Marble Stratocaster

Floral Telecaster.MOV

Floral Telecaster Build:

Main Features:

Neck Pickup (Direct Mount):
Bridge Pickup:
Fender American 2-Point Tremolo Bridge
Fender American Vintage String Ferrules
CTS 250K Pots, 0.022µF Orange Drop Capacitor, 3 Way Switch, Treble Bleed
Elbow, Belly, and Heel Contours
Guyker 6-Inline Locking Tuners
Matte Black 22 Fret Neck, Rosewood Fingerboard, Tree of Life Pearl Inlay
Laatse Leaf Wallpaper: Gold, Black, and White Floral
*Cream/Ivory/Mint Pickguard

Build Vision:

I fell in love with the brad Paisley telecaster when I first saw it. I knew I would have to try making my own version. With my Telecaster V2, the Carbon Fiber Rods worked perfectly and stopped the body from flexing, while keeping the guitar body light. With my other Telecasters, I never really put in the time to Properly fit a Pickguard. This time around, having a pickguard would be required to attain the look that I was going for.

Build Process and Design Choices:

Printing Parameter Optimization:

I wanted to try using only 40% infill on the body for this next guitar to save on weight while still maintaining the structural integrity of the guitar. This time around, I will also use 10% infill for the Bout pieces as they don't need to be structurally sound. Overall, the weight of the guitar should decrease, but still rigid enough to stay in tune.

Pickguard:

After doing some research, I found that the person who designed the Brad Paisley Floral Guitar cleverly spray painted the portion of the pickguard where the neck single coil pickup is placed. This hides the screws where the pickup is mounted to the body of the guitar while still giving the guitar a pleasant appearance. Having the correct pickguard hole location dimensions would be absolutely required on my CAD design.

Floral Wallpaper:

The intention behind this guitar is to design a Brad Paisley inspired Floral Patterned guitar. I remember seeing this guitar for the first time and immediately falling in love with it. From that moment on, I knew I would have to build one. Upon doing some more research, I found that Floral Wallpaper was laid onto the guitar body front and back before finishing the body of the guitar. This seems simple enough for me to do.

Painting/Finishing:

I want to spray paint the edges and sides of the guitar body to help blend the Floral Wallpaper into the guitar body. I would need to figure out how to finish the guitar with a gloss finish that will seal the whole guitar body and protect the Floral Wallpaper.

Pickguard Telecaster

A pickguard is required for the Floral Telecaster

Neck Heel + Belly Curve Contour

Neck and Belly Contours for comfort

Elbow Rest Contour

Elbow Contour for comfort

Upper Left Bout

4 Perimeter Lines, 10% Gyroid Infill, 5 top and bottom layers, 40% Gyroid Infill Modifier

Lower Left Bout

4 Perimeter Lines, 10% Gyroid Infill, 5 top and 7 bottom layers

Lower Right Bout

4 Perimeter Lines, 10% Gyroid Infill, 5 top and bottom layers

Upper Right Bout

4 Perimeter Lines, 10% Gyroid Infill, 5 top and bottom layers

Lower Main Body

7 Perimeter Lines, 10% Gyroid Infill, 7 top and bottom layers, 40% Gyroid Infill for Modifiers, Brim Width 7 mm, 90C bed

Upper Main Body

7 Perimeter Lines, 40% Gyroid Infill, 7 top and bottom layers, Brim Width 7 mm, 90C bed

Infill Modifier:

This was my first time using an infill modifier in Fusion360. To do this, you right click on the part and select "modifier". You can then select a shape to apply your modifier to and position the modifier in the area of the part you want to modify.

In my part I used 50% gyroid infill in the top portion and 20% gyroid infill in the lower portion. I did this to ensure that my part still had the strength where the carbon fiber tubes would be holding the core of the guitar together.

In addition, I almost bought another roll of filament, but using the modifier allowed me to save 300 grams of filament. My original filament consumption was around 800 grams. Using the modifier brought my filament consumption down to around 500 grams.

Build/Design Process:

Test Fit

Initial guitar body component test fit with Carbon Fiber Rods

Complete Assembly

Completed guitar body assembly

Neck Test Fit

Test fit of the neck with the guitar body

Bridge and Pickguard Test Fit

Test fit with the pickguard and bridge assembly

Black Sunburst - Back

Painting the back of the guitar body with a black "sunburst"

Black Sunburst - Front

Painting the front of the guitar body with a black "sunburst"

Pickguard Paint Jig

I taped the outer painting template after positioning the center locating jig

Black Sunburst - Back

I removed the center locating jig, leaving a perfectly centered slot to paint

Black Sunburst - Front

The center slot is fully taped and ready for painting

Not pictured: I needed to print some shims to fill in the gaps between some of the guitar body pieces. Since PETG is very prone to warping, I also needed to print and glue an angled piece to bring the "Upper Main Body" piece more level with the "Lower Main Body" piece.

Printing Parameters: (Following Mercury Zero G Part Printing Parameters)

Printed in PETG - 85 C bed temp, 240 C hot end temp
Upper Main Body and Lower Main Body - 40% Gyroid Infill Modifiers, 10% Gyroid Infill, 7 Perimeter Layers, 7 Top and Bottom Layers
- 40% Gyroid Infill Modifier on top half of Lower Main Body, 40% Gyroid Infill Modifier at Strap Button
- No support for wiring routes.
Upper Right and Lower Right Bout - 10% Gyroid Infill, 4 Perimeter Layers
- No support for wiring routes
Upper Left and Lower Left Bout - 10% Gyroid Infill, 4 Perimeter Layers
- Lower Left Bout - printed with 7 bottom layers. Extra material when sanding the elbow curve smooth. In the Telecaster V2 build, 5 layers were used and the sanded elbow curve was translucent.
No support on the filets for the Bouts.

Floral Wallpaper:

Drawing inspiration from the Brad Paisley Floral Guitars, I wanted to build my own version. When I first saw the Brad Paisley Floral Telecaster, I immediately fell in love with its floral design. After doing some more research, I found that the Floral pattern is applied on the guitar body front and back and then painted, sealed, and finished. I wanted to give it a shot and try to produce a professional gloss finish to the best of my ability.

Internal Carbon Fiber Rod Placement:

Telecaster V1: I used 3 rods in total. I used one main 12 mm diameter rod down the middle and 2 smaller 8 mm diameter rods along the sides of the center body of the guitar. Only using one stainless steel linear rod proved to be too flimsy and the entire body of the guitar unplayable.

Headless Guitar: I decided to use 6 steel linear rods in total, which proved to be effective and stopped the guitar body from flexing. However, the new problem was that the guitar weighed significantly more and felt heavy despite being a headless guitar design.

Telecaster V2: I used carbon fiber tubes. While I was building my Electric Cello, I found a 3D printed cello that used carbon fiber tubes to strengthen the cello body. Upon completing the build, the carbon fiber tubes were successful and my guitar weight was significantly reduced compared to the previous steel linear rod implementation.

Floral Telecaster: I will continue to use the Carbon Fiber Tubes. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Heated Inserts:

In the first version of my telecaster I had a pickguard installed, but it was not very secure. This is because I directly screwed the pickguard into place with the included wood screws. Due to the nature of 3D printing, unless specific holes are designed to hold the screws, it would be like screwing into drywall or an IKEA table where there is no solid material for the screw to grasp onto. As such, I wanted to include heated inserts this time for a much more solidly installed pickguard.

Floral Telecaster Wireframe: SS + Pickguard

Telecaster V2: SH + Direct Mount

Body Configuration:

For the Floral Telecaster, the guitar must be an SS configuration. Although the pickguard is clear, a black border needs to be painted around the neck pickup to cover up the mounting screws.

Results:

It's my guitar and I'm here to push the boundaries of 3D printing and play around and innovate with guitar building. I'm not here to adhere to antiquated guitar design language. Besides, I believe that the world of guitar should have new designs that are always being improved upon or introduced.

One of these days, I want to add veneer and edge banding to a guitar I build.

Floral Telecaster BOM

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