Guitar Hero Live conversion by Zuryan

Last crawled date: 2 years, 11 months ago

this is a conversion of a cheap to get Guitar Hero Live controller to have the basic layout
you will need 5 switches for mechanical keyboards. I recommend Kailh Box Browns (tactile, but you can get clicky ones, too if you fancy that) for this as they are less wobbly than regulat Cherry MX or clones. I tried this with Cherry MX style switches but since you're pushing the buttons kinda sideways, I had inconsistent inputs, especially when pushed down they were not relyable. Kailh Box switches work a bit different and shouldn't have that problem.
I recommend printing the new fret board first and put in your switches to see how much you need to remove from the neck to fit everything properly.
to make space, remove the neck from the guitar and then remove all the screws from the neck. unscrew the original fret PCB and pop out the original buttons. then carefully use side cutting pliers to remove as much from the neck as you need to fit the replacement. you will have to remove one screwpost and the top part will be only held together by thin plastic strips so handle it carefully to not snap it off completely. don't worry, it's very stable once you put it all back together.
for the wiring, I soldered some wires to the original PCB since it's nicely labeled and fits into the lower part of the neck.
there are no latches or anything to hold the replacement in the neck so you'll have to glue it in. I used two component epoxy.
for keycaps, I used 1.75x1. 2x1 might work, too. ideally you can source something in the colour of the original guitar hero controllers
there's also a file for a replacement of the switches for the strum bar. I would only recommend replacing these if the strum bar does not work anymore. there are very stiff ALPs style swtiches in there and they do a great job. I had to replace them and used Kailh Box Navy. something with an even higher actuation force wold be nice though. Kailh Box switches are preferable in this case, because the stems have a larger surface area and I'm not sure if regular Cherry MX clones would do an as good job.