Oh I know the hand cramps! I was having trouble firing on each side on a white Adam controller. Luckily I've got a few NOS CV controllers that Radio Shack sold BITD that I've been holding onto for a while. Might be time to break one out
My daily driver is was a light sixer I got from a local DAV for only $4.95. The game select switch needs to be replaced, just went out last week, so shouldn't be a difficult fix. For now I'm using my CV Expansion Module #2