Stratocaster/Les Paul Hybrid Guitar

thingiverse

This guitar is a hybrid that incorporates the body style of a Les Paul with what I call the guts of Stratocaster. A great deal of time and effort went into making this and I'm glad I finally have the chance to share it. It features a stratocaster neck, springs, bridge, input jack, and more, all of which were parts raided from a cheap First Act guitar I found on Craigslist. The pick guard which came with all the electronics and pickups prewired and built-inn came from an awesome kit sold at stewmac The end product sounded exactly to me like my squire which I think is pretty cool. One really important thing to note that you'll see in the instructions is that the files are slightly off in their design. The little circle shape at the bottom of the cut-out where the back of the pick guard fits into isn't near big enough as a I ended up grinding it out a lot with a dremel to make things fit. For this same reason there are no holes for the pick guard. To sum it up this thing takes a great deal of handiwork to construct. If someone feels inclined to modify and update the files feel free. Or if people seem interested in a fix I may eventually fix it myself. Also the ingredients/directions will be a bit general because: 1) I heavily relied on the advice of local guitarist since I myself know very little. 2) I was building the guitar as a birthday present and sort of learned most of the stuff I know from building it. I've been meaning to share this design awhile ago. I'm curious to see what people do with it and to that end feel free to make derivatives. Happy printing! Instructions Ingredients: Couple roles of PLA filament Cheap Stratocaster style First Act for parts (you could buy all the parts instead I suppose, but this was way easier) (found mine on craigslist for $50 with a free amp) Pick guard prewired with all the electronics found here: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Pickguards/Strat_style_pickguards/Pre-wired_Pickguard_Assembly.html (which I suppose you don’t need if you buy a strat for parts, but I needed different colors and a specific size so I bought a separate one) Directions: To start with I'll repeat what was said in the description, the file provided is flawed, but some grinding with a dremel can fix this. Also as another side note specific instructions would be far too long to follow. Research into guitar anatomy is pretty important. Use the disassembled First Act as a loose template for building your 3D printed guitar. Cut the files into pieces, I believe I made mine into 11, and print them in PLA. Most infill will work, but try keeping it low to minimize cost, but high to maintain strength. For me slicing in slic3r with 20% normal infill worked fine. Fit the pieces together and friction weld together using the strategy explained here: http://makezine.com/projects/make-34/skill-builder-finishing-and-post-processing-your-3d-printed-objects/ Be sure to practice a lot to get the hang of it. Using short pieces of PLA straightened and put in the dremel at high speeds gives good results. Be very generous in the amount of welds you make because it can only strengthen the guitar. Using high speed will allow you to melt plastic deep in the seam of the parts causing a very strong bond. Be sure to be even more generous on high stress areas like the around the bridge and neck. Once body is one solid piece make adjustments that are needed. For me the as previously mentioned the bottom right of the electronics cut-out wasn’t large enough so that needed to be grinded a lot to get the pick guard to fit. Also the side hole where the input jack fits into was too small. For me personally I took everything extra off the input jack, made the whole large until I could easily plug it into an amp, then friction welded it into place until it was quite secure. Mark where holes are going to go with a sharpie, double check they're all correct, then drill carefully. Sand the guitar as needed. My printer wasn't the greatest so I needed quite a bit of sanding to make everything flat. Make a slow transition from rough to fine sandpaper, try not to skip grits. Be patient with this step as it can take awhile. Coat the guitar in krylon clear glaze found at Wal-Mart. Follow instructions on can. Grind the pick guard as needed/desired. Solder the ground wire in the pick guard to the metal thing the springs attach to. Assemble the parts in the same fashion as they were disassembled from the raided guitar. Adjust the strings using an Allen wrench And you're done, now show off your new 3D printed guitar.