3D-Printed Guitar

Hello! 
 I’m Aditya Gupta, and for my ninth-grade project, I created a 3D-printed guitar for the STEAM Fair. This project explores the engineering process of making an electric guitar. I have always had a strong interest in 3D printing—it’s a great skill. I never had the opportunity to learn about it until now, which is why I chose to work on a project involving a 3D printer. So, I thought, why not do the best of both worlds? The idea of making a guitar with a 3D printer sounded so cool that I decided to lock in on the idea.

Progress

How I Built It

CAD Design (Stage 1) We first started researching our projects in February. Once I had locked in the idea of making a guitar, I began researching it more deeply. While researching, I discovered that many people had done similar projects before. Taking inspiration from them, I found a 3D model of a Fender Mustang/Jazzmaster. I had to remove all the details from the model to create a blank slate that I could customize to my liking. After making the holes for the pickups and the volume control plate, I began adding some final touches. I saw someone online use a honeycomb design on their guitar, and I thought, “Huh, I could do the same”—so I did. 

 

Printing (Stage 2) A few weeks later, all my guitar parts were ready to print. Printing them wasn’t easy. I had to split the guitar into smaller pieces in Fusion 360 because the printer beds were small. This took a lot of time—about 83 hours in total, with one part taking 50 hours alone. One big problem was string tension, which could warp the plastic. To fix this, I printed the center of the guitar with 90% infill. I also had many failed prints and struggled to cut the pieces so they would fit on the printer bed. Other issues included rafts and supports being hard to remove, so I had to cut some parts in half again to make printing easier.

 

Assembling (Stage 3)

After two months, all my guitar parts had been printed, and at this stage, I was assembling the guitar. I used super glue to glue everything together except the center, which I used Gorilla glue for extra strength. I ordered parts like the fretboard, pickups, volume and tone pots, bridge and strings. The bridge and fretboard were easy tasks, but had to be done quite thoroughly. Connecting the pickups to the volume control plate, though, was quite the confusing task, as you must find circuit diagrams, so you know which wires connect where.

What now?!

This project had great results; the guitar was functional and sounded great. A lot of people commented on how great it sounded, and it felt nice to play as well. I also learned a lot from this project. It helped me improve my skills with 3D printing and using Fusion 360. I got better at designing parts and using different tools in Fusion 360. I also learned more about how guitars are made and how they work. Overall, this project gave me a much better understanding of both 3D printing and guitar design.