How to ARDUINO MOD a Clone Hero Controller

Arduino Modding a broken or defunct guitar can turn it from unusable to your main guitar. This is not an easy task, but it is definitely attainable with the right tools and know-how. This’ll be a guide on how to do so.
We'll be using a Raspberry Pi Pico to turn this old PS2 SG into a Clone Hero controller that works on PC and Console!
~~TABLE OF CONTENTS~~
0:00 - Preface
1:34 - THE NECK
3:16 - CUTTING PADS
5:49 - THE BODY
10:16 - WIRING
18:01- EPIC CLONE HERO GAMEPLAY!!!!
~~LINKS~~
My Soldering Equipment - pastebin.com/8mEFVbAz
Pi Pico - www.digikey.com/en/products/d...
PCB Gerbers - github.com/Pixelholic/strum-pcbs
Guitar Configurator - github.com/sanjay900/guitar-c...
~~MY LINKS~~
ETSY - www.etsy.com/shop/Pixelholic
KO-FI - ko-fi.com/pixelholic
MUSIC - • {CH} PixelGH - Breakth...
Thank you for your patience with this video. It took a lot of time to edit.
#clonehero
#diy
#arduino
#raspberrypi

[@Spyro2990]

Fantastic work Pixel! ^-^ Glad too see this video finally finished on your end! Keep it up man!

[@ikurono]

I've seen many modding videos and this is the absolute best. Well done!

[@1upnolan340]

I'm pretty sure you're officially the first to upload a tutorial on how to mod a guitar with arduino like this

[@PixelholicYT]

Glad to be the first! Hopefully it's in depth enough to last a while

[@hxrle.y_8522]

@@PixelholicYT how does this apply to the red octane ps2 wireless one

[@Mati12Osorio]

Came finding copper and found pure solid gold! Thanks for this tutorial, been wishing for it for months, as I want to revive my old guitars that I have them dusting as they don't have the receiver anymore. I wonder if the same way works with a Rock Band Guitar, since I have one of each kind lol Again, thanks for officially making this tutorial. Now I have no longer to worry about how to pin since I've seen the Sanjay's tutorial but still was doubtful. Now I'll guide with this when I get to do this. Thank you so much, and stay safe brother.

[@kuba14059]

I just made my own first Arduinotar, and it's my first GH controller ever. Thank you for that video, because of it I was able to join GH community.

[@sethb5306]

GG love it man thank you so much for making this easy for us

[@Chepnelius]

Thanks for the help man. Helped me fix an already modded guitar with a broken micro USB port. Just soldered on a new Arduino and reprogrammed the guitar.

[@netartlucas]

@Pixelholic Man, you're freakin' awesome! Thank you for spending your time sharing your knowledge with us! I have an old generic PS2 guitar here, and after discovering Clone Hero, my passion for the game started again. I bought a PS2>USB adapter, but had no success, so after a lot of messing around with SCP Toolkit and alike, finally I arrived here in your video, followed the steps, and now I have a fully functional guitar again! Thank you very much!

[@larrylowpants]

I made a little nintendo nunchuk port to usb adapter following another tutorial you have using a pi pico with preinstalled headers and a little pcb with headers too and now ive just bought a soldering station and am gonna try to mod a ps2 kramer guitar using this method - these videos have totally helped me and inspired projects dude i respect it

[@maxito9984]

Yoo thanks it worked perfectly, i have a les paul controller my big bro gave me that didn’t work and this fixed it!

[@anemiapwns1]

Good work.

[@jonahguitarhero]

awesome tutorial 🤘

[@PixelholicYT]

Thank ya!

[@that1badyoutuber117]

3:59 the delivery of that line was great

[@whodafuqisleon]

bruh amazing video. Too hard for me so i might just look for another guitar, still this gave me great insight.

[@witenn]

i love you so much, thanks a ton!!!!

[@NHydrae]

Hey, first of all, very nice tutorial, easy to understand, even if english isn't my main language. Though there's one thing I'm not too sure about, what wires did you use for the strumbar? Are they wires that are already present, or other ones you took from somewhere else ?

[@RuTnVI]

Awesome video, bro. Gotta question Can you share some guitar measurements? I mean, for those who want to print our own SG guitars with some custom designs, ykno.

[@felipealmeida6554]

Mano. Essa cara é um E.T. nao é possível.

[@skewbtf2]

Nice video, going to try to do it, there is any more mod that can be made on rock band guitars like Gretsch from Beatles rock band?

[@rambob2489]

Thanks for the tut! I'll def follow this soon, btw do you often check Etsy messages? 😂

[@Sidomaximos]

Obrigado e seu tutorial me ajudou muito a fazer minha própria modificação na guitarra.

