the guitar below where the bridge would be...

maybe it's just me...

NfoRcErX

I'm sorry but why the bit about "tackiness"? I'd rather have something have a faux-wood finish than have a half-assed guitar hero look to it. At least with a passing glance these aren't obviously video game controllers. For those of us that are too lazy to stow away our junk..

Krack Of Dawn

Looks fantastic, though I prefer a flat scheme (I want some Daphne Blue love). The fret "finish" looks fantastic and will look even better with some dot stickers.

justhesh

The Wireless Strat's strumbar is improved over the orignal. It's no longer a crappy switch but inside the actual strumbar they put a metal pin that completes the circut when it gets within a certine distance. I think it works like a magnet, I could be wrong :p Anyway it doesn't click but is much more reliable.
Btw I'm talking about the 360 wirless strat that came out in not to long ago.

Gunloc

Heh heh, you said "Bigger unit"

Real_fn_Show

Also, I hope they use Bluetooth this time on PS3, infrared dongles are very very lame!!!

Ecks

My Rock Band guitar (PS3 launch model) the "star power" is a pain-in-the-ass to activate, I really should find out how to fix it, it always pisses me off and I wind up not playing again for months.

Ecks

@Robomonkey: seconded.

if its wireless and fairly priced, i might be down.

TheIrishNinja

On a related note...

Just how unreliable are the Rock Band 1 guitars? As a recent PS3 purchaser, I'm not so excited about buying the Rock Band 1 bundle, and am considering buying the game by itself, used, and a single guitar controller, also used (looking to spend a grand total of around $70).

However, are older guitars less crappy than new ones? Enough so that I should balk at buying a guitar on eBay?

If I can pull this off now, then I'll be excited to buy a Rock Band 2 bundle later this year.

BtownDesignGuy

Looks nice, I'm guessing they fixed the strum/overdrive and loud clicking issues of the past.

If that's the case, I shall be selling my current instruments and upgrading full throttle on the new set for Rock Band 2.

VonDante

@bubble-bee: you are sad bash one game when the other is exactly alike that your defending.

Jopan

this guitar better be either bluetooth, or wired. All the wireless guitars for PS3 have been rubbish so far.

Polite Society

Eas on the eyes yes, but how flimsy is it? Did they pony up the money to make a more durable one?

Jopan

@Nex Antonius: Indeed I did, good sir. I bid ye farewell until the morrow!

Thassodar

I'd like to hope these guitars will be more reliable (I've gone trough 5 altogether), but I would gladly sell one of my old strats to pick up one of these cool sunburst guits if they are.

I'm one of the few that feels the Rock Band guitar is superior to the Guitar hero guitars of the past. I like that there's no click in the strum and I love that the frets are all flush and right next to each other. I never liked the whole separate, raised buttons of the Guitar hero Guitars.

Grocerspride

It needs to have a rechargeable battery that can be charged from the console to a usb port where the output jack is. That way we have the option to played wired or wireless.

cougar88

GH is crap anyway...

bubble-bee

or at least,use the real design of a guitar and insert more buttons. or insted of that new 5 buttons, make the 6 buttons for each string, from up to down. and the 5 in the horizontal.

bubble-bee

make that strum clicking and i'm all over it.

SaintEmpire

Eh, I'm not a fan of the Rock Band controller. None of my friends are either. We all wanted to use the 'good controller', which is the x360 GH2 guitar. That one's my favorite. Walmart just had a sale on GH3 with the GH2 guitar for $40.00 so now I've got two of those.

serotoninzero

@TheGreySpectre: Well, it is, fully compatible.

dowingba

Hate the Rockband strat. Give me the Les Paul everyday, and twice on sundays.

