Thanks a bunch for this very helpful video! I bought a controller secondhand from a game store for $30 and it had the exact same issues. I did exactly what you did and it's completely functional now!
Thanks for making this video! My problem was the oxidation on the copper traces on the button circuit boards as well. Your video was quite helpful in getting the guitar open to the point of cleaning that up and identifying that as the problem with my guitars.
Same! My Xbox 360 RB2 guitar had the exact same issue. I opened it up, cleaned the contacts as shown in the video, and the guitar now works again like it did day one. Thank you!!!
Thank you so so much for this video. I got a Rock Band guitar from eBay today and the buttons were horrible. The guitar has been saved because of your time and effort works fantastic now. I wish I could buy you a beer!
I've had problems with various guitars on the fret buttons and on a new one for the start button and your video was professionally produced and so helpful! Thank you for making this
Thank you. We haven't had a XBox 360 in years, decided to go back to the Older Rock Bands which were way better. Found 2 guitars in ebay that had a few issues, cleaned them up like you showed they work like a charm. THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
Thank you for the video, I had to go through 5 other ones just to find out where the two metal bars in the neck came from because they were loose after I opened mine up.
thanks for the popping off part -- saved loads of time on the fix. What I did was pop the cap off, use a pushpin to grab the button out, clean the gold contacts with 98% + a qtip, lay the button back in the hole, use the q-tip to get it back in the hole and line it back up by using the pushpin.
Thanks for this video. These guitars go for a hefty price online these days, so if you have old ones or manage to get your hands on a bargain, it's great to know exactly how to fix this kind of common issue. I kinda figured cleaning the contacts would help, but seeing you video and watching you take every piece apart one at a time made doing it myself that much less daunting. Big thanks again
Yea exactly, I managed to snag a 360 xplorer guitar recently but one of the strum switches was broken, have the part ordered and ima take it w some electronic repair dude so he can solder the new switches in cuz idk how lol, I’ve only wasted 120 so far on the guitar and new switches, hoping I spend less than 170 all together on just fixing it up
PSA: Clean the rubber with soap and water! It's not a coincidence the "dirt/dust/crud" you're referring to when cleaning the rubber pads is the exact same color as the pad. It's not dirt. The alcohol is breaking down the soft rubber and letting it be rubbed right off onto the cotton. People think it's cleaning off grime, then the alcohol dries quickly and suddenly there's no more black transfer on the cotton, so it seems like it's all been cleaned. In reality you can just apply more alcohol and it'll start darkening your cotton swab again, further destroying the contact point.
These are CARBON contacts, and the "crud" showing up as black on the swab is the carbon particles. Alcohol is precisely what should be used to clean these, NOT soap and water. That will not only break the contacts down faster, but will likely leave a soap film over the contacts. With the alcohol and swab, it should only be used lightly and gently because you are removing the carbon coating. Do this enough times or with too much pressure, and you no longer have enough carbon to complete the circuit beneath the pad. Honestly, you shouldn't even need to swab these unless they have become covered in dust/dirt.
@@Archtraveler that's weird, cuz if you were right, my pads should have broke down more than with the alcohol, which didn't as I stopped getting transfer, and should have left a film of soap, which it didn't. (And which won't happen if you rinse it, just like anything you clean with soap and water) It's almost like none of that is true, and my last cleaning from over a year ago still works great! Thanks for the warning!
@@FoxCurtailed Over-cleaning with anything will destroy the pads, and it sounds like you only did it once, and apparently rinsed enough that you didn't leave any film. Good for you. Can you guarantee that others reading this will use an appropriate soap or rinse it thoroughly enough? As I mentioned before, the "black" being referred to is the Carbon, not rubber, and honestly it's going to be extremely rare to ever need cleaning. Especially not with the design of these where the silicone boot maintains a dust seal around the contacts. Even if liquid gets spilled on the keys (as happened to mine), the contacts were protected. Clean these too hard or too often and you will diminish the amount of material making contact, requiring you to press harder. Thankfully, there are various ways to repair this if needed. The exposed metal contacts on the PCB are more likely to need cleaning than the carbon pad.
Hey I just got a guitar looks just like yours yet my dose that that button on the top part at the back but problem is mine turns on like go's red looks like it's sinking to the system yet nun of the buttons work at all and idk what to do
mine press themselves all the time. i’ll have the guitar sitting on the couch and a song will play, it’ll go to next header, it’ll go back. it’s so annoying. maybe it’s stuck buttons. i’ll have to try this
Hey did you have trouble taking off the neck off the guitar? Mine feels like it’s stuck right where you mentioned there were those metal bars or near the frets that are located away from the body of the guitar
It seems like my guitar is just broken, in the game the orange fret is registered as always pressed down, I essentially removed the silicone buttons from the two organs frets so there would be no contact but it still shows as pressed down :(
@@JLafix There are 2 small Tilt Sensor Switches that need to be replaced. It requires basic soldering. SW-520D is the part number. They almost look like capacitors.
