Rock Band Guitar Rev 1 vs. 2

Well here it is. I admit I was afraid to open the new guitar up, but when I did, here is what I found...

Lets start with the original rev that shipped with the set at launch. You see the triggers are an oddly designed micro switch system. When you would when hit them repeatedly hard, I.E. ANY fast song, it would rotate and quit working all together. In this view the up stroke is the bottom left trigger, and down stroke the top right trigger.

Here is the closeup of the micro switch. Notice the rubber pad that contacts the white strum bar. The fault here was the screw to the right not the top. It was a normal screw that when tightened would turn the whole assembly clockwise, and thus cause the dead down stroke syndrome. It should of been a reverse threaded screw with a star washer, and this defect would of never surfaced. The one in focus is the DOWN stroke the one that was defective. UP strokes however, still work even under heavy use.

AHHHH Fixed. This is the REV2 guitar, shipped out to the people who request it. I assume it will be in all the new shipments of the packs, and all the stand alone guitars in Feb. Notice something? The micro switches are GONE! They now use an ingenious magnetic system. I am pointing at the Magnet, its melted inside the housing on the strum bar. The cool thing is it NEVER touches the switch, instead, uses the magnet to pull an internal switch to the close position. Brilliant! If you put your ear up to the guitar and slowly strum you can barley hear the switch clicking on and off, sort of like a relay in a car.

Another view of the new assembly. I am pushing the strum bar in the full down stroke position, you can barely make out that it doesn't touch. I broke it in on Blitzkrieg Bop by The Ramones on expert. Its a stereotypical punk song that is 99.9% down strokes in super fast succession. It broke my 1st rev guitar every time... But with this rev, I got a 99.8% notes hit, the .2% is still my stupid fingers not used to the new fret buttons. Also had no problems beating And Justice for All, and got about half way through Ride the Lightning before the solo killed me. Impossible indeed... For now...