DarknessMyOldFriend

sexy

TheNocturnalSun

Oh god that's pretty. I loved the first RB controller. When it stopped registering for me and I had to start using a GHIII Les Paul I hated it. The strum bar is too loud, the buttons are more noticeable. It's just an inferior design. I'm all over this new one. I wasn't sure whether or not to get the special edition, but with a guitar this pretty and more responsive drums, I guess I'll just have to start saving now. And if my DLC still works, I'll still have Complete Control, which is all I really need.

miffy495

I hope Rockband to is fully compatible with Rockband controllers, that would have me sold on getting it

TheGreySpectre

I wonder how much RB2 is going to cost... if they're increasing the cost of manufacturing the peripherals then only sell them in one set (again) then it's going to be hugely expensive.. prohibitively perhaps.

Duoae

Dear GOD, Plunkett, there's not a videogame journalist alive who would have passed up this chance to use the words "three-tone sunburst" in the context of a videogame controller!

I want your badge on my desk in five minutes!

108

@Krack Of Dawn: Exactly...

If the strummer from the GH guitar was put on the Rock Band Guitar, and this new one looks even better, it'd be the perfect guitar controller... The buttons are much better on the RB guitars already, it's just the shoddy strummer...

If only they could get better "hard" and "extreme" difficulty songs to appease the hardcore GH freaks who only play if the resultant song will cause their fingers to blister up and bleed and send the average person into a seizure...

bobtheduck

All I ask from this controller is to not break down on me. The Strat was the perfect controller...when it was working. If this is more reliable, then I'd be one happy camper!

libregkd

I've always preferred the maple fretboard Strats to their rosewood counterparts, so, aesthetically, this feels like a step back to me. Of course, the real problem with the Rock Band guitar was that insufferably mushy strum bar. If they fix that, my guitar could literally yell out "This guy molests children" every hour on the hour and I wouldn't bat an eye about picking one up.

Intellectualdiot

I wasn't sure about the silent strummer on the RB guitar at first, but it's grown on me and now when I go back to one of the GH clicky ones, it feels weird if still fairly comfortable.

This new one seems too much like the current one to warrant me picking one up. I'm expecting only to shell out for the new drum kit.

zoz

The Rock Band guitars suck. This guitar looks like the the first one with a new paint job.

The clickless strummer in excahnge for clicking frets? No thank you.

The X-plorer remains supreme as the best guitar. The strum feels good, and the fret placement as well as the over all feel of the fret buttons feels the best.

RichMeisterMan

Sweet. Now maybe when I carry this around people won't point and laugh... <_<

Xero_Azmea

I'll stick with my GHII controller. The strum bar looks just like the crappy one the original Rockband came with.

Tyrannical

Looks cool, but big plastic toys are still big plastic toys, and the last thing I need is more clutter in my tiny apartment.

CHW

@SaintEmpire: Seconded. I like everything about the RB guitar over the GH guitar except for the strummer. And the strummer is definitely a deal breaker.

dowingba

Kinda cool, but I just see a generation of kids who form Rock Bands online...the music industry must be crying somewhere.

Vabor

Hmm...it depends on how much the bundle is. Cause I wouldn't mind a new drum set (pads don't like to register long, rapid hits), and the new guitar is always welcome.

Eschguy

@Dirk Dorkelson: I just looked and it seems you can once again RMA Rock Band hardware without a receipt, so I may do just that while I can. Everything else works on mine but Overdrive, but I haven't wanted to try adjusting it myself inside. The Guitar Hero III guitar works great at least.

Ecks

@Tyrannical: "I'll stick with my GHII controller. The strum bar looks just like the crappy one the original Rockband came with."

And you can tell that by looking at the picture how?

off topic note for Kotaku: Seriously. Why does my avatar keep changing?

justhesh

@Ecks: I'm on my third guitar on the 360 version of Rock Band, and Overdrive (or Star Power) won't activate at all unless I hit the back button. (I've literally tried taking the thing off and swinging it around over my head. No go.) In fact, the only guitar I've had where the Overdrive worked was my first one, whose strum bar broke after a short time.