@@Wheatty you can use a pencil eraser if any kind. It won't hurt it but just alcohol will do fine. Make sure it's 70% or higher though. Use soapy water for the silicone. Don't use alcohol on them. Pat dry or let air dry for best results.
@@marlonsantana21 I did it last night. Took 10 minutes start to finish. I'd hate for you to have a full time job. Maybe if you get a flat tire you can just keep putting air in it instead of changing the tire because that's too much work
@@mlsj4598 Oh, come on man... 10 minutes? Well, some people have more manual skills than others. I don't even have the proper tools anyway. But, yes, I don't have a linear 9-to-five full time job, you got that right. I'm a lawyer, but I buy and sell real state, cripto and online courses. Definitely not that hardware store guy. But I can change tires tho.
Thanks a bunch for this very helpful video! I bought a controller secondhand from a game store for $30 and it had the exact same issues. I did exactly what you did and it's completely functional now!
Thank you for this. Very thorough. Now that these accessories are so old, and expensive to replace, we all need yo know how to maintain it.
Thanks for making this video! My problem was the oxidation on the copper traces on the button circuit boards as well. Your video was quite helpful in getting the guitar open to the point of cleaning that up and identifying that as the problem with my guitars.
13:30 is the sauce for faulty keys. Awesome video! Thanks for posting
Thank you thank you thank you! My guitar was really not working, and follow step by step this video and now it's 100% functional! Thank you A LOT!
Same! My Xbox 360 RB2 guitar had the exact same issue. I opened it up, cleaned the contacts as shown in the video, and the guitar now works again like it did day one. Thank you!!!
Thank you so so much for this video. I got a Rock Band guitar from eBay today and the buttons were horrible. The guitar has been saved because of your time and effort works fantastic now. I wish I could buy you a beer!
I've had problems with various guitars on the fret buttons and on a new one for the start button and your video was professionally produced and so helpful! Thank you for making this
Thank you. We haven't had a XBox 360 in years, decided to go back to the Older Rock Bands which were way better. Found 2 guitars in ebay that had a few issues, cleaned them up like you showed they work like a charm. THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
Thank you for the video, I had to go through 5 other ones just to find out where the two metal bars in the neck came from because they were loose after I opened mine up.
This fixed my issue (eraser on the contacts and CRC on the contacts/plastic nub). Many thanks!
Super thanks for this video. Revived my RB guitar from unusable to working great.
Thank you! This worked perfect. Mine didn't even have much black stuff, but it still did the job.
thanks for the popping off part -- saved loads of time on the fix. What I did was pop the cap off, use a pushpin to grab the button out, clean the gold contacts with 98% + a qtip, lay the button back in the hole, use the q-tip to get it back in the hole and line it back up by using the pushpin.
I just wanted to clean it and swap the buttons, thought I was gonna have to fully disassemble the neck at least, but I'm glad I looked it up first
This worked perfectly for me, thanks for your hard work!
Thanks for this video. These guitars go for a hefty price online these days, so if you have old ones or manage to get your hands on a bargain, it's great to know exactly how to fix this kind of common issue. I kinda figured cleaning the contacts would help, but seeing you video and watching you take every piece apart one at a time made doing it myself that much less daunting. Big thanks again
Yea exactly, I managed to snag a 360 xplorer guitar recently but one of the strum switches was broken, have the part ordered and ima take it w some electronic repair dude so he can solder the new switches in cuz idk how lol, I’ve only wasted 120 so far on the guitar and new switches, hoping I spend less than 170 all together on just fixing it up
Not all hero wear capes.. thank you for your service soldier 💯🙌🏻
Thanks for this video. Just purchased a second hand fender Starburst that had this behavior and your fix totally worked.
Cool deal.
Thanks i just bought a rockband guitar and the buttons had same problem..You are a life saver thanks again
PSA: Clean the rubber with soap and water!
It's not a coincidence the "dirt/dust/crud" you're referring to when cleaning the rubber pads is the exact same color as the pad. It's not dirt. The alcohol is breaking down the soft rubber and letting it be rubbed right off onto the cotton. People think it's cleaning off grime, then the alcohol dries quickly and suddenly there's no more black transfer on the cotton, so it seems like it's all been cleaned. In reality you can just apply more alcohol and it'll start darkening your cotton swab again, further destroying the contact point.
good point!
These are CARBON contacts, and the "crud" showing up as black on the swab is the carbon particles. Alcohol is precisely what should be used to clean these, NOT soap and water. That will not only break the contacts down faster, but will likely leave a soap film over the contacts. With the alcohol and swab, it should only be used lightly and gently because you are removing the carbon coating. Do this enough times or with too much pressure, and you no longer have enough carbon to complete the circuit beneath the pad. Honestly, you shouldn't even need to swab these unless they have become covered in dust/dirt.
