Squier Stratocaster Guitar and Controller

The Squier Stratocaster Guitar and Controller is a solid-body electric guitar with integrated MIDI controller functionality, designed for use with the 2010 rhythm game Rock Band 3. It was manufactured by Fender under their budget brand Squier, and made available starting early 2011.

It can be used in three different ways:

• As an electric guitar — just like an ordinary Stratocaster, it features a standard quarter-inch TS output jack on its face, through which it can be connected to (for example) a guitar amplifier. Like on most electric guitars, this mode uses completely passive circuitry, so no power source is required.
• As a MIDI controller — unlike an ordinary electric guitar, it also features a standard MIDI DIN connector on its side for MIDI output. This feature relies on active circuitry, so it requires power from three AA batteries inserted into the rear compartment.
• As a controller for Rock Band 3's Pro Guitar and Pro Bass modes — this requires connecting the MIDI output to a separate Mad Catz MIDI PRO Adapter (either for Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360).

The overall body shape is similar to any other Stratocaster, but with several unusual features that support its multiple roles:

• The guitar has only one pickup, a humbucker-sized hexaphonic pickup in bridge position. The passive guitar electronics mix the six channels down to one for the output jack, while the MIDI system uses the pickup to detect when each string is strummed or plucked (but not its pitch).
• In place of a neck pickup, there is a pop-up string mute textured with a soft material. This can be used with the MIDI system to improve the strum/pluck detection accuracy.
• The surface of the fretboard is made of plastic, and each metal fret is split into six segments which are insulated from each other by narrow plastic separators. There is wiring inside the neck of the guitar that enables the MIDI system to test the electrical conductivity between the strings and the frets. The MIDI system uses this to determine what MIDI note pitch to transmit (unaffected by the tuning of the guitar), to cancel previously triggered notes, and for gameplay.
• It has several game controller-style face buttons and a D-pad, which are used both for controlling Rock Band 3 gameplay features and for certain MIDI functions (e.g. sending Program Change messages).
• It features a volume knob (used for the passive electric guitar output only), but no tone knob. It also does not have a vibrato system.
• It has an accelerometer used to determine the physical orientation of the guitar, used to activate Rock Band 3's "overdrive" mode, or (optionally) to control certain MIDI messages like Pitch Bend.