Dirk Dorkelson

On the strumbar issues -
Really, really be sure your system is properly calibrated. The RB forums list methods. RB is more precise than GH was and my complaints were fixed with better timing. I've grown to prefer the Rock Band guitar's style.
(But I also exclusively strum up and down. Tapping it with your thumb is a waste of energy.)

Mavwick

@johnnystahl: It won't be. Guitar Hero World Tour is having the new instruments and I doubt Rock Band 2 is going to put that monster I mean drum set from World Tour as compatible. It's a shame really because if you don't have Rock Band you are missing out.

Fireblast

I seriously...seriously....
Want this....like now...

TheApprentice

personally I'm not a fan of the fake wood look. that's one thing i like about the GH one. if i really want i can buy a snap on plate to make my guitar look awesomer (its a word i swear >.>), though in all honestly i'd probably just paint the one i already have lol. personally i don't like the rockband guitar overall. my biggest complaint is the strum bar, but even the buttons are really weird. first they were super squishy, then i got it rmaed and the ones they sent me have very very loud clicky buttons (what is it with this franchise and overly loud instruments?). and the buttons at the bottom while originaly i thought were gonna be a lot of fun aren't all that useful in my opinion, though it's quick possible i just need to practice more with them to be fair to them (i have a buddy who only uses those buttons for the most part).

i really wish i could just use my GH controller but of course there would have to be issues there too, as if the ps3 doesn't get shat on by the world enough as it is -_-. but i know that's not the fault of harmonix or their guitar :/.

yeah this is an early morning rant >.> lol

demonknightinuyasha

@Eschguy: I'm willing to bet that it won't be higher than the current price for Rock Band 1. Probably lower. Maybe. If Harmonix is super cool.

The Magnificen7

hmmm country music keeps coming to my head each time i see that controller.

FelicioLostHorizonPT

Sexy but they need to elevate the fret buttons a bit or give my fingers something to feel for when making transitions.

GreyFoxV1

The part that amazes me the most is that this will come out three months before Rock Band ONE is out in Australia.

TrjnRabbit

Needs more Free Bird

Mattz

Oh nice. Can I buy one of those now?

Salen

I believe that is what they call, sunburst. Eric Johnson is known to use a '59 sunburst Strat for that clean sound of his.
[en.wikipedia.org]

Shinryoma

Sunburst was originally the standard finish on Fender guitars. All other colors were considered "custom" colors, and sunburst is still the most common. So it makes sense that this would be the color on a Fender-licensed game controller - it's representative of the company.

badasscat

@BtownDesignGuy: i would suggest getting the ps2 bundle on the cheap. it's going for $100 right now and the periphs are the same as the ps3's. as far as i know, the game will play on the ps3 and if it doesn't, you could just sell it and keep the rest of the bundle.

wheelerca5

Wow, that is nice. I'm late to the Guitar game party as I just finished playing Guitar Hero 2. I was thinking of just buying Rock Band and a Guitar since I only really like that style of game play. Maybe I should wait until this new controller comes out before I take the plunge but I really want to jam to Rock Band's tunes ASAP.

madflava

first off.. wtf is with the neck having the same wood grain finish? Either make it a dark wood fretboard like a two-piece neck, or make it light blonde woodgrain (maple, i believe) like the single-piece necks, which strats did come with, depending on the model. It's also the same neck that a lot of Teles come with, as well as the Bullets, like the one I own (it's a weird strat/tele hybrid from '81 but with mini-humbuckers under plastic covers haha)... God, that neck is ugly.

That being said, due to the unfortunate situation of my first GH controller when i got GH2 being a shitty 3rd party wireless with a broken strum bar, the only way to reliably play it was with a pick. Which is how i played while learning GH, and now I can't play without a pick, it throws my whole timing out of whack. For playing with a pick, the RB strat is AMAZING... You only have to strum it as hard as you would a real guitar string, and is really, really accurate. My strat lasted until my ham-fisted medium-playing friends came over and beat the shit out of my strat and les paul. joy.

tf5_bassist

I don't see what "new" features could be pulled from this guitar.

