DIY is definitely cheaper than sending it in for additional work, if you have the tools and experience already. If you're just learning soldering and such, you might want to leave the actual installation until you've got a good handle on soldering on circuit boards. It doesn't take much of a mistake to fry a component on a PCB, and accidentally cooking a $200 soundboard is bad, Mmmkay?
The Dominix LE V4 is $75 empty... and you're going to spend between $13 and 20 each way for shipping, probably plus teardown labor (which will be a moderate cost), plus parts and labor for the additions, you might opt just to purchase a new saber with sound rather than send the stunt in for upgrade. The upside of keeping a stunt saber is you have something to practice with (especially while your new saber is being built), just in case you want to start getting fancy with swinging your saber around. If the stunt and the expensive saber are the same model, you won't really notice the difference much (or can add weight to the stunt so that you don't) when you start to do the fancy stuff with the sound saber. And you have something for your friends to play with too
.
It's a lot less stressful to drop a stunt setup than one that costs a couple of hundred dollars... Trust me here, I've dropped an Initiate V4 stunt, and a Diamond Dark Initiate V4 (pretty much the same day too). I seriously sweated the latter (though it
has given me another reason to (eventually) buy a new pommel, so even that has an upside).
DIY list of tools (someone add any I miss...):
Wire cutters/strippers ($15)
Soldering Iron w/ usual accessories (tip cleaning sponge, etc) (~$20-30)
Solder
Flux
Isopropyl alcohol
Helping hands parts holder
Wire (not sure on gauge, probably somewhere in the 18-20 range, if not higher)
Heat Shrink
some sort of heat gun (not sure if a hair dryer would work, been way too long).
Parts:
LI-ion battery setup (much easier to fit in the hilt with a soundboard than a AAA setup). This is basically a AA-size battery sled to which you can mount a...
Sound board (and)
Speaker
Momentary switch (latching switch on stunts won't work)
Vented Pommel (so you can hear the sound. Some MHS emitters may also work)
LI-ion 14500 batteries (the Trustfires US sells are excellent quality for the money)
LI-ion battery charger
