Modified Lenovo Ideapad bones. Core Duo CPU with 2GB generic RAM and 250GB Laptop HDD.
The main case is a Kramer Guitar Hero controller with most aesthetics preserved.
The Start button on the GH controller is now the power button, the panel beneath the flicker bar is the touch-pad cursor sensor, and the flicker is left and right mouse click.
The WiFi antenna is at the top of the fret board and the Whammy bar is movable but does nothing. The five original GH fret buttons are clickable but do nothing.
The switch on the neck is to switch on or off the 6 LED lights atop the fret board, and the battery panel clips out to access the fuse which protects the internal LEDs and cold cathode from overdrawing.
The original power switch now turns on or off the original GH controller power-on LED.
A power cable socket has been added between the original GH power switch and LED.
The Molex IO connector is exclusively used to power the red LED strips and blue cathode. This was done because the available power connections from the laptop motherboard were extremely limited. A customised SATA power and data cable needed to be made for the hard drive and internal 5v components.
The original laptop battery is now located inside the neck of the guitar, and required cable lengthening to work. I used a CAT 5 cable as it too had eight wires.
Regrettably, my modifications did void the warranty.
This build was extremely challenging both in infrastructure and fatigue. I am proud of my result, which is close to the original vision I had for the build.
Thank you for taking the time to read about this project, I hope that it evokes fond memories of Guitar Hero.