Whatever the case, I won't be interested unless the fret buttons are quieter. That *click click* AFTER I pressed it and let go threw me off. Especially after years of being used to timing myself with the *click* of the strum bar.

TRT-X

@Robomonkey:

I actually prefer the Rock Band strum bar. I missed the clicking from the GH guitars at first, but I had two separate GH guitar strum bars break after a month of use, and I've been using my RB guitars non-stop and they haven't missed a note.

But I'm just happy there isn't some ridiculous new hardware configuration (ahem, GH) that means the two RB guitars I already own would be gimped for RB2.

Strangelove

I like it.
3 tone sunburst, just like the strat that I'm getting in a couple of months

DuckPoo

The RB guitar sure looked nice, but the fret buttons and strum bar were absolute shit. Switch them out for the Guitar Hero ones and you have the perfect guitar controller.

vaporlock

I think I still might for for GH IV ;) We have not even got Rock band here In New Zealand/ Australia. When does it come out? according to Eb games we get In September, Thats pretty convenient huh?

Soyerzz

I think Harmonix made it pretty clear that RB2 will include "better" instruments. Most of the changes in this guitar are probably on the inside.

I've played with the GHIII Wii controller and the X3460 GHII controller and far, far prefer RB's guitar controller. Although it does feel "cheapish" I play better with it and it hasn't malfunctioned on me once.

FanDam

I wanna see the drums...

dude49

Now, that right there is pretty. If the MadCatz wireless Telecaster is in Sunburst, I'm at risk of having WAY too many plastic guitars as I've already got 5. But so pretty. So, so pretty.

BStu

@madflava: Have you tried the drums? They're hella awesome.

Benzak

I love it. Tacky? Not tacky enough! Sunday mornings, I'm prancing around high in my living room in my underwear playing along to some classic rock on a little plastic guitar. The only way it could get tackier is with a blow-up groupie accessory. And that would be pure win.

SeedyXX

Amateur business analysis:

Activision has already shown they have no interest in allowing any cross-compatibility anywhere they can prevent it... and one place they can prevent it is in not allowing RB stuff to work on Guitar Hero. With their model (lame half-attempts at DLC, frequent versions of the game released) they make all their money on selling their plastic toys at high markups, so they want to avoid anything that might allow people to play the game without buying more plastic.

Where possibly, they've also blocked RB from using GH controllers - mostly this only applies to the Playstation 3 debacle that kept PS3 users from having a full band with guitar and bass unless they bought two copies of RB. That's more of an "erect barriers to competition" strategy, hoping to convince people not to buy Rock Band, but now that RB's not an upstart, you may see them change their tune and be more open so they can partially monetize Rock Band customers.

Of course, now Activision has to solve how to sell more plastic to its existing customers, which is why you'll see new features on each generation of the guitar. "Oh, now it has tuning screws for the tuning-up mini-game..."

PositivelyGreg

BULLSHIT!
I want REAL ROSEWOOD!!!

Matt B

I certainly like this muuuuch better than say ...the Aerosmith GH guitar. However, there is a point where you try to look too real. The more it resembles a real guitar the more the 'fake' parts of it stick out, like: it's plastic, its has buttons where string should be, and when you hold it I'm sure its much lighter than a real guitar. Stay in the "game controller that nicely resembles an actual guitar' area.

And for god's sake, ditch the wood-grain ... its terrrrible!!

jasoncourt

TELECASTER PLEASE!!

EndwaterAngry

@Robomonkey:

QFT

If the Strum bar works at all it'll be great! But until then I'm still going to keep using my Red Octane controller.

gamedismantler

That's a fine piece of axe.

Great, now i have to buy ANOTHER guitar. SIGH!

P3nnst8r

@PositivelyGreg: Your analysis is good, except that it relies on the assumption that Activision has any interest in doing things rationally or logically.

