peripherals
Peak's Solid Wood Guitar Hero/Rock Band Guitar
Posted by Brian Crecente at 8:00 AM on September 30, 2008
Peak just sent me one of their solid wood Playstation 3 guitars for Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The Starplex is the same scale as a real guitar and uses the same sorts of parts, when possible. For instance the tuning pegs are real as is the whammy bar.
Of course all of this realism makes for a pretty heavy kit, but I think it's worth it. The controller works with both the PS2 and PS3 and comes with wireless and wired options. I'll make sure to weigh in with my opinion after I've had some time to go a few round with it on the Playstation 3.

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
airdom
Posted 8:49 AM 30/9/08
looks nice, but i dunno, maybe i'd be more down with it if it would be closer to the size of a real guitar. though i realllly love the rock band guitar. ah...im confuzed!
airdom
Lightman
Posted 8:46 AM 30/9/08
/looks at PRS Soapbar
/looks at wooden gaming peripheral
Yeah, I'd rather have the real thing.
I mean, for chrissakes, what's wrong with the guitar the game comes with? I've never felt the need to replace it...
Lightman
icepick314
Posted 8:44 AM 30/9/08
@Xallin:
man....this is almost end of 2008...
are people STILL posting that lame "FIRST!"?
it's soooo 2001....
icepick314
LettuceD
Posted 8:42 AM 30/9/08
I'm still waiting for the third party controller that can actually be played with a pick.
I recall using something like that about ten years ago during a visit to Epcot. It's was purely a rhythm game, you couldn't use the fretboard, but it detected strumming patterns quite well.
LettuceD
icepick314
Posted 8:41 AM 30/9/08
at this point you have to ask "when is REAL guitar going to be used with Guitar Hero and Rock Band?"
icepick314
scotty
Posted 8:38 AM 30/9/08
@Xallin: FIRST!!
Aww damn, beat me to it. I so wanted to get nominated for Banhammer monday :(
PS: Please don't nominate me.
scotty
PsyComa rides the lightning!
Posted 8:35 AM 30/9/08
Hmm....
I used to think that (us) gamers look retarded playing silly plastic instruments, but geez, I could look WAY more retarded playing silly wooden instruments!
FFS, if it looks like a real guitar, is as heavy as one, and almost as expensive as, why not get a real one? at least when it comes to that drum set, you know, you can actually play it.
PsyComa rides the lightning!
Bedlam
Posted 8:33 AM 30/9/08
I dunno - I want my game controllers to be ... game controllers! They should not rival real guitars in material, price, size etc.
I love guitar hero and I like the creativity people show with modding their controllers. But I don`t like overpriced toys.
Bedlam
I_Hate_This_Place
Posted 8:32 AM 30/9/08
These realistic guitars dumbfound me. Now, I play and love both RB and Guitar Hero, but I also play real instruments. Therefore I guess I just play it as a fun game, and not trying to feel like a rock star. The smaller bodied GH controllers always offer more functionality for me as they are easier to move with and the buttons are closer together to hit notes faster. I hated the RB controller because of the button spacing and size of the thing. I guess what I'm getting at is where does it end with the psuedo-realism? Are people more worried about look than functionality when playing these GAMES?
I_Hate_This_Place
Acebuckeye13
Posted 8:32 AM 30/9/08
I think I'm in love. Crecente, would you accept any of my major organs in return for this guitar? A kidney, perhaps? A lung? What about a dog?
Acebuckeye13
Nightshade Zero
Posted 8:30 AM 30/9/08
@Letiumtide: The fact of the matter is that when these games are made, people will buy them and want more and more out of it. So they make better accessories and DLC and such. And people buy them! Also, people are too lazy to pick up and learn to play a real guitar. They want instant satisfaction.
Nightshade Zero
Eviscerate
Posted 8:27 AM 30/9/08
@Billkwando: Your wife's Hello Kitty guitar strap,huh? :P
Eviscerate
Csorgo
Posted 8:25 AM 30/9/08
When I was your age guitars were made out of plastic not Wood.
Csorgo
wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!
