rwillett

I've started work on another 3d printed guitar. I build a guitar first and then apply the learnings from the guitar to the bass. So a bass will follow and I'm trying to get both ready for the SW Bass Bash, which could be a challenge. The last 3d printed guitar was a decent guitar and I still have it, its still plays well and is as much fun as any of the guitars and sounds great with P90s in. However since last year I've been thinking about how to improve the design, the build and the finish. For those of you who do 3d printing, it has many advantages but one big drawback is the surface finish on some sides, especially when you have gentle sloping sides and curves. So my last 3d printed guitar was 'slab sided' with a 6mm fillet along the top and bottom edge. Far more Telecaster than Stratocaster. The headless bass I made, also has the same issue. This has irked and bugged me for months and I resolved to do something about it. My goal with this guitar is to have a finish as good as I can possibly make it, I am targetting as good a finish as a decent 'ordinary' guitar (whatever that may mean), basically no compromises. I don;t want to have to say "it's a good finish for a 3d printed guitar", but it's a dammed good finish full stop. My aims are below. When I say guitar I also mean the follow on bass. A simpler design in Fusion 360 that allows me to make changes easily. I've learnt an awful lot more about F360 in the last nine months and realised I was using F360 in a poor way. A better and 'simpler' design of the overall guitar. I used Voronoi curves before which are nice but impose certain restrictions on the design. I want to make the guitar even more open that before. I want to have a gentle curve, a tummy cut and a slope where the wrist would rest. The neck mounting holes will be for a Fender Strat, if (and when) I get a neck, if the holes aren't for a Strat I'll fill the neck and redrill. It was a major hassle last time. The internal wiring channels for the switches were an utter nightmare on the old guitar. I want a better system. I may (or may not) have a modular pickup mounting system that allows you to change pickups in minutes. I've designed one but it was designed for a back mounted wooden guitar. Still pondering that one. The system works with P90's, humberbuckers and single coils with a standardised wiring loom. The finish must be as good as possible. Not "good for a 3d printed guitar" but just "bloody good". Simpler Design The new design was started about 10 days ago and is pretty much finished. I have ditched true Voronoi curves and have more or less the same style but simplified. Ditching the V curves, and thinking a lot more about the design up front has meant the design was mostly completed over 5-6 evenings. Importantly for those who use Fusion 360, an awful lot of tangential curves and fillets so it's smooth as, well, something very smooth. F360 does tend to allow you to do a hierarchy of design and I went too far down that route in the last designs. I've been a lot more disciplined this time and the design has 24 versions vs 180 versions from the previous one and is simpler all around. The tummy curves are built in and look utterly crap when printed However I have a cunning plan, a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a fox... Standardisation Standardisation on a Fender Strat neck and filling the neck and redrilling to make it fit, removes so much hassle in the design. Lets face it, there are so many Fender/Squirer/clones necks out there, it makes sense. I'll apply the same logic to the bass that'll follow this. If anybody has a decent Squier / Fender Strat neck and wants to sell, please let me know. Internal wiring As I've got rid of the Voronoi curves and made pseudo V curves, the internal wiring channels are so much easier to design and more importantly to print. Modular pickups Still not sure about this one. I have two cheap mahogany bodies sitting in my office that I was going to use as mules to test the concept. I've done all the design work on this modular system, I've got five pin pogo connectors and a standard wiring loom worked out, looks a lot like a Les Paul or Telecaster Deluxe with volume and tone controls per pickup. However a 3d printed guitar needs a strong backbone and I can't work out how to make it strong with two large rectilinear holes in an lump of aluminium. I suspect this may have to wait. Finish Well this is the big one... I've set myself a high bar here. I'll be honest and say I've spent a few months testing out various ideas in the background and I think I have a solution. I'll leave it at that for the moment, but I'm fairly confident I've got a decent solution or even suspension This is the original design from last year and this is the new version. I think only three straight lines were carried over from the above, but the design was probably four to five times faster to do. It's also just as stiff and strong as the top one. The control panel is modular and is just a big gap at the moment. However the design of the guitar is about 40-50% quicker to print, so 8-10 hours per piece down to 4-6 hours per piece. Also the bridge and neck heal will be permanently fixed in (probably). I've printed the body into four sections and have started preparing them to be finished and assembled. That's the next email in this thread. Rob

That's a great job. How do I apply?

.... unless you have a headless bass or guitar I actually do have this stand, and the portable one and the three headed one. They are great stands but do make rather a fundamental assumption about your bass/guitar (apart from the small portable one). Rob

If you want the top surface nice and flat, print it in PLA top down on a smooth plate on your 3d printer. Turn it back the right way on the bass and job done. Print at the slowest speed and at the highest resolution and if you can tell it extrude 5% more for the first layer or two, it'll be a lovely finish and not need sanding. I was going to say that it looks like its printed on a plate for PETG which is not smooth, but the dimpling is too pronounced. I actually like the top surface though. Rob

No offense taken by me. Whether he plays too many or too few notes, it still sounds gorgeous. I don't think I'm in a position to critique his skills as a bass player. Now if he wants to discuss compiler theory or Perl or SmallTalk or network architecture, let me know and I'll see what I can do Rob

I reckon 50% of the blokes had tank tops on under their coats.

Wow! That sounds gorgeous

To be honest, it doesn't really matter which one you'll buy as you'll probably end up buying all of them anyway. Just think of it as the first of many... Rob

Oi you young whipper snapper! Some respect for your olders and betters...

I did exactly what was suggested with ordinary hard wood dowels about six weeks ago. Used a decent wood glue on a MIM Jazz neck. Left it to dry properly (24 hours) and re drilled it to fit a different body. No issues whatsoever. I'm going to do another neck in a few weeks and will do the same again. I've no concerns about the strength at all. Rob

I look at these the same way I look at Ferraris, super yachts, mansions, supermodels…. Fabulous but so far out of reach that I'm not disappointed. I'll stick with my Seat Leon, my paddle board, my house and the CFO

Always happy to help with a bigger board 😀

Luke brought a leather strap. Great comms, immediate payment, easy to work with. Zero issues, just like it should be. Thanks Rob

Thanks for this.

Did you have a schematic for this please?

I would agree with @neepheid and that may is doing an awful lot of work here. All of the comments are spot on. We have different basses for all sorts of reasons but often just because we want to. Nothing wrong with that.

Which is a great attitude to have.

Let me know what you need. I've two Prusa MK4's. Oddly enough they are doing sod-all at the moment Rob

Really?

Mmmm.....breakfast.... I suspect we'll be there for that and to help setup. Rob

I wish I had either of them