3D Printed Playable Guitar – Making Usable Things

When we found this fully 3D printed guitar on thingiverse.com it looked way too cool not to try. The entire project consisted of 6 individual parts and was completed via 3DPrinterOS using an Ultimaker 2 and Makerbot Replicator 2 printers. The bottom end of the guitar had the largest surface area that touched the build plate and this piece was printed on the Ultimaker 2 as the heated bed helps to avoid warping. The other 5 pieces were printed on Makerbot Replicator 2’s.

6 files all organized in a single project file on 3DPrinterOS

We sliced each of the 6 parts with the same settings of 50% infill for strength and a resolution of 150 microns. No supports are needed for the file which was really great and made the print very simple to execute. We used blue painters tape and added a little Elmers glue on top of the tape to avoid any potential warping.

These are the slicer settings we used to print each piece of the guitar.

We only ran into one minor issue when printing the base part of the guitar neck. The z-axis was just big enough on the Markerbot Replicator 2 to complete the print however, when the print completed and the extruder moved to it’s home axis it actually knocked over the print. No real harm was done and we were lucky enough to be in the room when this 22 hour print completed. You can see the results in the video below.

The entire print took a total of  74.42 hours. After all pieces were printed successfully we attached the six pieces using a basic plastic epoxy that you can find at any local hardware store. The only other parts of the guitar that were not 3D printed are the tuning keys and strings which can be found at almost any music store or online for a total price of $40 or less.

This is one of the most rewarding 3D printed projects we have completed in a while and not only does it look awesome but it actually plays! Talk about impressive!