When Mad Catz announced the $300 Fender guitar replica made many question how out-of-hand peripheral costs were getting, especially with the music genre. If you are a Rock Band 2 enthusiast, with all the DLC offered by Harmonix on XBOX Live, tons of peripherals laying around, and those of you that have the ION Drum set sitting in your game room, you will want (and must) have this.

Being a guitar player for over a decade, I must say this makes playing that much more fun for me personally. Those individuals that have only played this game with the "kit" included instruments, be it Rock Band or Guitar Hero, may hate this item. This guitar is the full size and full weight of my a Fender Stratocaster, and feels natural to play with my background. Compared to the plastic completion, this thing is huge, and may effect you "shredders" out there. This guitar is not as accurate during faster parts of most songs (do to real fret spacing), I must say that I don't mind missing notes when playing with this. The only thing that is not "real Fender" on this guitar is the plastic fret board, but that is not a negative thing, and blends nicely with this accessory.



This guitar, combined with the overdrive pedal, give a new aspect of playability that renews any avid player of the Rock Band series continued interest. Before you buy however, you have to ask yourself do you prefer the Rock Band controller button layout (flat) or the Guitar Hero controller button (raised) layout. If you prefer the Guitar Hero style, this controller is not for you, and will not change your mind and it may actually make you hate it more. The fret buttons are in the real fret locations, so you will have to adapt to stretching your fingers hit all the keys, which makes it very difficult to play during faster parts.


Pros:
* All natural wood body and neck made by the Fender factory itself
* Real metal tuners, connection port (for use of the overdrive pedal), and whammy bar
* Full size and weight (just over 7 lbs.)
* 2.5 million cycle strumming switches
* Start and Select buttons hidden as volume knobs on the guitar
* Whammy bar hangs in a traditional place
* Works amazing with the Overdrive Pedal accessory
* Great for traditional guitarist that want to transfer and play music genre games

Cons:
* Hard to move fast between buttons for speed accuracy do to the real spacing of the frets
* Strum bar is louder, clicks, and does more wear-n-tear on the fingers
* Weight (for those not used to it) can be overwhelming, especially for those long play sessions
* No calibration mechanism on the guitar
* Three AA batteries to use (still no XBOX rechargeable battery pack use)
* Easy to hit Start and Select knob-buttons when using whammy bar.

Final Thoughts:

The Fender Stratocaster XBOX 360 Replica Guitar for Rock Band is not your snap/impulse purchase, or for those just getting into the game. This guitar and purchase are for those individuals that absolutely love this game, that has all the previous peripherals for this game (such as the ION Drum Rocker Kit with expansion cymbal, multiple plastic guitars/bass laying around, the Rock Band Stage Kit, the overdrive pedal, a ton of downloadable content, etc., etc.). This guitar is an investment, and a serious one at that, and I can say brings the rock experience a little closer to home. This Fender Replica is truly a thing of beauty.