Pad Modding Tutorial by Arvin

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~~~Arvin's Pad Modding Guide~~~
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Note: This type of pad modding applies more for people who play with their toes, and not their heels, as it generally requires significantly more sensitive pads than heel techniques to properly trigger the arrows.

Materials You'll Need:
*1 Pair of Scissors
*1 Roll of Yellow Masking Tape
*1 Roll of Gorilla Tape
*4 Working, Undamaged Sensors
*1 Sheet of Foam Tape (OPTIONAL)

Estimated Time Required: 3 hours up front, ??? hours of fine tuning afterwards

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Part 1: Removal of Old Modding and Setup of New Modding

1. Remove all inner triangle brackets resting on top of the arrows, this modding technique assumes that you do not use any inner brackets on your pads

2. Remove all of your current modding, starting from a clean slate is best. If your foam is relatively even and undamage, leave that on the pads.

2b. If you'd prefer to replace your foam, remove all of the foam from ontop of the L-brackets and cut pieces of foam tape the length of your L-brackets and stick them on.

3. Put the sensors inside of your pads, your left and right arrows should use the sensor well that is closest to the top left/right metal panels on your pad. Do not use the inner bracket for these arrows. Your up arrow should have the sensor placed in a channel adjacent to the top left/right metal panels as well. The down arrow can use the inner bracket.

3b. Unplug any sensors that aren't these 4, they aren't needed. Make sure you leave them inside the pad to help keep the arrows level.

4. Add 3-5 layers of gorilla tape on top of every L-bracket and place the arrow back inside the arrow well to test the height. If the arrow is still very deep, continue to add 1 layer of gorilla tape to every L-bracket in the arrow until the arrow is only slightly recessed.
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Part 2: Creating Tape Inserts

5. Open your roll of masking tape, pull open a strip of tape roughly 1.5x the length of your L-bracket, and then fold it over itself so that the sticky sides are touching each other.

6. Pull open more tape and fold over the strip 4 more times to get a total thickness of 5 layers of tape on the insert. Cut the tape off from the main roll.

7. The 5-layer thick folded over piece of tape will serve as your base insert, and should be just slightly shorter than the length of your L-bracket. Verify by placing the insert under one of your L-brackets.

7b. If the strip sticks out from under the L-bracket, you can cut some of the length off to make sure it fully fits under it. Don't make it too short as that will also present problems.

8. Wrap masking tape perpendicularly around the center of the tape insert you made 7 times, ensuring that you are overlapping over previous strips well.
Note: If you made the insert properly, it should look roughly like a band-aid in shape.
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Part 3: Adjusting Height and Sensitivity

9. Place inserts underneath the appropriate L-brackets (the ones with the in-use sensors.)

10. Check the height, if it's still too low, start layering on masking tape ontop of the pre-existing gorilla tape on all L-brackets except the outermost bracket. Masking tape is significantly thinner than Gorilla tape so you're safe to adjust by 3-5 pieces of tape at a time until you're close to your desired height. Adjust by 1 piece at a time when you get close to your desired height.

11. Check the sensitivity, if you have the lights plugged in, this step will be significantly easier- if not, use either a long marathon song or the test inputs menu on SM 3.95 or 5.
NOTE: You can also adjust the sensitivity of the arrow by testing all 4 possible orientations (rotated vertically and horizontally). If you go this route, make sure you make a marking on what the correct orientation is.

11b. Test the sensitivity by first tapping on the L-bracket directly- if it triggers relatively easily, then put the arrow on and start tapping the arrow close towards the corner closest to the sensor.

11c. Apply a bit of pressure and see if the arrow holds down too easily, if it does, then the insert needs to be made thinner, if it doesn't, you're fine.

11d. If the arrow is not triggering easily, add 1 square of tape at a time to the perpendicular portion of the insert under the L-bracket and test the sensitivity. You can also add tape directly on top of the L-bracket.

11e. If the arrow is triggering too easily but not holding down too much, add tape to the other L-brackets (THAT AREN'T THE OUTER L-BRACKET) to relieve pressure off of the L-bracket with the plugged in sensor. If that doesn't work, remove 1 piece of tape at a time from on top of the L-bracket with the plugged in sensor until desired sensitivity.

12. Once the height and sensitivity is roughly correct, you can add masking tape to the outer bracket (1 at a time) to make the arrow a bit stiffer if you find it's moving around too much, or clicking (only if the clicking bothers you).
Warning: Adding tape to the outer bracket can cause the arrow to hold down, as it generally increases the sensitivity by increasing the overall pressure applied to the arrow.
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Part 4: Fine tuning.

13. At this point, modding should be 95% done. If you find that the sensitivity is changing, you can try adding or removing 1 piece of tape at a time from the various brackets, try not to adjust the insert thickness by more than +/- 1 piece of tape as it can cause dramatic shifts in sensitivity.