Which is obviously not the case.

BonoMan

@johnnystahl: Uh you do realize that RB1s incompatability with GH stemmed from Activision themselves? They blocked it because they wanted more money...Harmonix was all over cross game instrumentation, but Activision were just being dicks about it.

Also yes this is Sunburst and not tacky at all..what the hell is the writer thinking? This is a classic, decades-old, proven design.

BonoMan

I can barely see the buttons.

TheDJ17

that thing is ugly. I'm not sure if we're using the same RB guitar because that thing doesn't look more grown up - it looks and feels like a cheap child's toy

outforprophets

so its pretty much the old guitar with a refreshed look?

jurb

Looks great.

Now here's hoping it doesn't break in 10 minutes. Or comes broken out of the box (like the wireless RB guitar I bought).

I love Rock Band to death, but their guitar hardware quality stinks. Broken whammy bars, broken down strums, and "I'll work when I want to, which is never" Overdrive sensors. It's the only thing Guitar Hero has over Rock Band right now. That might change with World Tour though, so we'll see.

KenzinFive

I hated the first rock band guitar, i'll probably hate the second also. I used my gh2 guitar to play through rock band

mcool93

@TheGreySpectre: Looking at the screenshots of the games UI everything seems the same.

Also seeing this new guitar, it seems the new controllers bundled with it will just be improvements of the current ones, so it is quite likely RB1 instruments will work in RB2

Icipher

@BtownDesignGuy: The older models had more problems from what I hear and have seen with my friend's guitars. The newer ones actually hold up pretty decently, while the older ones sometime develop strum and tilting problems.

Icipher

i'd have to say this isn't as impressive as the guitar hero 4 controllers, but im probably gonna get rb2 and gh4...
damn. im going to have no money this year =(

kokiri-kid

coo'

underground_slacker

@outforprophets: Have you seen the GH controllers? They couldn't be more like toys if they had a paddle ball attached to them.

justhesh

Have they fixed the feeling of snapping the neck off at any minute? The last one was nice looking, but felt very cheap.

Trust me, I'm a doctor

This is the EXACT SAME guitar in a different color...Who cares about this? I'm sick of buying peripherals I don't need. Between 3 systems I have like 6 plastic guitars and 2 sets of drums (thanks to an EA repair shipping mix-up). When are we going to stop and say, "You know, we made the game we set out to make, now let's just populate it with DLC and cut out the hardware game."? Do they have any idea how expensive it is to be an early adopter?

Whatever. I'm kinda sick of rhythm games at this point, anyway.

Zombie_Crunch

Looks great.

Kerrell

"Rock Band 2's Guitar Is Easy On The Eye"

OMG, what happened to your other eye?!?!

Sabash

But can we light them on fire?

King Seafoam

I prefer the Strat to all of the Guitar Hero controllers. I own or have owned two SGs, two X-plorers, and a Les Paul.

I just wish it was a Telecaster. A nice sunburst Tele with a maple fingerboard to match mine.

mind in rewind

I guess that means they won't one-up Guitar Hero's create a song mode.

madhotch

When are these things gonnas start teaching you music for real, if realism is what they're going for?? I'll stick w/ GF -- at least it knows it's just a dumb game.

GhaleonUnlimited

I didn't think anyone could hate the rock band strum bar. I thought it was wonderful. I guess I just got tired of playing a tough song on guitar hero and hearing "clickityclickclickclook." I might be the only one, but I'm hoping they don't change their nice, quiet, and loose strum bar.

Zenrick

@Zombie_Crunch: You don't HAVE to buy this guitar, Mr. Rantenrave. The other guitars will work just fine. And you don't HAVE to buy the new drums. And you don't HAVE to buy a mic. Think about it: you're complaining about options.

justhesh

@GhaleonUnlimited:

What on earth are you yammering about? Actually they did mention that RB2 will have something that eases the transition into real instrument usage I believe...at least for drums I think.

