The Future of Steel Guitar Manufacturing?

Russ Wever · Post by **Russ Wever** » 7 Jul 2011 11:49 pm

3-D Printing -

Once the prototype is made it's as
easy as just 'printing' copies!

(Or . . is it?

)

--> Click

~Russ

Ben Lawson · Post by **Ben Lawson** » 8 Jul 2011 1:36 am

Very cool Russ. I've heard obout this but never really seen anything like it. Thanks.

Jeff Spencer · Post by **Jeff Spencer** » 8 Jul 2011 3:53 am

Be afraid gentlemen be very afraid! They are in some schools here in Aust in Industrial Tech departments and I am looking at heading that way in my school (industrial arts teacher)

What some students are doing is impressive

Joe Naylor · Post by **Joe Naylor** » 8 Jul 2011 5:28 am

Steel Guitar players say I want a "standard steel Guitar" - whatever that is - then the next word is BUT I want to change this or that.

Good video though

Joe Naylor
www.steelseat.com
plus Road Cases and other stuff

Gary Cosden · Post by **Gary Cosden** » 8 Jul 2011 7:30 am

On line 3D printing in Stainless Steel is here:
http://www.shapeways.com/themes/stainle ... ng_gallery

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 8 Jul 2011 8:18 am

It's not applicable to a custom built pedal steel guitar.

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 8 Jul 2011 12:20 pm

Russ,

Interesting technology.......Something like this could certainly save builders time....On the negative side there is the sonic qualities of the duplicated material to consider.

Kevin Hatton wrote:It's not applicable to a custom built pedal steel guitar.

Sure it is.....All steel parts are replicated, even unique custom fit parts..Build enough custom guitars and eventually everything you are asked to build will need duplication.......Paul

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 8 Jul 2011 12:56 pm

According to the video only powdered COMPOSITE materials are available for this process. CNC machining is far more applicable I would think.

Ross Shafer · Post by **Ross Shafer** » 8 Jul 2011 3:58 pm

I've been using this process for prototyping purposes since around 1997. Its fantastic and super helpful for product development and design. A good friend and former intern at my old bicycle company worked on metal rapid prototyping for his engineering master's thesis.

Using plastic this process is expensive. But it can save big bucks in time and experimenting. I've never had any "printed" metal rapid protos done, I've gotten quotes and it's way expensive...far more than is realistic for any kind of production.

I have also used "subtractive" (fancy name for multi-axis cnc machining) rapid prototyping for aluminum parts quite a bit....I make a 3d model in Solidworks send it to an outfit called First Cut and a couple days later I get a usable part...again just for checking fit and function...once the part is dialed in though it goes to a CNC machine for production. I've recently used this to produce a small keyless style tuning finger proto and the part cost about $140.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 8 Jul 2011 6:23 pm

Cool stuff...For actual,direct replication at the molecular level,one would have to solve the problem of accreting varied,complex alloys,and compounds.Think hot apple pie a la mode or a Bigsby pedal steel,for example.I think it'll be awhile before each of us has his own "real Lloyd Green" LDG.

Billy Carr · Post by **Billy Carr** » 8 Jul 2011 6:34 pm

Interesting topic. Wonder if this could, say, produce a one piece psg body, similiar to the carbon fiber MSA or perhaps produce a metal frame that could be attached to the inside of a psg body. Aluminum necks, changer fingers, endplates, etc. This may be in the near future for psg builders.[/url]

Elton Smith · Post by **Elton Smith** » 8 Jul 2011 6:59 pm

I can see where this is going.Amazing.Beam me up Scotty!

Johan Jansen · Post by **Johan Jansen** » 9 Jul 2011 1:01 am

This is great, can't wait to see and hear the first musical instruments, like guitars and pedalsteel produced this way.
Also easier with ordering parts, no UPS, no airport-troubles, no customs.......

And please, Paul Franklin, make some good molds of your hands, would like to order them too

regards, Johan

Ross Shafer · Post by **Ross Shafer** » 9 Jul 2011 8:00 am

Billy,

As far as I know there is no material available for this process that offers the strength necessary for something similar to the MSA carbon body. Several different rigid and flexible plastics are available. The rigid plastics used are more or less akin to whats found in your basic pvc or abs pipe. In fact abs and pvc are both common choices.

A metal frame, neck or other part is possible, but would cost big. The last metal part I had quoted was a weld on hook for trucking/transport container use. The part would easily fit into the palm of one's hand. The amount quoted was around $600...my customer opted for a plastic version which cost around $175.

I believe its coming, but this technology is no where near cost effective enough for producing consumer goods. The Star Trek replicator for everyday items and consumer goods (including musical instruments) is still a long way off.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 10 Jul 2011 3:59 pm

Having a 3D printer on a space station so that you can fabricate spare parts without having to have them sent up on a rocket is a great idea, and a wonderful moneysaver.

