RedOctane Games just revealed the December 10 release date for Stage Tour, and now CRKD is giving rhythm game fans another reason to start clearing space around the TV. The company has unveiled its Stage Tour Pro Guitar Collection, a trio of premium Guitar Controllers built around iconic Gibson designs.
The collection includes the Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG and Gibson Explorer, with each model bringing its own bit of rhythm gaming history to the table. All three feature CRKD’s latest hardware, including mechanical fret buttons, Hall Effect click strum bars, LED neck lighting and a redesigned control layout based on the official Stage Tour Kramer Guitar Controller.
The most exciting of the bunch may be the Stage Tour 8K Gibson Explorer: 20th Anniversary Edition. Inspired by the original Xplorer controller from the Xbox 360 era, the new version retains the fixed-neck design and classic five-color fret layout while adding an 8K high-speed chipset capable of up to 8,000Hz polling over wired and wireless connections. CRKD says it is the fastest Guitar Controller it has produced.
The Explorer also uses direct wiring to the frets and D-pad, mechanical fret buttons and a Hall Effect strum bar. It is available in a PC/Multi-Platform edition supporting PC, Nintendo Switch, mobile devices and tablets, along with legacy games on select consoles. It is expected to ship in January 2027.
The Stage Tour Gibson Les Paul Oxblood Edition and SG Midnight Blue Edition offer a similar Pro-level feature set, including mechanical frets, Hall Effect strum bars and dynamic LED neck lighting. Both also feature tilt sensors and dedicated CTRL buttons for activating Stage Power, along with PC Legacy Mode offering up to 500Hz wireless and 1,000Hz wired polling.
The SG has an especially unusual story. Its Midnight Blue design is based on a pre-production Guitar Hero II controller concept created during the PlayStation 2 era that never actually reached consumers. Nearly two decades later, CRKD is finally turning that abandoned design into a real controller.
The pricing is also decidedly premium. All three guitars cost $129.99. The Les Paul is also available in a PC/Multi-Platform version for $119.99. All three controllers are available to pre-order now through StageTour.com and CRKD, with the Les Paul and SG expected to ship alongside Stage Tour on December 10, 2026. The 8K Explorer follows in January 2027.
For players who remember rhythm gaming’s plastic-instrument era, CRKD is clearly pushing hard into nostalgia here. The difference is that these aren’t simply reproductions of old controllers. They are modern gaming peripherals that happen to look like the guitars that helped make the genre famous in the first place.