BonoMan

I like the sunburst finish! The rosewood on the fretboard is nice, too. I hope that initial quality is better this time around. A less spongy-feeling strum bar would be great as well.

Altersparck

Oh, pretty. I approve. Although.. I wish they'd have switched it up with a telecaster or something. Or anything Gretsch. And I've long wanted a bass controller, too, Fender Jazz Bass or something popular like that. But still, I love this finish.

Muffin_Man

Sweet. I can't wait for it to come out.

Handbanana37

Must say, nice finishing on the body. Looks a lot like actual Strat-copy's. That neck is looking really weird though, with that wavy grain. I like the vintage styling of the headstock too.

It's getting really ironic though, Fender going after even more mass-production!

hezz05

It looks exactly the same as the fake Stratocaster I already own. It's perfect.

JennifARGH

@tf5_bassist: actually, i think it's supposed to be a "faux-rosewood" style finger board. Yes, the "light, blonde woodgrain" you are talking about is Maple. Single piece necks aren't always the best idea also, having a maple neck with a THICK finger board will allow for the guitar to last for a very long time, surviving multiple re-frets without needing to replace the neck. The wood type actually affects the tone of the guitar, the maple is bright...hence why your tele has a maple fingerboard. But yeah, the neck on this guitar is pretty ugly.

ninja_warrior

@bubble-bee: Agree! :) If they would make on one side, like a table, 5 columns, each with 6 rows...it would feel great and more fun to play. More guitar alike and still simple for all the users. Coz when i play GH or Rock band, doesnt feel like a guitar...feels like some pad or something. especially for me that i know to play guitar in real....

Gambly

What? Improvement on the Guitar Hero guitar? The Guitar Hero guitar was way better than the Rock Band guitar. I couldn't strum for shit on that thing. It was stiff and just plain annoying.

Furude

New strum bar plz

BebytheBeast

I think this one looks cheap and plastic-y, just with a fake finish.
The guitar hero 4 one looks far superior.
and awesome.

superjap

OMG, a sunburst Fender Strat?! Oh how I want it!

Beatboxtaun

Neat, but I'll just stick with my GH2 XPlorer and RB Stratocaster as long as they're still compatible

Cool_Dr.Money

I've gone through three RB1 controllers, I hope this one is a little more well built. Love the finish.

Sinnix

That looks like a cord plug-in to me. grr.

tripleripus

Struuuuum bar...

Talleh

I hate clicking strums and prefer the Rock Band strum bar over GH - it's more realistic feeling, and more forgiving.

Fragimus_Max

Heh, I just planned on painting mine anyways, so it looks like I won't have to go out and buy any new instruments which is good.

Also: First and second generation Rock Band strum bars are pretty easy to fix. Just open it up and take out one of those four foam things that are around it. Mine actually fell out on its own during normal play. Not entirely coincidental that I was able to start playing on Hard and Expert modes soon after.

NeoStarr

The controller for Rock Band was not great. The only thing good about the guitar was the size (of the body and the whammy bar). The frets (clicks like a freakin nightmare), strumbar (way too much effort to strum, not realistic as some would say) , and effect switch (a gimmick, really) all sucked ass. I'm glad that I can't use this guitar on GH because it would be a nightmare trying to play anything beyond "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" on MEDIUM.

I even rate the Explorer above the Strat in terms of playability. One simply cannot play the Strat well. I just get so frustrated trying to play the damn thing. If I have to fight with the guitar in order to try and enjoy RB, clearly the guitar sucks.

Benjammn

@NeoStarr:
It doesn't matter that they are easy to fix. The fact that they needed fixing after only 10 hours of play is a testament of the quality of the guitar. And the whammy bar still broke (the only thing that has ever broke on my GH guitar).

Benjammn

I love Rock Band, but I would take a Les Paul over the crappy Fender thing any day of the week. Fuck that shitty strum bar right in it's shiny plastic ass.

Slacker