Posted 8:23 AM 30/9/08
This addresses one of the key obstacles to me becoming truly excited about rhythm games. I enjoy them, but I've never been able to cross the does this look absolutely ridiculous divide because, to be honest, we all look really retarded banging around these plastic toys with no real heft to them. I don't need to feel like I'm really a rock musician, but I want the experience to be pretty complete. Kudos, Peak-- where do I sign up?
wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!
WasabiJoe
Posted 8:23 AM 30/9/08
Looks pretty cool, but probably not for what they're asking. Then again people are paying for $300 drum kits, though I admit I want to try cymbals out.
WasabiJoe
Billkwando
Posted 8:21 AM 30/9/08
I own enough heavy, real, guitars. For playing the pretend musician, I'm more than happy with the pretend guitar.
However I we do use my wife's Hello Kitty guitar strap.....so that adds a bit of realism, I suppose.
Billkwando
Wayneski
Posted 8:20 AM 30/9/08
The Mad Catz real wood Strat looks a whole lot better.
[www.gamesradar.com]
Bottom video on that link.
Wayneski
everybest
Posted 8:19 AM 30/9/08
@Xallin: Said with so much enthusiasm too.
everybest
Letiumtide
Posted 8:17 AM 30/9/08
Perhaps it's just because I never really cared for Guitar Hero, but I think it's entirely unnecessary, while the whole package of guitar hero is already under a hefty price tag, what kind of person NEEDS a wooden guitar to play Guitar Hero with?
Considering the cost of Guitar Hero and then that, I would assume that you could pop down to the local pawn shop pick up a guitar for $115 and actually learn to play guitar. Just me though.
Letiumtide
zakky venom
Posted 8:17 AM 30/9/08
@Xallin: wow.
and i personally think this looks cheaper than a fake plastic guitar
zakky venom
trunks651
Posted 8:16 AM 30/9/08
My only question is if the strum bar is going to be a Rock Band one or a Guitar Hero one. I'm hoping for the Rock Band type...
trunks651
Nightshade Zero
Posted 8:15 AM 30/9/08
the real tuning pegs seem a bit unnecessary, but guitar as a whole looks good!
Nightshade Zero
t3hOutlaw
Posted 8:14 AM 30/9/08
This sounds great.
Finally, something that doesnt feel like I'm holding a plastic feather that sort of looks like a guitar.
I wish I could get one..
t3hOutlaw
Xallin
Posted 8:13 AM 30/9/08
FIRST!
Xallin
dae_giovanni
Posted 9:12 AM 30/9/08
Are the components of, like, a seriously higher quality? If so, then I can see it.
This thing uses 'real parts', such as the tuning pegs. Only thing is, tuning pegs have zero effect on gameplay. The only parts of a GH/RB guitar that really matter are those which, by nature, are not found on/nothing like a real guitar. The whammy is mentioned (I assume it will work for longer than all my current controllers have), but what about the frets and strum bar?
If they aren't significantly better than those found on a pack-in or equivalent, then this is useless to me. A more realistic size and heft are great and all, but if I'm paying a premium price, I want superior performance, not just looks.
dae_giovanni
SSgtTEX
Posted 9:02 AM 30/9/08
I have a 3rd rock band guitar lying around that I would like to find a cheap electric guitar to mod. But I wont drop $100 bucks on one to cut up, so for sure I wont drop the money they want on one already done. But I would like the satisfaction of modding one.
SSgtTEX
AntiheroKing
Posted 8:57 AM 30/9/08
@Billkwando: That's so...METAL.
AntiheroKing
Crash McCloud
Posted 8:56 AM 30/9/08
I pray for a 360 version
Crash McCloud
mikebrown999
Posted 9:30 AM 30/9/08
@Xallin:
You, sir, are an idiot.
mikebrown999
zethicus
Posted 9:28 AM 30/9/08
Wow that one looks so cool.
Looks heavy too;
zethicus
BigPanda
Posted 9:26 AM 30/9/08
@Xallin: @Nightshade Zero:
Too right. I actually went the route of picking up a real guitar and am trying to learn it on my own. (seriously considering getting lessons because I have no clue as to what I'm doing)
The game is so freakin easy to play and fun though that I keep going back to it. Granted that it's not going to impress any of the ladies like knowing how to handle a real axe will. Hell, when I was picking up the guitar from Guitar Center and one of the guys working there mentioned that's why he learned guitar was so he could pick up chicks.
