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CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller: one-minute review
The CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller is a brand-new guitar controller for use with rhythm games like Fortnite Festival, Rock Band 4, and Clone Hero. CRKD was founded by former Red Octane staff who were responsible for the Guitar Hero series’ controllers, and as such this feels very in line with the peripherals for those games, taking on the best elements of each to make one of the best guitar controllers I’ve ever used.
It comes in two variants, the LP Black Tribal Encore Edition and the LP Blueberry Burst Pro Edition. The Black Tribal edition comes with standard fret buttons and a mechanical click strum bar, with a slightly gaudy tribal design. Meanwhile, the slightly more expensive Blueberry Burst is functionally the same guitar but with mechanical frets, a Hall Effect strum bar with haptic feedback, and a blueberry burst design. If you prefer one set of buttons over another, the necks are interchangeable too.
On top of those two versions, each version has an Xbox edition, which makes it compatible with Rock Band 4. The multi-platform edition does work with Xbox through the KeyJam mode, however, it acts as a keyboard, meaning it is compatible with Fortnite Festival through button mapping but not Rock Band. The multi-platform edition works with Switch, PC, PlayStation 3-5, and Android too.
The guitar itself feels great to hold; it takes on the form of the fan-favorite Gibson Les Paul design that was previously used with Guitar Hero 3, while the strum bar is longer and easier to pinch, like the “Genericaster” design from Guitar Hero: World Tour and Guitar Hero 5 (my personal favorite guitar controller of all time). It lacks the lower fret buttons found on Rock Band guitars and the PDP Riffmaster; however, a separate neck attachment is being released later with this option.
CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller: price and availability
- Prices range between $114.99 / £109.99 / AU$199 and $134.99 / £129.99 / AU$224
- Available in the US via the CRKD website
- Available in the UK via CRKD, Argos, and Amazon
- Available in Australia via JB Hifi
The CRKD Les Paul launched in June 2025, with the Xbox editions set to release in late September. The price is higher based on whether you have the Xbox-compatible edition, with the Blueberry Burst version being more expensive than the Black Tribal one. However, the Blueberry Burst is only $10 / £10 / AU$25 more expensive, while buying the mechanical frets separately is $39.99 / £39.99, so I would personally go with the Blueberry Burst.
While you may be able to get the PDP Riffmaster on sale now, its regular price is more expensive than the Blueberry Burst, with the CRKD being what I feel is the better guitar (however, this more likely comes down to your preference between Guitar Hero and Rock Band-style instruments).
CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller review: Specs
|
Price |
$114.99 / £109.99 / AU$199 |
|
Dimensions |
9.96 x 29.13 x 1.37in / 253 x 740 x 35mm |
|
Compatibility |
Nintendo Switch, PC, Android, Smart TV, PS3, PS4, PS5 (Xbox in Fortnite Festival only) |
|
Connection type |
Wired (Type-C), wireless (Bluetooth + 2.4GHz dongle) |
|
Software |
CRKD App (iOS, Android) |
CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller review: design and features
- Guitar controller designed for rhythm gaming
- Based on the iconic Gibson Les Paul Guitar
- A dial allowing you to program different profiles
As the name suggests, the CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller is based on the iconic Gibson Les Paul guitar. This design was previously used for the Guitar Hero 3 guitar controller, with this one being roughly the same size.
The two available versions are Black Tribal and Blueberry Burst. Black Tribal is a black plastic base with a glossy black tribal design on top of it. While it’s appropriate, as the mid-2000s was the perfect time for guitar controllers and tacky tribal designs (shoutout to the tribal Game Boy Advance SP), I frankly think this design is ugly. Blueberry Burst, on the other hand is fine looking; the actual blue burst design is nice and akin to its namesake guitar, but it’s a decal that looks a bit low quality at close inspection.
Meanwhile, since the necks are detachable, both are just regular black plastic with small lights up the neck. These will light up in a color corresponding with which fret button you press.
