GH4 downstrum

[ferruci9]

Hi all. I have a GH4 guitar that has stopped on the downstrum. It works fine if you strum upwards. Can you guide me to fix this please as I have no experience in this sort of thing?

[SteveAdmin]

Sounds like the switch for the downstrum is broken, they can be easily replaced though.

Have a look at our repair kits for exactly this problem here You will also find our video tutorial there so you know what you're doing!

Thanks

[ferruci9]

Thanks for the quick reply. Have ordered a kit through your link (cool video ), will let you know how it goes.

[Steve Kaz]

I bought a repair kit from you all to fix the downstrum problem and it worked beautifully on my first guitar.

I just went to fix it on my second, got the old switch out and the new switch in, but it's not working. The game isn't registering the downstrum. I took the guitar apart again, put a new switch on again, and that didn't work either.

Something is going on. When I activate the microswitch manually, it's not registering in the game (so it's not an issue of the strum bar not hitting the switch properly).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm all out of ideas, and don't have the expertise to try anything else. I could replace the switches without a problem, but can't figure out what is going on with this

[SteveAdmin]

Hey Steve, welcome to the forums!

Well it sounds like the electrical connection has not been made properly on this second one, did you have any trouble during the installation? It sounds as if the metal contact around the edge of the holes where the solder pins (legs) of the switch goes have come off, this can happen if too much heat is applied - try using a lower wattatge soldering iron on your next one.

If this is what has happened then the solder you have put on will be attached to the switches solder pin (leg) but will not be making an effective electrical contact with the board below. What you will need to do is remake these connections



As you can see from the hastily done image ( ) the top contact (as seen on this picture), can be extended into the red area to ensure you have made a good contact, just use a small screwdriver to scratch off a bit of the green paint to reveal the copper conductive material below then solder onto this joining it with the solder you already have on the end of the switch leg.

The middle contact can be joined as the red line suggests either with a thin bit of wire or a diode leg or something (solder will do if you have nothing else but is very messy!)

The bottom contact does nothing so this will not cause a problem.

Have a crack and tell us how you get on!

[karlosfandango]

HI GHR,
got one of your switches from you the other day (quick delevery bro cheers) and was totally nervous about trying the repair myself. it worked first time (the vid really was a life saver) and now i'm going to fix all my bro's guitars too. KEEP ROCKIN

[SteveAdmin]

Hi Karlosfandango and welcome to the forums!

Thanks for that maybe you can come back and help some other people with their installations problems now you are a professional! But really any help you or anyone else can provide in the forums can certainly net you a nice discount on our products if you ask nicely

Hope to see you in here again soon!