[@PixelholicYT]

eso me hace MUY feliz de escuchar!! de nada, amigo :D

[@DavidGarcia-wm8gl]

Amazing job, You earned a like and a subscription. I have a very important question before I purchase some rapsberries. For WHICH consoles are these guitars compatible? (I am not very very fluenty with english, so, in case i missed that info. im really sorry)

[@swagstaff99]

My understanding is that the guitar configurator allows you to setup the raspberry pi to communicate as either a playstation guitar, xbox or wiitar. So you should be able to use it with any console

[@kekwku7602]

Man i wish i could buy a guitar from you. I live from the Philippines and here the gutiar con are so RARE

[@PixelholicYT]

i feel ya, bud. the increasing rarity here is also shocking, but i can only imagine what it takes for other countries. my advice: find broken ones, and fix them. OR find a way to print something like the PolyBar by rodesidebomb on Github (google is your friend)

[@ninjapwnsatlyfe]

sweet!

[@IONProd]

I'm using a wireless guitar without the cable bridge. Any alternatives you can suggest to keep the cable from tugging on the pico?

[@stephgh1flamyphantom230]

I cant even read but my god do I know how to build one of the best guitars for the game clone hero now

[@PixelholicYT]

Don't expose me like that bru

[@1upnolan340]

I forgot to ask on your github you have some frets for some guitars, have you tested them to see whether they fit? Or are they/were they a work in progress

[@johnguecia7490]

Hey man, great tutorial! Just was curious about the wiring you used on the strum bar. I was wondering if I should connect the Up and Down to the GPIOs, but for ground, i should have 2 wires running into 1 point out to the Pico and then take one of the connected wires and run it to the 2nd ground point? Dont have much experience with this stuff lol, thanks again!!

[@johnguecia7490]

In other words should I follow the lines you drew directly lol?

[@Kregg_Live]

Need to see how to do this with a GHLive guitar. That'd be sick

[@Kregg_Live]

@@DetroitMetroRetro absolute LEGEND

[@ikurono]

something I'd like to know is if I want to keep the tilt function will I need to get new tilt switches or is there a way of using the original one?

[@jordomaller]

could you add the star power button using a ps2 world tour guitar using the pico board?

[@xxMAISDE8999xx]

Is there any way to put the tilt sensor on the pi pico?

[@CapakT]

what is the tool/software used at 18:06 of the video for the strum input test, please?

[@timcalisaan5552]

can u help were to solder tilt sensor

[@roneythehedgehog]

could you try to revive a drum kit later with the same process?

[@muns594]

Quick question, i have a guitar for a ps3 without a dongle. Will this work to make a wire guitar?

[@deathmental98]

I have a guitar hero 5 guitar, do you know any tutorial that could help me?

[@dpschinoyt9833]

Y eliminando la slide bar de la de gh5 se podrá

[@afaelr]

Whammy worked automatically for me

[@chilliwowah1086]

Does it matter if i get a Pico with/without headers?

[@danielramos4028]

Does it also work for Warriors of Rock ps3 guitar?

[@johnmaynardelec5095]

I know I am the only one asking this. By any chance you can restore the slider and emulate buttons? Did sanjay include that?

[@jimmykoran7805]

Does this only work on wired guitars or wireless as well? Found a ps2 wireless guitar for $15 local and actually have a couple picos here.

[@Avxes]

I only have a GH 5 controller. What is the process.

[@viraltime_12]

i have an ardunio uno, can i still do this?

[@user-vk3gh5nz4o]

Can u configure it with the board to ps3?

[@badubishogamer9087]

i need to put leds on my guitar!!, how can i do that?

[@slickyy_]

can we do it on rockband guitar?

[@mrcrowley5597]

can u do with rb1 guitar

[@ozs9817]

do you know if it works with esp32?

[@shaunandrews6313]

did you get the whammy bar to work?

[@mateuslira3411]

Does this mod work with rock band guitars?

[@slickyy_]

can we make it wireless?

[@Turvy-]

i saw you have 4 strum gerber files but 2 fret gerbers, where/what are the missing ones? also am i allowed to use your gerbers as a base to try and add a raspberry pi mount in there? idk really how to edit them but i think i can figure it out, and id like to make it public potentially? as you posted these publicly. also YO that pi pico vendor is the cheapest one ive seen by FAR, THANK YOU

[@Turvy-]

never mind on the fret pcb, i see that one has kmr lp and xp. baller

[@PixelholicYT]

Yeah Kramer, xp, and lp use the same pcb size and fret spacing :P

[@scarecrow5848]

hello fello samson sr850 user! I personally also use a AMP/DAC however!

[@PixelholicYT]

Yeh i have a behringer thing i plug it into now x3

[@scarecrow5848]

@@PixelholicYT I personally use a sound blaster Z SE with the ZX ACM. (they're the same exact soundcard, only difference being the ZX had red LED's.)