@@Archtraveler that's weird, cuz if you were right, my pads should have broke down more than with the alcohol, which didn't as I stopped getting transfer, and should have left a film of soap, which it didn't. (And which won't happen if you rinse it, just like anything you clean with soap and water) It's almost like none of that is true, and my last cleaning from over a year ago still works great! Thanks for the warning!
@@FoxCurtailed Over-cleaning with anything will destroy the pads, and it sounds like you only did it once, and apparently rinsed enough that you didn't leave any film. Good for you. Can you guarantee that others reading this will use an appropriate soap or rinse it thoroughly enough? As I mentioned before, the "black" being referred to is the Carbon, not rubber, and honestly it's going to be extremely rare to ever need cleaning. Especially not with the design of these where the silicone boot maintains a dust seal around the contacts. Even if liquid gets spilled on the keys (as happened to mine), the contacts were protected. Clean these too hard or too often and you will diminish the amount of material making contact, requiring you to press harder. Thankfully, there are various ways to repair this if needed. The exposed metal contacts on the PCB are more likely to need cleaning than the carbon pad.
@@Archtraveler tl;dr;csb
Hi. Are you familiar with the RB3 keyboard? I'm trying to disable the modulation function? I'm using it as a midi controller. Thanks.
Hey I just got a guitar looks just like yours yet my dose that that button on the top part at the back but problem is mine turns on like go's red looks like it's sinking to the system yet nun of the buttons work at all and idk what to do
Thank you!
mine press themselves all the time. i’ll have the guitar sitting on the couch and a song will play, it’ll go to next header, it’ll go back. it’s so annoying. maybe it’s stuck buttons. i’ll have to try this
did you made it?
Thank you! Do you think that the guitar works if we do not put the 2nd fret screw back in? I'm thinking about doing this to avoid breaking the caps.
I'm sure it will work might be a little flimsy. But you can't get the thing apart without removing that screw behind the second fret
@@JLafix Thanks again! I will work on it today.
Hey did you have trouble taking off the neck off the guitar? Mine feels like it’s stuck right where you mentioned there were those metal bars or near the frets that are located away from the body of the guitar
Yes it was kind of stuck but don't forget about that pin to release the neck it's on the back side
Thank you so much! Completely forgot about the screw on the second fret, that’s what it was!
It seems like my guitar is just broken, in the game the orange fret is registered as always pressed down, I essentially removed the silicone buttons from the two organs frets so there would be no contact but it still shows as pressed down :(
@@aaronhou6569 Thanks for this comment! In a hurry I about broke my neck in two..
I would check every contact downstream of both of the orange buttons
My green button stopped working. I cleaned underneath w alcohol got other buttons work but not green😵💫
how do you fix it when you shake it. when i shake mine it doesn't activate unless i shake vigorously
Could not figure that out . One of mine stopped working. I am thinking some kind of sensor but don't know
@@JLafix There are 2 small Tilt Sensor Switches that need to be replaced. It requires basic soldering. SW-520D is the part number. They almost look like capacitors.
What alcohol did you use? Where can I get it please tell me.
Dollar store
More than likely it was 90% but I wouldn't use any less than 70%
I wonder if you can skip the "eraser" step and just hit the copper tabs with alcohol and clean the silicone pieces with soap and water
I'm about to take mine apart did skipping the eraser workout for you?
@@Wheatty it worked flawlessly. I only miss notes now when I actually miss them. The cleaned tabs register so much easier now. I have 0 complaints.
@@mlsj4598 Awesome! Thanks!
@@Wheatty you can use a pencil eraser if any kind. It won't hurt it but just alcohol will do fine. Make sure it's 70% or higher though. Use soapy water for the silicone. Don't use alcohol on them. Pat dry or let air dry for best results.
My issue is my buttons work, but you have to really press hard to make them click
This will solve that problem, one of the guitars had same problem, I think the black pad under frets leaves a residue and cleaning them solve that
vunziono agi
Can't we just stick the whole arm inside an alcohol bucket or smth and shake It out? Then some oil or smth?
Yeah, you sure can. Guaranteed to fix the problem, but you'll have a new problem.
@@mlsj4598 That is just a lot of work, IMO.
@@marlonsantana21 I did it last night. Took 10 minutes start to finish. I'd hate for you to have a full time job.
Maybe if you get a flat tire you can just keep putting air in it instead of changing the tire because that's too much work
@@mlsj4598 Oh, come on man... 10 minutes? Well, some people have more manual skills than others. I don't even have the proper tools anyway. But, yes, I don't have a linear 9-to-five full time job, you got that right. I'm a lawyer, but I buy and sell real state, cripto and online courses. Definitely not that hardware store guy. But I can change tires tho.