3D printed bits and bobs for guitar? What would you make if you had access to a 3D printer?

[GilmourD]

So, I finally took the plunge after drooling over the idea of having a 3D printer for years. It should arrive next week. I think the catalyst for this was needing switch spacers for my Mustang build and finding that the Faction spacers were almost double the thickness that I wanted, so I "designed" and 3D printed my own (imported image into Adobe Illustrator, cleaned it up and turned it into a vector image, imported that into TinkerCAD, and created various thicknesses). I used my best friend's classroom's MakerBot SKETCH (which is stupidly expensive for what it is... 🤨) and it was, as Borat said, GREAT SUCCESS!

So, what I was wondering is... What guitar parts would you 3D print if you could? Switch spacers are kind of an obvious answer. I've actually already got pickup rings for WRHB designed, but I haven't actually printed any prototypes, yet. I also was inspired by mikeehairdo's post to start working on a Jazzmaster cover that you can mount a Strat pickup to (and possibly a Tele version, and others).

Here's the finished product:

So, is there anything else you guys can think of that would work in plastic?

It doesn't even need to be rigid plastic! TPU(95a) is an option for the Ender-3 V3 KE, and that's the flexible stuff that phone cases are made from! Maybe some sort of compressible pickup support that won't turn to goo like pickup foam?

[ThePearDream]

A lot the obvious stuff is already being done, i.e. the low hanging fruit have been picked. There is a ton of potential for less obvious ideas though. I have all of my Jaguar and Yamaha pickup covers available over on Shapeways. But I also have a bunch of models over there that aren't publicly available, and I experiment with stuff sometimes. I'd love to have a 3D printer of my own, so I could really go wild though.

I have a jig, I designed and printed from plastic, that I use to drill truss rod access holes in the headstock of necks that I build in that style. There are all sorts of jigs and accessories you could make to aid in assembling or building guitars. I saw somebody using a 3D printed jig for locating and drilling for threaded inserts in the body
I've made 6 or so, different blade switch tips in some different shapes. I've made filler pieces for pickup holes. I made a replacement tip for slide switches, but found them difficult to replace. I bet a 3D printed jig could make that easier though. There are some things like converter brackets for rhythm circuits out there. Things in that vein could be useful, You could design some cool knobs, or a tool to help align knob pointers to the exact same angle. Tuner buttons? Vibrato arm tips? Nut slotting guide? Just a few ideas off the top of my head.

I tried printing some saddles in metal, but found them difficult to tap for screws. Now I'm thinking that I should try to reprint them in a softer material, like nylon, or something squishier even, as an experiment.

[ryland]

Jazzmaster pickup cover with a Firebird pickup cutout. Maybe not a very popular option, but one I tried to find for a reasonable price and ended up hand cutting a set of JM covers.

[GilmourD]

A lot the obvious stuff is already being done, i.e. the low hanging fruit have been picked. There is a ton of potential for less obvious ideas though. I have all of my Jaguar and Yamaha pickup covers available over on Shapeways. But I also have a bunch of models over there that aren't publicly available, and I experiment with stuff sometimes. I'd love to have a 3D printer of my own, so I could really go wild though.

The main reason I ordered the 3D printer is that they're finally hitting prices I can afford without sacrificing quality. The Ender-3 series has been lauded as a great starter printer with issues in V1 and V2 but then V3 comes out and everybody's like "OMG! They listened and fixed a bunch of the issues!". It's still a budget 3D printer and can't do EVERYTHING, but for what I want to do I don't need it to churn out things at super high speed and I don't need multiple colors within one print... Yet. LOL

I have a jig, I designed and printed from plastic, that I use to drill truss rod access holes in the headstock of necks that I build in that style. There are all sorts of jigs and accessories you could make to aid in assembling or building guitars. I saw somebody using a 3D printed jig for locating and drilling for threaded inserts in the body

Jigs and templates are definitely something I was thinking about. Just not sure of the specifics, like... I was thinking about making a routing template for the Mustang trem without the whole-ass body being included in it, for my own purposes, since I'm going to be putting a Mustang trem on a non-Mustang (and the guy I've messaged TWICE on Reverb about possibly laser cutting just the trem portion of his template hasn't even sent me a polite "No").

But, yeah, I'm not a professional engineer by any stretch of the imagination but I've always had a knack for designing complicated things, so if you have any jigs, tools, and templates you'd like, lemme know!

I've made 6 or so, different blade switch tips in some different shapes. I've made filler pieces for pickup holes. I made a replacement tip for slide switches, but found them difficult to replace. I bet a 3D printed jig could make that easier though. There are some things like converter brackets for rhythm circuits out there. Things in that vein could be useful, You could design some cool knobs, or a tool to help align knob pointers to the exact same angle. Tuner buttons? Vibrato arm tips? Nut slotting guide? Just a few ideas off the top of my head.

