So, I got Rock Band as soon as it was released. I was eager to give the drums a go (and the mic when no one was home). But, I was waiting patiently for the guitar itself. The pictures showed a peripheral that looked almost like the real thing. The buttons were flush with the fret board and the colors were up on the side of the neck rather than glaring out on the face itself. There was a second set of buttons high on the fret board for solos and "shredding". The body was physically larger, much closer that the size of an actual guitar. The strum bar was more natural, and the whammy bar was more accurate as well.

Unfortunately, when I pulled the thing out of its box and assembled it, the plastic of the neck looked shiny and cheap. The buttons, though flush, click more when pressed and feel as cheap as they look. I was disappointed but gave the axe a go none the less. Everything was fine. I loved the slient strum bar and the feel of the whammy bar. But, I couldn't get the thing to activate overdrive (the Rock Band version of star power). Ultimately it didn't matter much. I started using Guitar Her III's Les Paul wireless (best guitar controller to date in my opinion) to play Rock Band and promptly forgot about the Fender all together... until a couple of weeks ago. I decided I'd put it off long enough, I was going to return the broken guitar for a new one. I didn't want to wait so I gave them my credit card number to speed up the process. (With a credit card number they send a new guitar immediately instead of waiting for your broken one to arrive.)

The new guitar came and as I started pulling it from the box I noticed swirl marks and surface scratches in the controller shiny black body, finger prints all over the place, and dirty smudges on the fret buttons. I was disgusted. I'd payed for a new game, I wasn't going to settle for a refurbished, dirty, replacement. I contacted EA support again. Complained to Harmoix PR. And waited patiently for a response. The upside in this whole ordeal? They responded really quickly!

The representative contacted me to let me know they were sending another guitar and that I could keep them all. No need to send any back. It was a kind of reimbursement for my trouble. Well this Saturday we had friends over to give the full, four-piece flavor of Rock Band a go. I dug out the new guitar which was brand new by the way. And hey howdy, the exact same issue. I couldn't get the thing to activate overdrive. So here I am, three Rock Band guitars and two of them do not work like they should. Though I cleaned it thuroughly, I never did try the refurbished one. That one probably works like a charm. If everyone comes back over for another night of Rock Band, I guess we'll find out.

We did have a really good time playing Rock Band though. Even with only being able to hear out of one ear (ear drum still hasn't healed to 100%) I enjoyed listening to our hodge podge band bang out the tunes.

lol your neighbors must hate you...lol...so you gotta video tape it and throw it up on you tube for the rest of us to see

Our house holds sound incredibly well. It's unlikely the neighbors could hear us unless they were standing on the walkway leading to our front door. And no, there won't be any you tubing. Sorry.

With the Rockband guitar I couldn't feel the strum. It just didn't seem natural, so I've always had trouble with it. I like the Les Paul better, but unfortunately there's a design flaw as every time I've had one, the neck ceased to work and I would have to strap duct tape and wire all over it until I could play with the buttons responding. Harmonix has made some controllers that break easy, but what can you do. They're the only people on the market who make guitar themed games that let you actually feel like a rockstar.

I know that in guitar hero, you could press the <Go Back> button on the guitar to activate Star Power. Maybe there is a similar alternative for Rock Band?

At least then it'd be capable of activating star power, though doing it a different way could take some getting used to.

Yup, "Select" on the Gibsons. "Back" on the Fender. I just hanve a hard time finding it with the heel of my palm while playing. When I tried it during our 4 piece band session, I paused us all in the middle of the song because I reached too far and hit start.

Hitting the select button is my preferred star power method on the SG model GH guitars.