Thousands of wireless Rage guitars for Wii are being recalled in the US over concerns regarding their safety. Faulty circuitry is being blamed for the problem, which is feared could cause burns to the user. Not Jimi Hendrix guitar-on-fire style burns either — that would be quite cool — but nasty chemical burns. These are the result of defective circuit boards causing the batteries to leak. One user has already been harmed.

Performance Designed Products, manufacturers of the peripheral, are urging owners to return the guitar to the place where they brought it, in exchange for a full refund. It is reported that 57,000 guitars have been sold.

This story comes just days after consumer Jim Squires reported problems with his Rock Band USB hub. Apparently, after a few games Squires started smelling burning plastic. He thought no more of it and carried on playing. Five minutes later the hub was throwing out smoke and had begun to smoulder. He immediately turned of his console and contacted EA. Their advice? Plug it back in and try again. Helpful huh? Understandably, Jim isn’t too happy about the whole thing. You can follow his quest for justice in his blog ‘Rock Band tried to burn my house down’.