I would LOVE to make switch tips for slide switches in all different sorts of colors... Like could you imagine an OTM Jag with matching switches (because they do make all different colors of filament with metallic particles like a metallic finish)?

I tried printing some saddles in metal, but found them difficult to tap for screws. Now I'm thinking that I should try to reprint them in a softer material, like nylon, or something squishier even, as an experiment.

Oooh... Is that rubber bridge sound still a thing? Could print some Mustang saddles in TPU(95a)! Intonatable rubber bridge sounds!

[GilmourD]

Jazzmaster pickup cover with a Firebird pickup cutout. Maybe not a very popular option, but one I tried to find for a reasonable price and ended up hand cutting a set of JM covers.

It's definitely a thing I'm looking to work on. I've already got a 3D model of a regular Jazzmaster cover, so if a Firebird/minihum itself fits neatly inside the cover I could do it.

For my own psychotic purposes I'm trying to figure out fitting two Jaguar pickups in a Jazzmaster cover. It seems that JUST two Jaguar covers takes up exactly the same space "width" wise (in the dimension parallel to the strings) but then adding the claws seem to put a bit of space between two Jag covers, but it's also inconsistent depending on the particular claws since they seem to vary. I'd have to flatten the surfaces of the claws that meet in the middle and it should work. And I'd have to figure out how to keep the ears on the Jazzmaster portion of the cover... But I was thinking about this at 1am last night, so clearly not at my fullest capacity.

[tqi]

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[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

I would LOVE to make switch tips for slide switches in all different sorts of colors... Like could you imagine an OTM Jag with matching switches (because they do make all different colors of filament with metallic particles like a metallic finish)?

I would love that!

Also: „open frame“ Jazzmaster pickups. This funkedupguitar guy at etsy makes some (at least open Jag and full/Firebird/JM) in aluminum - but I‘d somehow like them in classic JM plastic…

Other than that: small stuff like roller knob to slide switch adapters, spacers, knobs, vibrato arm tips,…

[threewordname]

Dummy switches and roller pots for the rhythm circuit. I'm sure they're available but there's definitely a demand.

[ryland]

Jazzmaster pickup cover with a Firebird pickup cutout. Maybe not a very popular option, but one I tried to find for a reasonable price and ended up hand cutting a set of JM covers.

It's definitely a thing I'm looking to work on. I've already got a 3D model of a regular Jazzmaster cover, so if a Firebird/minihum itself fits neatly inside the cover I could do it.

They fit very neatly, just need an extra hole for the height adjustment screw on each end.

[GilmourD]

I mean, I HAVE a 3D printer. I've mostly printed pickup bobbins and knobs and spacers and such but I do also highly recommend it for printing bass picks.

Is that a bass pick or a car ice scraper?

[GilmourD]

Jazzmaster pickup cover with a Firebird pickup cutout. Maybe not a very popular option, but one I tried to find for a reasonable price and ended up hand cutting a set of JM covers.

It's definitely a thing I'm looking to work on. I've already got a 3D model of a regular Jazzmaster cover, so if a Firebird/minihum itself fits neatly inside the cover I could do it.

They fit very neatly, just need an extra hole for the height adjustment screw on each end.

OK... Lemme see what I can work out.

[marqueemoon]

The one thing I’d make immediately is little shields that clip onto my “always on” pedals to prevent me from hitting the footswitches.

I’d also probably make some specialty mic clips, like for piggybacking two mics together.

[JackFawkes]

I mean, I HAVE a 3D printer. I've mostly printed pickup bobbins and knobs and spacers and such but I do also highly recommend it for printing bass picks.

Is that a bass pick or a car ice scraper?

Looks like a Japanese bachi ( 桴 plectrum) to me...

Jack

[bodhi]

I have had access to a 3D printer through work (not working in any related field, directly), and really the only thing I've come over where a 3D printer would be better than the alternatives are basically pickup covers in non-traditional shapes. I guess switch knobs might also be an thing, but haven't had the need, at least yet.

The main Achilles' heel with 3D-printing is that the surface doesn't immediately come out smooth, so you need to flatten down the printed rows of plastic and gloss it up somehow if you'd like the look to be comparable to commercial options. This might of course be down to the specific printer and materials I had access to, but it was a professional level printer, if maybe not the newest one available.

For any templating job I'd prefer MDF or 3-6mm plywood, as these seem a lot more durable, and I can get access to a laser cutter for creating these. After the thread 1-2 years ago on creating your own templates from images, I feel that I can get close enough to anything I need pretty quickly.

A 3D printer is a more complex tool and is a lot better at things with a lot of depth, of course, but it's not a silver bullet for everything.

[ThePearDream]

Great points from bodhi!
A laser cutter would be higher up on my list than a 3D printer. Being able to make job specific templates, in house, would be amazing. Plus, the potential to do laser etching.

BTW, If you are looking for a template of just a Mustang vibrato, Potvin Guitars has that.