Let's hope the Russians buy some. Since Congress took away the budget for the Space Shuttle they're the only ones who have the equipment to get people into space.

Chris Byars · Post by **Chris Byars** » 27 Mar 2013 10:14 am

If they can do these...
http://cubify.com/products/guitars/index.aspx

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 27 Mar 2013 12:28 pm

I doubt that the technology has reached the level where one could build a pedal steel guitar with a 3D printer. One day it will, but not yet.

Jerry Jones · Post by **Jerry Jones** » 27 Mar 2013 2:06 pm

3D printing seems better suited to prototyping for now and is slow. Not sure how the dissimilar materials in a steel guitar would work with 3D either. And look at how we sweat over wood grain and metal grades.

If you're looking to make steel guitars easier to produre, just ask any manufacturer "what's the hard part of his job." I expect you would find a lot of common answers.

Steel guitar exist in a very small "specialized" market and also suffers from a lack of standardized parts....makes components expensive.

I always ask about any new process "What problem will this solve."

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 27 Mar 2013 2:15 pm

My company was a pioneeer in the utilization of this process, so I know a little about it. The 3-D printing or "stereo lithography" equipment has come a long way, but it's still rather slow and also limited as to what materials can be "printed". Plastics were easy, and some metals can even now be done, but it's important to keep in mind that this technology works best for one-offs, and limited R&D runs. The equipment is quite expensive, and right now, limited to individual parts. You can't make (print) something out of multiple materials at the same time, so doing a pedal guitar would only possible making one piece at a time (it's easy to forget how many hundreds or thousands of parts there are in a pedal guitar) and it takes several minutes to make each part using this technology.

Inexpensive, "rapid-build technology" was what Fender had 60 years ago, making guitars with mostly stamped steel parts that could be punched out rapidly - faster than one per second! But for that or any low cost/high volume technology to be used, there has to be a justifying high demand, and we simply don't have that for our instrument anymore. A pedal steel is now so complex and non-standardized that any hope of anyone making them rapidly and in really high quantities anymore (and therefore inexpensively) is totally gone, IMHO.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 28 Mar 2013 9:17 am

"Sintered steel" is the best you could hope for - so far. Powder compressed and heated till it binds. Fender has been using it for their "block" style bridge saddles for 20 years. The historical re-enactment crowd insist that only bent steel bridge saddles sound right, the $300-per-smidget crowd insist on titanium saddles - the sintered steel ones sound OK to me (and Jimmy Herring, Jeff Beck etc.)

In my thinking, it'll be the combination of this technology with some others that could do things like make MSA's carbon fiber body financially feasible again. Lay the fiber first, then "print" the resin around it. But like any combination process, there have to be time & money-consuming turf wars first.

"Well it's MY carbon fibers!"

"But it's MY resin!"

Lawyer One - "WAAH!"
Lawyer Two - "WAAH!" - etc.

For serious advancements in body construction, I'd look more to the molded speaker enclosure & Ovation-style bodies first. And the printing process will be integrated into manufacturing to do the things it does best, which at this point means filling in non-load-bearing goop. "Revolution" is an over-used word.

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 29 Mar 2013 11:37 am

The perfect PSG would be one you could disassemble and reassemble as four assault weapons and visa versa!
An ammunition box disguised as a Steel Seat.
An Armored Plated Hummer to haul everything to and from the gig.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 29 Mar 2013 12:48 pm

David Mason wrote:"Sintered steel" is the best you could hope for - so far.

Not really. The technology has has moved considerably past that stage, and while the newer capabilities and alloys aren't top secret, they are proprietary, so you won't see them on YouTube, or even on the web...for awhile, anyway. "Publicized technology", even nowadays, is always years behind what is actually being done.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 29 Mar 2013 4:11 pm

Bo Legg wrote:The perfect PSG would be one you could disassemble and reassemble as four assault weapons...

Four assault weapons ? $:\$

Yes, the perfect pedal steel guitar should be capable of being assembled quickly, preferably put away without disassembly. The legs should fold into the body. Maybe, instead of rods, the type of cables-in-tubes used for shutter release on folding cameras, and for car accelerator and gas pedals, could be used, which would bend when the legs are retracted.

Dick Sexton · Post by **Dick Sexton** » 29 Mar 2013 4:35 pm

This is just what they are telling us... There is much much more...

http://www.shapeways.com/about/how_does_it_work

Many parts of the Joint Strike Fighter were done using this technology.
I got that from the 1 hour video near the bottom of this page.
Pedal steel guitar parts-Duck Soup/EZPZ. Maybe even cost effective in my lifetime.

kyle reid · Post by **kyle reid** » 30 Mar 2013 2:08 pm

Design the perfect woman & print her!

The Steel Guitar Forum

The Future of Steel Guitar Manufacturing?

The Future of Steel Guitar Manufacturing?

no worries Russ

psg

Shake and bake almost anything...

Genie without the bottle