Fully 3d printed electric guitar

youmagine

The entire electric guitar was built with innovative 3D printed parts. A Flash Forge printer brought the body and neck to life. The neck is reinforced by two carbon fiber tubes set in epoxy instead of a traditional truss rod. The infill areas of the print were further strengthened by injecting epoxy resin into them. This unique neck-through design allows makers to print any body shape without altering the core configuration. One printed guitar plays, although not perfectly, so this project should be considered a work in progress and a cautionary tale for makers. I designed it as an experiment more than anything else. It features several cutting-edge technologies: A 3D printed neck with carbon fiber reinforcement, epoxy infiltration as a strengthening technique, a 3D printed fingerboard with printed slots for fretwire, and a script that generates fretboards of any scale length using openSCAD. Additionally, intricate 3D printed inlays adorn the headstock and fingerboard. Printing these separately is easier than doing them as dual extrusions. The neck and body are aligned using 3mm filament stubs. After completing this project, I realize that printing a guitar neck is pointless since superior stock necks can be purchased for less than the materials cost. The point was not to create a functional instrument but to experiment with new technologies. However, the body design requires too much support and does not print well on an FDM machine.