I just wanted to get the word out to all of you. I am officially convinced that the Rock Band guitar is a huge POS. It looks nice and it feels more like a real guitar until you start to use it and the aesthetics no longer matter. Immediately, you'll notice that the Rock Band guitar is hard to strum on. I had hoped they fixed this issue with the wireless guitar, which a friend so graciously bought me for my birthday. Nope. The strumming on the wireless guitar is still GARBAGE.
How can I describe the strum bar on the Rock Band guitar? It's like a loose vagina lip (or a limp penis if you prefer). I'm sorry for the visual but that's just how it is. It just flops about and doesn't seem to do much of anything for you. Strumming on the Rock Band guitar is much different than using the uber-responsive Guitar Hero Les Paul or Xplorer. As others have mentioned, the Rock Band guitar just feels cheaply made, as if you can easily break it (that's cause you CAN easily break it).
The duty cycle for the Rock Band guitar can best be described as "casual use". I have a friend that uses his every day for at least an hour and his strum bar is so loose that it feels like it is going to fall off. As the retention and resistance of the strum bar fades away, so does the responsiveness. This means you have to strum harder and it can totally throw your rhythm off. When you use the RB guitar, you're pretty much forced to down and up-strum constantly or just strum REALLY hard.
I gave the RB wireless guitar a chance due to a few friends that swear by it, even after using the Guitar Hero controllers repeatedly. I can now summize that they are crackheads. There's no way an uninfluenced mind can arrive at the conclusion that the RB guitar is better. Let's look at the things beyond responsiveness that make the guitar BLOW.
The Rock Band guitar, unlike any of the Guitar Hero controllers, does NOT break down easily. There's no quick release and, if you're not careful, you can break the guitar. Even putting batteries in, which should be a snap, is a painstaking process. If you don't happen to have a decent Phillips screwdriver, good luck. Those machined screws are a pain to take out. Four of us tried to no avail. I had to try some MacGuyver stuff to get it to work.
The absolute worst part about it all is that you can't play Guitar Hero (any of them) with the Rock Band guitar. WTF? I knew this ahead of time but, still, it just seems like such a waste. If only they sold wireless guitar controllers for the 360 separetly - I would have totally gotten that! But the only way you get this is via online sale. Good luck finding it in the stores. The extra guitar was an impulse buy some friends encouraged me on and I feel bad they spent their money on junk. I'm about to break down and sell this POS for half the price to my delusional friend. With the money I make, I'll just get a wired Guitar Hero controller. Bump it. I can't deal with the RB controller anymore! =oX
Overall, the extra features and sweet style of the Fender Stratocaster-inspired RB guitar controller is not enough to make up for the ultimate suckiness. The lack of software support and production value makes me sad. It'll make you sad too. Avoid the Rock Band guitar at all costs and sell it onward if you have it!