Guitarz - Tunable and Playble Mini Guitars

thingiverse

Just for kicks... Guitarz only need a couple of stretchy rubber bands to create a playable, tuneable mini guitar that's styled after an electric guitar. Just pick the right rubber band strings or start playing.... There's an internal cavity designed to improve sound quality. Like a real guitar, tuning is crucial. Once you've tuned your Guitarz, you can play a basic melody on them. Of course, they won't be as loud as a full-size metal-stringed guitar, but with some fine-tuning, they can deliver a surprising range of notes and even be strummed. This is an easy and fun print to do. The body of Guitarz is almost hollow, thanks to a small designed-in support structure that's permanent, so no additional support is needed (for PLA prints). Using support could result in the body being filled, not hollow, which would affect sound output. The hollow body, albeit small, makes a difference. Getting your Guitarz ready to play after printing is easy.... Just run 1 / 2 / 4 rubber bands (depending on what you have available) around the band slots in your Guitarz, making sure each band follows its respective slot. Tension can be adjusted by wrapping the rubber band/s around the pins on the underside, which will change the note when the band is picked. Altering the position of the rubber bands around each end of your Guitarz will also affect tension and note created when picked or strummed. Tuning can be a bit tricky and variable (as rubber bands stretch etc.) but easy to do with some experience. Obviously, this won't match a real guitar, but as a fun 3D printed musical instrument, once you've played around with band tensions, it's surprising how readily you can play a few simple notes to make a tune.... and you can even strum them. At standard scale, Guitarz are 160mm in length. Scaling up is no problem, but scaling down may make fitment of rubber bands and tuning difficult (...the slots will reduce in size). To make Guitarz multi-color, pause your machine and change filament at approx. 76% (11mm) and 96% (14mm) progress (with a 1mm raft). Have fun with your Guitarz! Please refer to the images and print settings for additional instructions. Note: If you like this, check out the rest of my fun and practical designs... and post images of your Guitarz in action! Printer Brand: MakerBot Printer: MakerBot Replicator (5th Generation) Rafts: Doesn't Matter Supports: No Resolution: Standard / 0.20mm Infill: 3 Shells / 20% infill Notes: Easy print.... raft is recommended for ease of removal from the build plate. Make sure no support is used as it could build inside the hollow area of the Guitarz body. To make Guitarz multi-color, pause your machine and change filament at approx. 76% (11mm) and 96% (14mm) progress (with a 1mm raft). Post-Printing Time to 'band' (....not string) your Guitarz! Run 1 / 2 / 4 rubber bands (depending on what you have available) around the band slots in your Guitarz, making sure each band follows its respective slot. Tension can be adjusted by wrapping the rubber band/s around the pins on the underside, which will change the note when the band is picked. Altering the position of the rubber bands around each end of your Guitarz will also affect tension and note created when picked or strummed. Tuning can be a bit tricky and variable (as rubber bands stretch etc.) but easy to do with some experience. Obviously, this won't match a real guitar, but as a fun 3D printed musical instrument, once you've played around with band tensions, it's surprising how readily you can play a few simple notes to make a tune.... and you can even strum them. Have fun with them!