[@brandenarnett7162]

9:00 whammy assembly

[@LOLMAN9538]

I wonder if this would work for Xplorers as well

[@PixelholicYT]

it will! good luck with the start/select buttons though. you gotta solder to the pads directly DansGame

[@touma-san91]

Some explanation for World Tour necks would have been nice as it differs from the GH5 guitar even though both of them do have the slider necks. In World Tour one you have 3 pins coming from the slider pcb and 8 from fret pcb and they both get joined at end of the neck so it comes out as 8-pin in the guitar body, atleast it's like that if the board is numbered with RSF-2025-2-0 And if possible, I would prefer to get the neck fully functional

[@PixelholicYT]

That topic is a whole can of worms that'd be better suited for a document, because that guitar is pretty unique compared to the rest of the controllers.

[@touma-san91]

@@PixelholicYT That's a shame.. I doubt such a document exists atm so guess I'll just have to leave it up on lot of trial and error ^^;

[@PixelholicYT]

If you have a multimeter with a continuity mode, you can figure out what's what pretty quickly

[@PixelholicYT]

I do have the document version of this video in the works with diagrams of all the different guitar types. It will take a while.

[@touma-san91]

@@PixelholicYT Ooh, guess I'll wait for that to be released then. I don't have multimeter and rather not use money on something I will end up using on just one project 😅

[@bever1]

can you do this with a wierless les paul controller ?

[@larrylowpants]

where can i buy that deskmat with the little compartments that is rad

[@PixelholicYT]

amazon. look up silicone work mat

[@larrylowpants]

@@PixelholicYT thank you !

[@ferginando6498]

Please Tutorial how to make guitar controller for ps3

[@H3LLMAU5]

yo fam excuse my ignorance but how do you run the guitar configuration program? im going insane here, i downloaded the zip from github but im stuck, idk how to run the program or how to find it in the files

[@PixelholicYT]

oh hahaha, there's a page called "releases" go find that. i think you downloaded the source code

[@H3LLMAU5]

@@PixelholicYT Damn fam, I was about to click that part and I was like “nah probably that’s like previous releases” Lmao I’m sorry dude, I got it downloaded thank you!!!!

[@PixelholicYT]

@@H3LLMAU5 no problem! github is confusing at first

[@H3LLMAU5]

@@PixelholicYT lol i know but thank you king!! i got it working!! lets goooooooooooo GGs

[@lavasheep9286]

Title: How to arduino mod "Proceeds to pull out a raspberry pi"

[@Awewe57]

If I modify my ps2 kramer with this tutorial, will I be able to use it to play original GH games like GH WoR on my play station 3?

[@PixelholicYT]

you can program it using guitar configurator to work with any supported console, so yes!

[@Awewe57]

@@PixelholicYT ok, i'm going to try to modify my guitar myself. Thanks for your reply :]

[@PixelholicYT]

@@Awewe57 good luck!

[@Awewe57]

@@PixelholicYT Hey bro I had this problem trying to mod the guitar. And it is detected as if the strum switches were on the same pin, being that they are on different pins (including the ground ones, I also put them on different pins) the strum up is on pin 4 and the strum down on the pin 2. I already cut the traces of the pcb but the problem continues. I thought maybe I hadn't cut the correct traces, but I literally drew a few squares around each of the 4 switch pins. Do you have any idea how to fix it?

[@Awewe57]

​@@PixelholicYTI already managed to fix it bro, thanks for your tutorial. My kramer turned out great :]

[@stephgh1flamyphantom230]

can I get my mom to do it? I dont know how to walk yet

[@kab43]

i will never do something like this (mainly cause i cant afford guitars lmao) but the inner nerd inside of me makes me watch the entire video

[@LilBroncho]

What temperature do you set your soldering iron to?

[@PixelholicYT]

350 degrees F

[@LilBroncho]

@@PixelholicYT 350 Fahrenheit?? Or Celsius? I thought traditional solder doesn’t melt till around 370 Fahrenheit

[@kab43]

@@LilBroncho F is short for Fahrenheit, so yes

[@Cobalt985]

​@@LilBroncho lmao mines at 350C. it's pretty hard to fuck up this kind of project in terms of soldering iron temperature. Not impossible but I'm not very experienced and I've had no problems at 350C. I think Pixelholic is just mistaken about units.

[@LilBroncho]

@@Cobalt985 that’s what I thought, I had to go to 700F (370C) before I stopped struggling lol. The solder on the boards just wouldn’t melt at 600F which was what I was at before hand. I got it sorted out after long enough I just didn’t want to burn the board is all.

[@facudelgado7]

Does it work with any Raspberry Pi model?

[@PixelholicYT]

nope. just the pico or any rp2040 based boards.

[@facudelgado7]

Does the tilt sensor have to be set at a specific angle?

[@duncandonuts5268]

im confused, title says Arduino, but the video uses a Raspberry Pi.

[@mariannevelez9565]

promo sm 💥