Yep, that's the way to do it in USB (or gut an existing stick and use that USB board, but clip the pots and put your rudder pedal pots on those wires instead).
I seriously thought about building some for a while (I even began a lego throttle unit before I got my quadrant), but overall it's a lot of work, a lot of space taken up on the floor, and I think I'd rather go pre-made.
I do have a hot-wired CH gameport rocker-pedal set that I rigged to be standalone (it normally requires a piggy-back gameport stick). I've modified my previous stick. A bunch of folks on the forums have modified something or other. We're a very handy/technically-minded group here.
