So I got my new joystick and buttons in from lizardlick yesterday, so I made a video of me installing the parts, including rotating the PCB on the joystick for anyone who's wondering. The stick is a Sanwa JLF-TP-8T and the buttons are Sanwa OBSF-30's.

*note: You can order the Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT-SK from lizardlick if you don't want to bother rotating the PCB. Since me ordering they have added it to the joystick lineup.

That sucks that after spending 80 bucks, you gatta go through all this trouble.

So now that you've gone through all of this and have the stick that you want, what would you have done differently?  Built one from scratch yourself maybe?

I'm jealous, I'm playing with a standard Xbox 360 controller.

Well, I am building one from scratch anyways, but I don't know. The stick is pretty functional and easy to swap out parts in, so I guess I'm glad I have it.

Cool. You did a nice job. Great editing..

This must be why no one can find any sticks, all you fuckers are buying them and taking the parts out.

splendid.

Well done, you got there in the end :)

Cool video, now I almost want to buy a stick of my own.

Maybe a fucker like you should have pre-ordered it, but then again thinking has never been your strong suit I'm sure.

Most of the people that were excited about the fightsticks were going to mod them in the first place. I'm only modding mine because it was a piece of shit out of the box.

Thanks for the video.  First time modder here.  Although I've watched the part about disconnecting the ball about 10 times, i'm still i'm still having issues getting the flathead to release.  Can you help me out?

Don't really turn the screw itself, since it doesn't actually turn. I can see how I didn't really explain that part real well. Turn the ball, the flathead insertion is just to stop the shaft from turning with the ball. Make sure you're just inserting the screwdriver/knife into the groove or whatever, and twisting the ball itself left (counterclockwise).

You can also wrap a rag around the shaft of the joystick, then grip it with some vice grips to hold it in place, which at that point you can twist the ball off. works the same way as the flathead method pretty much.

Well if you were gonna to swap out all the parts anyway you could have saved 10-20 bucks by buying the Hori version instead of official SF4 merch. But that 10-20 extra bought you the Street fighter faceplate that looks way cooler than generic white i guess. Good job, the only further mod I would recommend is putting lead weights on the bottom of it, but that's only needed if you find your hands get too crazy and the pad slides around as you play.

That is badass, dude..

How could I have saved myself money on any Hori stick? This was $80 dollars, and the comparably-priced product would be the EX2, which is a piece of junk that doesn't have hot-swappable components at all. That and the body just looks awful. I would have had to solder things into place which would have been a horrible learning experience and cost me money for tools in the process.

The Hori Real Arcade has an unsatisfactory button layout, so I wouldn't have dropped money on that either.

Also, I don't generally play with it on my lap, usually on a table top or something. Doesn't really move around at all.

Joysticks with real quality parts like you now have are a thing of beauty!  :D

Ah, the satisfaction of a job well done.  Too bad it was crap out of the box.

W00t. Thanks, Ultima. A lot of the guys on Shoryuken are gonna love you for this.

Great Video ! When I first was watching this video I kept thinking something was going to go wrong? I am so glad that all went well and your Fighting Stick works as you wanted it to in the first place. I hope someone at Madcatz is watching these videos of yours and taking note of it.I really think if they would have used quality parts in the first place, the consumer would not mind paying the extra money for it.

You video blogs are awesome, keep 'em comin'.

"How could I have saved myself money on any Hori stick? This was $80 dollars, and the comparably-priced product would be the EX2, which is a piece of junk that doesn't have hot-swappable components at all. That and the body just looks awful. I would have had to solder things into place which would have been a horrible learning experience and cost me money for tools in the process.

The Hori Real Arcade has an unsatisfactory button layout, so I wouldn't have dropped money on that either.

Also, I don't generally play with it on my lap, usually on a table top or something. Doesn't really move around at all.
"

well done  very interesting indeed, true gameing spirit

Very nicely done man. I'll just have to wait patiently until these sticks come back in stock somewhere. Something about modding it is appealing - I'd just have to consider UK shipping costs.

