With my help from Elvis, it's now easy for me to simply buy a cheapie arcade stick from ebay and just rip that apart and re-solder my buttons in replace to theirs. At first I wondered if there would be a problem in ghosting or performance issues, but he said that it was all made the same and that it would all work the same. There would not be a difference for me to notice, and who cares - this is my first ever mame build and I've been a cheapass. Elvis stated that he only used the I-PAC controller on his original build because it was all that was available at the time.
This is what I'll be purchasing from ebay. Absolute bargain, $4.15 + $10 postage. I'll have to buy two, but that's still $20 cheaper than the I-PAC Controller and will be much easier to configure. My plan is to separate the internals from the casing, replace all buttons and joysticks with my own, and simply chuck them into the cabinet. All this connects simply via USB and will be recognized by the computer as the original arcade stick, only with better quality buttons and joysticks.