BigPanda
Thrillkiller
Posted 9:50 AM 30/9/08
Thats a sweet looking guitar. Would get one if the price was right. RB is such a fun game, things like this I don't mind extra $$$ for some extra quality.
Thrillkiller
prelude97
Posted 10:28 AM 30/9/08
@BigPanda: Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, everyone gets a guitar first to impress girls. It a scientific FACT. BUT... Most of time, those people get bored with it once they realize that it takes so much effort to play. The people that keep at it realize how much playing guitar is on it's own.
prelude97
Soulgenesis
Posted 10:24 AM 30/9/08
the mad catz guitars do look much better than this one, but still though....
mad catz guts. xD
i guess i can wait. i already have the drums i wanted. :)
Soulgenesis
Ghar
Posted 10:08 AM 30/9/08
@icepick314:
+ Watch video
Ghar
dakimstar
Posted 11:48 AM 30/9/08
@prelude97: You should say most. I was forced to learn the guitar at first, but then it was actually fun to play after playing it for.. 2 years.
dakimstar
Super_Koopa
Posted 12:55 PM 30/9/08
I don't know what'd be worse. Playing Rock Band with a real wooden guitar, or looking at the headstock and seeing the word 'Peak"
*shudders*
Super_Koopa
RomeoLamia
Posted 12:14 PM 30/9/08
hey as one of those old schoolers who gave up precious snes/genesis time to actually learn to play the real thing I must object to this quote "The Starplex is the same scale as a real guitar". Scale when referring to guitars means the length from bridge to nut and the neck on that fake guitar queer-o thing looks way short. Like the scale of the Hello Kitty licensed Strats. Just what it looks like from the pictures. Cmon someone has to have one of the million real strats hanging around for a real size comparo
RomeoLamia
KirstynJellyfish
Posted 10:00 AM 30/9/08
I'm sorry, but this is just ridiculous. This might be the whitest accessory out there for the whitest game ever... Seriously, this is just crazy. but I guess all they want to do is "ROCK OUT DUDE YEAH!!!' so whatever, to each his own, because it certainly isn't mine....
KirstynJellyfish
TeddiRevolution
Posted 8:13 AM 30/9/08
Wheres the 360 version?
TeddiRevolution
WhitePoop
Posted 1:39 PM 30/9/08
The new "Hero" on the block, Solid Sna...er, Wood.
WhitePoop
nworobes
Posted 1:36 PM 30/9/08
@I_Hate_This_Place: I wholeheartedly agree with the point you're making here.
nworobes
eastx
Posted 2:01 PM 30/9/08
@KirstynJellyfish: Racists don't get to have opinions on music games, sorry.
eastx
eastx
Posted 1:57 PM 30/9/08
@Letiumtide: Your complaint is invalid. Same old crap. It never changes the fact that people love these games and usually don't mind investing further in a game/platform that gives them so much pleasure.
eastx
rightok
Posted 4:16 PM 30/9/08
@I_Hate_This_Place: Exactly. Soon people will be complaining that their authentic nickel-plated Fender Super Bullet strings are getting in the way of the buttons.
rightok
StanfordSH
Posted 8:41 PM 30/9/08
It still looks cheapo as hell though. Like just another of the millions of real Stratocaster knock-offs that mimic the shape, but just can't seem to get the spirit right. I'll stick with plastic, thank you very much (if I can ever afford a Rock Band)
StanfordSH
theuglyteradon
Posted 1:06 AM 1/10/08
@TeddiRevolution: I second that.
theuglyteradon
Valarien
Posted 2:09 AM 1/10/08
If this controller is supposed to cater for Rock Band fans obsessed with realism, why not have some useless tone/volume knobs, a pickup selector and a jack output while you're at it? It's not like the hefty price of this thing has anything to do with performance or function in the first place.
Valarien
StupidDufus
Posted 6:48 AM 2/10/08
@icepick314:
Agreed. But hey, so is when people post "epic" or "win" or "do want." If only they could get banned as well...
StupidDufus