Also, your custom arcade is coming along nicely.... instructable maybe?

First time poster here.

lordofultima, nice guide, answered pretty much all questions I had, including how good lizardlick is about delivering.

My only lasting question is, what are the problems with the stock buttons? Yours seemed to have broken as you've shown. Did it do that on its own, or when you moved the buttons around? I see you moved the original two black ones from the right over to the left one row.

I am a bit strapped for cash, and would just like to mod the stick since the shit broke, and I don't know how to solder to do the PCB fix on the board, and glue the loose washer that broke it in the first place. Nor do I have the equipment to do so.

Thanks in advance.

Huzzah! Finally someone made a video of this thing. I don't know if you've done this already, but you should post a link to this on the Shoryuken thread about How to Mod your SE FIghtStick in Tech Talk. Really help everyone out. I haven't been there in a while since I got SF IV and took out the bad washer in my stick. My stick is still messing up though. I can't block down-back *facing left* sometimes so that's a pain in the ass. I lost some matches to that but hey that's the name of the game. I'm really thinking about getting the 8YT-SK from LL soon. I was worried about the shipping but you said you got it in on Monday, I think I might order it within the next few weeks. My buttons are so far flawless; really sensitive and all working. I use the first 6 though, but the LT and LB *the black end ones* work in the Dashboard, so they must be good too. It's only 30 some dollars for the stick including shipping so in your opinion is it worth it? How's the Sanwa play? I've never used one before. Is it tighter? More sensitive? Have you missed any moves due to it  and not the restrictor plate (I'm assuming you're used to the square gate already)? Fuck, I went on for a while, sorry I'm rambling but you're video is basically how I'm picturing my mod to go.

Glad you got your stick up-and-running!  Looks damn sweet too, with the black!

Not really any problems with the buttons, as long as you don't pop them out. I pulled the microswitch out when pulling the disconnects off on one of the buttons a while ago.

As for the stick, that's obviously the biggest improvement. All the directions feel incredibly smooth, and you don't have to push the stick all the way to the edge to get a direction to register, this makes 360's a bit easier.

Ah nice. I think that's what I wanted. Since I took out the washer on the stock stick, it has been incredibly loose *it works for the most part besides that down-back when facing left shit* and I have to really go all the way to get the direction to register. Also, exactly how easy is it to get the restrictor plate off the Sanwa stick? You sped it up in your video. I remember taking off the plate from the stock stick. Took about 45 min. Pain. In the ass.

Okay cool. Just ordered my JLF now, thanks again for the informative thread.

Just ordered the 8YT-SK from Lizard Lick an hour or so ago. Can't wait till it gets here. Again, never used a Sanwa stick, but I really hope all this hype about them is true. At least it should be better than the stock MadCatz stick.

Nice video man - great editing, fast forward parts are hilarious. Best modding video I've seen on the net for mod-noobs such as me.
Couple of questions. I got my SE stick last week, and due to the washer problem I had to open it up and and super glue the metal washer down. The stick actually works very well now, albeit a bit stiff sometimes. Now I'm just waiting for my parts to arrive from Lizardlick.

1)Would you say there is a huge performance difference between the stock stick and buttons and the Sanwa ones? Stupid question but like I said I'm a beginner in all this.

2)I sometimes get overzealous in the heat of action while playing SF4 and apply more pressure to the stick and buttons. Is this cause for concern and could it damage the Sanwa parts over time or are these things built to last?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

Sanwa parts will work a lot longer and generally be more reliable than the stock stuff. I hit them pretty hard and they work fine. Unfortunately there seems to be a soldering problem on my stick that causes it to stop functioning all together, which can only be alleviated by me unplugging and plugging it back in. Score another for Madcatz!

"Sanwa parts will work a lot longer and generally be more reliable than the stock stuff. I hit them pretty hard and they work fine. Unfortunately there seems to be a soldering problem on my stick that causes it to stop functioning all together, which can only be alleviated by me unplugging and plugging it back in. Score another for Madcatz!"

yay this will be helpful