I've been thinking about doing this for a while and I finally got it together for Earth Day. An all cardboard guitar. I used Chopsticks for the bridge and nut, tin can lid for the tail piece and a bit of tin can to help anchor the machine head. Sounds pretty good, we'll have to see how durable it is, of course the neck warping is my biggest concern. More pics on my profile page.
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Ok, I see this as a challenge now. I must make a functional 3 string all cardboard guitar, or die trying. —B
MichaelS said:
Damn, and I just threw out a perfectly good wine box! I think Kenny is right, a 3 string neck could be made, just a bit of trial and error. Skeesix, the class before me made cardboard furniture too,I was also a design student.
Damn, and I just threw out a perfectly good wine box! I think Kenny is right, a 3 string neck could be made, just a bit of trial and error. Skeesix, the class before me made cardboard furniture too,I was also a design student.
Very nice and ultra creative. I like the looks of this a lot. I would guess with enough internal support, you could build a neck strong enough to receive 3 strings. A lower tuning would offer less tension. Now that would be fun. Please keep me posted if you ever try it. I would love to play one. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy
I reinforced the tuner mount with some tin can lid, but after I was done I wished I had done a better job. As always you learn a lot by making your first one.I did get the action right i think, so it doesnt buzz, and the sound is nice and bright with good volume.
Skeesix said:
Great experiment! How does it sound? Back in design school . . .
Back in design school we made chairs out of corrugated cardboard. They had to support 200 lbs. We had the biggest guy in class sit on to test them (mine passed!). Anyway, what I learned from that project is for corrugated cardboard, the strength is in the length. A square or rectangular tube form is also very strong.
Assuming the corrugations are running the length of the neck, you've probably built a nice strong neck. I don't know if adding any more longitudinal braces inside the neck would be helpful or not. As it is, it may support 200 lbs. The limiting factor will probably be the tuner tearing out. Adding some reinforcement in that area should be helpful.
The other limiting factor would be the string tension pushing downward on the bridge. A vertical brace under the bridge should be helpful there.
With tension for a classical nylon string guitar at 75-90 pounds and a steel string acoustic at 150-200 pounds you could probably add more strings with no problem (assuming the tuners and the tailpiece don't tear out).
nice, keep us informed on the neck warping and what not, and if you have any ideas on how to strengthen it. crow does 3 string slide guitars out of cardboard but with a wood neck, it'd be pretty cool if this works for you
Replies
MichaelS said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2ZyqNODJpU
Seems to me, it is just a matter of the right design to solve the neck strength problem.
Enjoy, Keni Lee
Skeesix said:
Back in design school we made chairs out of corrugated cardboard. They had to support 200 lbs. We had the biggest guy in class sit on to test them (mine passed!). Anyway, what I learned from that project is for corrugated cardboard, the strength is in the length. A square or rectangular tube form is also very strong.
Assuming the corrugations are running the length of the neck, you've probably built a nice strong neck. I don't know if adding any more longitudinal braces inside the neck would be helpful or not. As it is, it may support 200 lbs. The limiting factor will probably be the tuner tearing out. Adding some reinforcement in that area should be helpful.
The other limiting factor would be the string tension pushing downward on the bridge. A vertical brace under the bridge should be helpful there.
With tension for a classical nylon string guitar at 75-90 pounds and a steel string acoustic at 150-200 pounds you could probably add more strings with no problem (assuming the tuners and the tailpiece don't tear out).