For the sake of authenticity and the options it allows for internals/electronics set up, I strongly agree that a single hilt would be the way to go.
The idea of a delayed ignition on the second blade matched with the font's ignition really appeals - with a single card, this seems to be the best way to go and it'd be fun to strike a pose, hit one button and have that happen - despite being a bit prequel-phobic, that moment was one that I really enjoyed in TPM.
Battle damaged no...I have two MR's and two Hasbros that do that job just fine. What I would like (should there be a run) is two soundboards so I can ignite one blade (such as when Qui Gon fought Maul in the Tattoine desert) or as a doube bladed staff a la the final fight of TPM. The part that needs a lot of attention is getting those sound boards to work together when they are both on so that the sound and CoF or whatever options installed work with each other instead of against each other.
Much as two CF soundboards would be perfect, if keeping to a price point meant a choice of 2 PCs or one CF, my preference would be for a single CF. I totally agree that, whatever the solution for this (hypothetical) run, having the blades work well together is a priority and will demand some good, creative design intelligence and much strokey beard contemplation, and the sensitivity and flexibility of the CF over PC seems more suited for this task, even 1 of the former over 2 of the latter? I do totally agree that it'd be a real shame not to have the option of using the saber with a single blade a la Maul and Qui Gon on Tattoine) - perhaps one of the switches on the 'second' half turning the connection to the second blade's LED on or off and cutting then reconnecting the power to the CF when it does this, so that the LEDs are powered correctly and there's no accidental blowing of the LED for a single blade when changing from double to single bladed mode?
2 separate fonts for single and double blades seems totally feasible and, I imagine, could work really nicely with this.
I'm still of the mind set that two boards would work better than one. The concern was clash effect. If we presume two boards and those boards are PC's the clash sensor could be remote mounted closer to the emitter for that given half so it would be less likely for the vibration to translate to the opposite one.
That's true - and even if it was the actual boards mounted close to the emitters, I'd have thought they'd pick up on movement and swings much better there than being mounted centrally in a staff where the 'balance point' is, in the same way that it's recommended to mount a CF near the pommel in a single bladed saber, as far from the spin/balnce point as possible.
Also, if this were to happen as a future run, the Igniter and Hiltworks might both be available by that time as high-end soundcard options and could possibly offer some wider choices in how to approach the challenges of the double-blade?