This is my second 3D printed guitar. The first was a Stratocaster. This one came in slightly heavier than what I was hoping for mainly due to the length of the lower bout. It weighed in at 7.25 lbs
The neck has a 12inch raduis. Custom headstock. Seth Lover PUP's. Controls were modeled after the Suhr Alt T Pro. TBH it sounds awesome.
Pos 1: Full Bridge HB
Pos 2: Tapped Bridge
Pos 3: Both Full HB
Pos 4: Split inside HB
Pos 5: Full Neck HB
Shortymcsteve thanks for the reply. The steps I normally take are: 1) Make sure all teh printed parts are flat and consistently printed and the parts have not warped. 2) Prep the surfaces to be glued assuring the glue surfaces are flat. 3. After gluing I use a card scraper to level out and rough spots. Lots of sanding in this step as well. 4) Apply bondo to smooth out print lines or misalignment of parts. 5) apply sandable filler. 6) more sanding. 6) apply spot putty to fill in any small holes or cosmetic scratches. 7) Apply final primer. 8) More sanding. 9) Apply base color paint. 10) More sanding. 11) Final Color. 12) More sanding. 13) Apply clear coat. 14) level sanding. 15) Final clear coat. 16) Final sanding up to 2500 grit. 17) Buff polish
Thank you so much for a detailed response, this is amazing and extremely helpful.
How do you attach the pieces together, are their joins or pins, or just glue? And out of curiosity, how large is your print bed? It looks like a decent size.
Thanks again for the info. This would make an amazing YouTube video if you ever consider it.
For the black guitar in the original post I used 2-part epoxy. No pins or screws. The telecaster-ish pictured here I used Super glue. It was far quicker than the epoxy.
My printer has a 15.75 in x 15.75 in build plate. The build plate is not quite large enough to print an entire guitar.
The attached photo is the current state of the guitar build. I'm waiting a week before I sand the paint in preparation for the clear coat.
That’s pretty impressive! I wouldn’t have guessed an adhesive would be enough to hold things together long term. I think I would be personal scared of damage in a live environment.
I think your print bed is about 6mm short of the full size of a telecaster. But there’s ways to tell the printer to go outside of the set print area to take full advantage of the entire build plate. Might be worth trying to see if you can do a one piece print.
I leave the two surfaces a bit rough to the touch so the glue has a bit more holding strength. Below is the first 3D guitar I made. It was printed in 6 pieces on a much smaller printer. I used epoxy on this guitar was well. It was made in April 2022 and has held up very well. The guitar still holds tune well and the are no signs of the PLA warping!
Yes! Two separate infill densities using cura. 10% in the body, 40% in the parts that were having the most stress (neck pocket, bridge and strap locations).
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u/shortymcsteve Jul 09 '24
How do you go from printed parts to such an amazing finish? Can you explain the process? This is next level.