The guitar features a d-pad on the top of the neck and two sticks. One is a little dial that is clicked in as your start button, and while it’s not the end of the world, it can be a little awkward to pause with it. Meanwhile, there’s a tone switch-style stick on the upper half of the guitar, which has a ring of buttons around it, allowing you to access the face and trigger buttons.
Under the strum bar is the whammy bar – which allows you to earn extra points when playing sustained notes – and the CTRL button, which is typically bound to Star Power activation. While not as long as the one found on the Genericaster, it’s placed well so it’s very easy to hit with your wrist and not compromise your strumming.
While not a complete game-changer, the mechanical frets and Hall Effect strum bar found in the Blueberry Burst edition feel fantastic, and given the price isn’t significantly higher, I’d recommend going with that version over the Black Tribal.
CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller review: Performance
- Solid battery life
- Works right out the box
- Comes with custom profile dial, customisable via the CRKD mobile app
The CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller works straight out of the box with either a USB-C cable connection on PC or via a 2.4GHz dongle (both of which are included with the guitar). You can also use Bluetooth to connect to devices that can’t support a USB option. From my month of testing, only the Blueberry Burst edition has run out of battery with me using it for at least 15-20 hours without charging it out of the box.
There’s a knob that acts as the on switch when pressed and features a dial that allows you to use one of 9 profiles (the first four being preset to default settings and the Fortnite Festival difficulties). These bindings can be changed via the CRKD mobile app, with the Blueberry Burst edition allowing you to alter the level of sensitivity and haptic feedback on the strum bar.
This is essential for Fortnite Festival. While the default mode is usable in the mode, the CTRL button is mapped to the Select button, which opens a menu in Fortnite. You can’t remap this in-game, so you’ll need to turn the dial to number two to make it work in Fortnite’s pro modes.
Should I buy the CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller?
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller review: Also consider
Still not sold on the CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller? Here’s how it compares to the other guitar controllers on the market.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 |
CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller |
PDP Riffmaster |
CKRD NEO S Purple Wave 5-Fret Fortnite Festival Edition |
|
Price |
$114.99 / £109.99 / AU$199 |
$129.99 / £129.99 (around AU$199) |
$59.99 / £59.99 / AU$119.95 |
|
Dimensions |
9.96 x 29.13 x 1.37in / 253 x 740 x 35mm |
10.51 x 21.38 x 3.23in / 543 x 267 x 82mm |
5.9 x 3.5 x 0.78in / 150 x 88 x 20mm |
|
Compatibility |
Multi: Nintendo Switch, PC, Android, Smart TV, PS3, PS4, PS5 Xbox:Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Android, Smart TV, iOS |
Xbox: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC PlayStation: PS5, PS4, PC |
Nintendo Switch, PC, Steam Deck, iOS, Android, Smart TV |
|
Connection type |
Wired (Type-C), wireless (Bluetooth + 2.4GHz dongle) |
Wireless (2.4GHz dongle), wired (Type-C) |
Wireless (Bluetooth), wired (Type-C) |
|
Software |
CRKD App (iOS, Android) |
PDP Control Hub |
CRKD App (iOS, Android) |
How I tested the CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller
- Tested for around 20-25 hours
- Used to play YARG and Fortnite Festival on PC
- Used both editions of the guitar
I’ve been using the CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller since I received it in early August 2025 (so around a month). I did play a decent amount of Fortnite Festival (especially when they added the Power Rangers theme song), but I’ve mainly been playing YARG, which is a fan-made recreation of the Rock Band games, allowing you to import custom songs to the game.
I played a variety of songs and genres with it, from the likes of some of my favorite bands, Ween, They Might Be Giants, and Jellyfish, to harder rock bands like Iron Maiden, Mastodon, and Primus. I also played a selection of game soundtracks (mostly Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Guilty Gear Strive) and some outright goofy stuff like Weird Al Yankovic, the South Park movie soundtrack, and the Spider-Man 2 pizza theme.
First reviewed September 2025
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Source link
scott.mccrae9512@gmail.com (Scott McCrae)
