You'll be in awe of this stunning bespoke 3D-printed guitar

We've heard for some time how 3D printing is going to make it into the mainstream. From high ambition to the high street, the latest generation of affordable printers will open new doors and opportunities.

"Fifteen years later the rock star dream has been and gone, but the dream of owning my personally designed guitar became reality," says the artist and musician.

Before starting the model, Michael contacted the printer Shapeways to find out about their requirements for the sculpt, and began prepping. The original design was created in AutoCAD, so, for printing, Williams recreated it using 3ds Max.

"For this design the body needed a certain thickness and strength. My first 3D print was a phone holder made of the same material, so I had an idea what I had to deal with when modelling the shell of the body," Williams explains. "If it was too thick it would have cost a lot, if it was too thin the body would be too weak and would easily break.”

Out of print

Williams' advice is to first create some small samples and print them out before you begin a big project. It's best to print out some small strips (4x1cm) at various heights so you know what you're dealing with.

"At this moment I’m waiting for my Ultimaker 2 to arrive, hopefully in the middle of February," he says. "Meanwhile I’m preparing some new [guitar] designs that can be printed out in parts and put together... well that’s the plan."

This article originally appeared in 3D World issue 180.

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The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of art and design enthusiasts, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of eight full-time members of staff: Editor Georgia Coggan, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Ecommerce Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Editor, Digital Art and 3D Ian Dean, Tech Reviews Editor Erlingur Einarsson, Ecommerce Writer Beth Nicholls and Staff Writer Natalie Fear, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The ImagineFX magazine team also pitch in, ensuring that content from leading digital art publication ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq.