Borderlands 3 inspired build

[SentencedToBurn]

This is my first ever scratch build, if I can call it that. Not sure if this can actually be considered a guitar build, or instead perhaps it's a gaming-inspired prop which hopefully will function like a guitar.

I'll have to start with a bit of an intro to explain how I got to this point. I'm a big fan of the Borderlands series, played it with my wife since the first game came out back in '09 or whenever that was, right up until all the latest installements to date, except now I'm also gaming with my daughters although I feel I'm spending more time making game-inspired items rather than actually gaming. After finishing my last project which took me close to 2 years I wanted to combine my love of the BL series with my love of all things metal (both material and music). Initially I was going to start making a replica of one of the heavy weapons from BL3, however after some thought I decided to merge that build with a guitar build.

I've never been good with woodwork, my only experience is working on cars for about 15 years, now that I've given that up - it's basically various metalwork, electrical stuff here and there, etc. So the only way for this build is all metal.

Here is one munted thing I need to highlight. If you played BL3, you'll know that all COV weapons (it's one of many weapons manufacturers in the game) are all petrol powered. I absolutely love their designs, and the whole idea of this post-apocalyptic but futuristic setup. So, since I'm merging a COV design with a guitar, it has to be petrol powered. Yes, I know. I have thought quite a lot about it, and I'm going ahead with it, hence my initial hesitation of even posting here.

High level plan:
- Body: 18 gauge steel (1.2mm), lifting various elements from the COV heavies from BL3, the main body is done, have not started on any of the detail yet though, that will be a major (but super exciting) part of the build
- Neck: 10 gauge steel (3.2mm), the head is inspired by a COV AR from BL3 (already done, shown below)
- Powerplant: as per the design below, I made up a cage out of 1" box section with 2.5mm wall that holds a 35cc chainsaw motor. The idea behind the motor is that it will drive an alternator that will supply 12v to a small rechargable battery. The power will mainly be used to drive the ligthing setup (see below), however I will be dropping the voltage down to 9V to power the active pickup (going with a single bridge, not sure probably gonna go with an EMG since it's all I've ever used).
- Accessories: I'm absolutely incorporating an Arduino into this thing to run all the lighting with varoius effects (which is following the theme for the COV weapons with all their deadly but colourful designs). So the location of LEDs and diffused LED strips which will give the "neon-like" effect I have not yet decided. But this thing will be pretty bright I can tell you that.
- Function: Perfect scenario is that the motor will be running while I'm playing, I don't want none of this hybrid stuff where I have to leave it to charge, and then turn off the motor so I can play. But there are a bunch of challenges to overcome (listed below).

Problems I know I'll need to solve:
- Interference from the EM field generated by the motor: this will be a bit of a problem for sure, no idea if anyone's ever had to solve this problem before. The good thing is that I'm not limited by any design elements, if I need to create a metal shield of some sorts that's not a problem, it'll look cool.
- Vibrations from the motor: As you'll see below, I made the motor cage separate to the body, so I'll be using things like suspension bushings and possibly engine mounts off bikes / or maybe if I can find a small gbox mount off a fwd car, as long as it sufficiently dampens the vibration.
- Cleaning up the power feed into the pickups, I'll have to do a lot of reading up on that, I'm sure there wil be a good solution that can be lifted from automotive audio where their signal is super clean and there is absolutely no noise regardless of what the alternator is doing.
- I'm sure there will be a lot more problems to solve for, but thats why I'm pretty excited about this build, its a complete unknow.

If you are still with me at this point, thank you - here is my original plan I drew up, and the items that I'm using as key guidance for the elements from the game. I will likely find more items to add as I go, but at the same time I want it to actually be playable so will be reasonable.

1. Rear fender: the way the guitar is now it seems reasonable to assume it won't be in the way, I can probably keep it that same size.
2. Control box that will be used to mainly control the lighting, not sure if I'll bother with the pickups knob, will see.
3. Front covers, this might have to be one-sided as I don't want it to get in my way when playing, at least the main parts of the guitar are now connected so I'll be able to easily work out the exact position etc.
4. The head is done, I basically cut the barrel of the AR in half, so the back part of the head looks like the AR in the game, and the front has the tuners sticking out.
5. The motor in many COV heavies has these neons there, seems a very distinctive feature - so I'm lifting that, will also have a ton of small details supporting that.
6. The exhaust - you'll see on the diagram my plan is to use another bushing at the bottom, but at the top I'm actually planning on getting either large RC car shocks/springs or just getting the smallest bike ones I can get my hands on. I actually want to route the exhaust flow from the motor through this section, so it can actually be a functional exhaust but this will also be isolated from the main body to reduce vibrations.

[SentencedToBurn]

Progress so far - the neck:
The fretboard: 10 gauge steel, I'm using my V50 as something to get the measurements from, so copying it exactly, including fret height and width, the nut dimensions and the head angle.

[SentencedToBurn]

The back of the neck is a section of 10 gauge tube. I don't have a TIG, and I suck at it anyway, so the best I could do with my MIG. Not bad in the end, pretty happy with how it came out.

The head: as mentioned before, inspired by the COV AR barrel, both parts are 10 gauge steel again. The head is held together by 2 M10 screws, the spikes are threaded in one by one. I'm using my old ESP tuners I had laying around from one of my old fixer-uppers.

The body and the engine mounted up together. The body is 18 gauge steel, following my original mockup, the engine is mounted on a 1" box section, for now bolted directly but the intent is to use bushings in the end. The motor is pretty stripped out at the moment but it has been tested and runs.

The plate that connects the bridge to the neck. The angle hasn't been adjusted 100% yet, but once I nail it, I'm welding two crossbraces on either side of that plate to ensure ridgitity. Also small shims can be used to adjust the neck angle. I'm hoping that the action won't be too high, so leaving myself the ability to adjust this. I don't think a truss rod is necessary with a neck that's probably stronger than my axle stands.

Still need to adjust the body / backing plate to drop the neck down to the body a bit so it matches my ESP exactly. I figured if I get the dimensions right by copying then less room for error.

Here is how it is now, still a TON of work to go, I'll likely go into next year with this. At the moment only spending a few hours every weekend but it's about the journey and not the destination I reckon. Although super keen to see if it'll actually be playable. Will need beefy strap mounts, it's already weighing in at 8kgs (17.5 lbs), that's without all the accessories, battery, exhaust, etc etc. So I'm expecting it to be close to 15kgs / 32lbs once I'm done. My wife said i should use a chain for a strap, which is actually a pretty good idea.

Oh and the last bit, if you scroll to the last minute, you can see the neck/head here as I go over it after making it: 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by SentencedToBurn

[curtisa]

Now THIS is something we don't see everyday. Very Mad Max.

I take it you've seen some of the outlandish playable prop guitars that have been made for Steve Vai over the years - the Ultrazone and the recent Hydra?

[SentencedToBurn]

2 minutes ago, curtisa said:

Now THIS is something we don't see everyday. Very Mad Max.

I take it you've seen some of the outlandish playable prop guitars that have been made for Steve Vai over the years - the Ultrazone and the recent Hydra?

Dude no I haven't seen that, the Ultrazone is absolutely insane! I'm defintely going to be reading up on that tonight, that's some real artwork man.

Also thanks very much man! Yeah the BL3 COV items are pretty much Mad Max / outer space merger type of thing.

[curtisa]

I'll freely admit I know nothing about modern gaming (my level of gaming only extends to reliving my childhood on an Amiga playing Deluxe Galaga or Pinball Fantasies), but I can buy into the aesthetic sensibilities of steampunk or the post-apocalyptic influences being used here.

Does the petrol engine need to be operational or is the look enough? That would eliminate issues with noise.

[SentencedToBurn]

Hey yeah nah mate thats my goal is to actually have it running. But the fallback is that I can run it only to charge the battery, and then have it off - but that'll be my last resort. I guess it's good to have an outer by design haha. Having it running and generating power for the pickups / lighting will be ideal for sure, will be quite interesting to play too. Will definitely need to put together some sort of a heat shield around the back of it too.

[curtisa]

And a fuel tank too. It's going to be a pretty weighty beast by the end of it.

[mistermikev]

some interesting stuff there.  unorthadox - good for you. 

i have played one of the borderlands... idk which one, one of the older ones... can def see the attraction.  

look fwd to your progress.

 

[Bizman62]

Holy hole in a donut! That really is something different! I've seen welded guitars and I've seen steampunk guitars but not a welded petrolpunk guitar...

After seeing the video a couple of things caught my eye. Nothing radical though.

First, copying the measurements from a known good guitar is basically a good idea. That said, measuring the fret locations would have been much more accurate if you had just looked at a chart or used a fret calculator. Another tip is to measure from the nut instead of the previous fret - you never know if the previous fret is a bit off and the error will then accumulate.

Second, as you said it's going to weigh quite a lot. Even on the neck there's a couple of things that don't require that much steel. The nut alone would have sufficed without doubling the thickness. And the piece of tube in the headstock might have worked as well being half the thickness. As I don't know anything about standard thicknesses that may have been the best option, though. Welded nuts instead of threaded holes might have weighed as much.

Third, you may have to level the frets despite having filed them to accurate thickness.

I don't know how much you know about building guitars, but here's a rule of thumb to help your planning for where to be able to use weaker/thinner/lighter materials: The essentiasl of a guitar are the neck and the 4" wide centerpiece of the body down to the bridge, and a place for the tuners at one end. That part has to be solid. Everything else is for ergonomics and looks! In your case seating the engine requires some extra rigidity but as you've been working with cars you already know that better than I do.

This is going to be an exciting journey, thanks in advance for the ride!

 

[SentencedToBurn]

21 hours ago, curtisa said:

And a fuel tank too. It's going to be a pretty weighty beast by the end of it.

Definitely! I want each part to be functional but still resemble the COV items I'm modelling this after.

 

20 hours ago, mistermikev said:

some interesting stuff there.  unorthadox - good for you. 

i have played one of the borderlands... idk which one, one of the older ones... can def see the attraction.  

look fwd to your progress.

Thanks! Yeah the environment of the original Borderlands really got me into it, and it just carried on from then on.

19 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Holy hole in a donut! That really is something different! I've seen welded guitars and I've seen steampunk guitars but not a welded petrolpunk guitar...

After seeing the video a couple of things caught my eye. Nothing radical though.

First, copying the measurements from a known good guitar is basically a good idea. That said, measuring the fret locations would have been much more accurate if you had just looked at a chart or used a fret calculator. Another tip is to measure from the nut instead of the previous fret - you never know if the previous fret is a bit off and the error will then accumulate.

Second, as you said it's going to weigh quite a lot. Even on the neck there's a couple of things that don't require that much steel. The nut alone would have sufficed without doubling the thickness. And the piece of tube in the headstock might have worked as well being half the thickness. As I don't know anything about standard thicknesses that may have been the best option, though. Welded nuts instead of threaded holes might have weighed as much.

Third, you may have to level the frets despite having filed them to accurate thickness.

I don't know how much you know about building guitars, but here's a rule of thumb to help your planning for where to be able to use weaker/thinner/lighter materials: The essentiasl of a guitar are the neck and the 4" wide centerpiece of the body down to the bridge, and a place for the tuners at one end. That part has to be solid. Everything else is for ergonomics and looks! In your case seating the engine requires some extra rigidity but as you've been working with cars you already know that better than I do.

This is going to be an exciting journey, thanks in advance for the ride!

 

Mate this is some solid advice thanks very much, actually I'll address a few of these here:

- Measurements: I never thought of using a chart or a calculator, my first thought was to just copy.. i guess lesson learnt! Also good point on the measurement off the nut - I actually did that up to fret 12 I think, and then I ran out of ruler - so instead of getting a longer one I just kept measuring from fret 11 or 12 or whereever it ran out from. But yup i guess worst case I'll grind the neck back and do it all over again. At least I know there is plenty of meat on it to redo it!

- Yeah the tube in the neck was unfortunately the thinnest I could get. I had to match the diameter of the pipe that I was after, Initially I was trying to find 2mm thickness max which would have reduced the weight significantly but the right diemeter was only available in 3.2mm or thicker. The body though is as thin as I'm comfortable with at 1.2mm (18 gauge), so that's why I just have a 10gauge (3.2mm) plate connecting the bridge and the neck, and will weld a couple of braces to ensure its super ridgid in the centre.

- Fret levelling - totally hear you, I will definitely do that

- Other bits of the guitar will likely be made out of 1.2mm sheet to keep them lighter, but in all honesty this thing is going to be heavy as hell. By the time the battery is in, all the decorative parts which will all be metal except for the lighting, then the exhaust that I'm routing through to the back section, etc. I'm actually planning to add a built-in stand, perhaps similar to a motorbike kickstand. Just so I can let it idle / charge the battery if needed, etc.

[Bizman62]

Speaking of stands, there's those for playing as well so you don't have it strapped on your shoulder. Just stand behind the guitar and start playing. Agreed, that would limit your stage show movement but I guess you wouldn't do any acrobatics with a 50 lbs thing anyway...

[SentencedToBurn]

34 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Speaking of stands, there's those for playing as well so you don't have it strapped on your shoulder. Just stand behind the guitar and start playing. Agreed, that would limit your stage show movement but I guess you wouldn't do any acrobatics with a 50 lbs thing anyway...

Haha good point, But tbh my performances don't go beyond jamming in a garage with a bunch of mates, either way though i think having a stand so I don't have to hold it for prolongued periods of time will be handy for sure.

[SentencedToBurn]

I spent the last few nights after work making the rear section that's going to be modelled after the exhaust part of some of the COV rocket launchers:

Using the same 18 gauge sheet to assemble it - the idea is that this section will house a muffler (that i'll have to make) inside, and will reduce the sound of the motor down enough to reasonable levels, so at least I won't have to crank the hell out of my amp to overpower the sound of the motor.

I ended up switching up from a flat surface to this geometric layout, and the shock/spring setup is also looking pretty good - will need to add another shock/spring tomorrow. I bought a pair of these from a local hobby shop, rated for a 1:10 petrol RC car and feel pretty strong, so I hope they'll provide enough vibration dampening from the exhaust section to the main body.

Also with me adding a rear-fender looking item from one of the BL3 rocket launchers above the exhaust section my hope is that it'll resemble a rear section of bike, I'm not much of a bike guy but the way these parts came together felt that it would be pretty fitting.

The muffler section actually looks pretty fitting with the rest of it. I'm thinking of adding the same geometric setup on the face of the guitar as long as it doesn't get too close to the bridge or the neck etc, I've also tested out using some old leaf spring suspension bushings where I mounted the engine cradle - will probably go off to my local to find some better fitting bushings, van-rated nolathane bushings I used are just too hard and don't think they'll be dampening the motor vibrations.

[SentencedToBurn]

Have connected up the rear shock today and replaced the bushings with ones that fit much better. Also made a stand, this thing was getting pretty tricky to work on, so now it's much more manageable.

Here is a quick update, scroll to 11 mins to skip the build part to where I actually have it on the stand etc:

 

[Bizman62]

Your accuracy with the angle grinder is a pleasure to watch! Not saying that there's anything wrong with the other tasks you performed. But that was the only thing I can compare my skill level with yours - no doubt about which one us can do it better!

[SentencedToBurn]

50 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Your accuracy with the angle grinder is a pleasure to watch! Not saying that there's anything wrong with the other tasks you performed. But that was the only thing I can compare my skill level with yours - no doubt about which one us can do it better!

Haha thanks mate, definitely a compliment I appreciate! I do use aviation snips on occasion but the slight warp you get with them is not something I like fixing - so quite often just go with the cutting wheel instead.

[SentencedToBurn]

Slowly adding a few more details to it. The top of the body is now following a similar geometric pattern to the exhaust section - still not sure if I'll be going further as I don't want it to be in the way.

I have also gone ahead and made a control panel which will house the volume knob, the on/off switch (will prob use a key switch) for the motor shutoff, and a bunch of buttons to control the lighting when I eventually get to it. 

This control panel is off a COV Assault Rifle, although most of the items are off COV Rocket Launchers, this control panel looked too good to ignore so I followed the overall dimensions pretty closely, except for the edge of the guitar where I matched the angle of the body:

In this pic here you can see the additional bit of bodywork that I added, 

Also from this angle you can see one of the angles on the exhaust section is continued through the bend on the control panel. I wanted to give it at least some continuation so glad it worked out.

[SentencedToBurn]

I stopped this build completely for a few months - being Ukrainian born and raised it felt wrong digging my head in the sand and carrying on like I did in the first couple of months. Instead I found that I was able to provide some assistance all the way from NZ by volunteering translation work, both written and spoken. I did not realise the volume of this that was required with the refugees and other administrative work. Now I feel like I can allow myself a few hours here and there to do some work on this piece, so a few updates below.

I replaced the 22cc motor above with a much smaller 7.5cc nitro motor (off an RC plane). I mounted an alternator (the motor at the top) and a starter motor (bottom).

The starter motor pivots so the gears engage. I've got a 35N solenoid coming in the mail which will engage the starter and then release it. Given the solenoid is spring-release it should hopefully work well, although I do have a spare set of gears I'm using on the motor and the starter, just incase.

Once the solenoid is mounted - I need to sort out the fuel tank, battery, voltage reducer for the glow plug, etc. And I decided a keystart will be most appropriate here, esp since the AR in Borderlands 3 is also started with a key. Not much work to get it started, just waiting for a few more parts to arrive.

[SentencedToBurn]

Have made quite a bit of progress:

- Changed the motor mounts and angled it so it isn't as wide, which will allow me to make a separate body section to contain the motor/starter/alternator

- Connected the starter motor using a solenoid, seems to work well and engages/disengages as intended

- Switches / ignition key switch and other buttons have all been mounted, once I get the fuse box in the mail i'll connect it all up

[curtisa]

The more I look at this, the more I think it will end up as a prop in the new Furiosa movie

[SentencedToBurn]

On 10/26/2022 at 5:20 PM, curtisa said:

The more I look at this, the more I think it will end up as a prop in the new Furiosa movie

Haha i guess the COV style from BL3 is like a cyberpunk version of Mad Max for sure. Pretty close just minus all the neon/led type of stuff. They certainly overlap on their appreciation for gas powered things.

[SentencedToBurn]

I finally installed the battery, fusebox, and wired up the starter.

Here is a quick demo of the starting sequence and the start itself - exhaust, alternator, fuel tank or the glow plug aren't connected yet so this is just the demo of how the starter engages

 

[SentencedToBurn]

Getting back into this build, had a lot of things on the go, but glad to be on this again.

I got the exhaust flange back from my dad's work - I only have a MIG, where they have a TIG so they were able to help me weld a different angle to an exhaust flange. I then routed the exhaust using a few bits I had laying around in my various boxes of scrap:

• An old brake line mount to hold the adapter between the two tubes
• A pipe with the connector and bolt off an old turbo oil line
• Some break and vacuum line - turns out these nitro motors run very cold, I didnt realise they actually run silicone tips off their mufflers, so I was told the silicone line will work fine, can always swap it out if needed though

The back section shown above will the the rear "muffler" - this lines up with my initial idea of immitating the rear section of the Borderlands 3 rocket launcher which has a "jet" exhaust of sorts, so using the entire rear section as a muffler with an actual exhaust coming out of it will be pretty sweet.

I will be putting together a cover of some kind (at a later stage) so the exhaust and the starter are kept away from the player's junk.

And it's looking a bit more complete from the front now with the muffler mounted and plumbed up:

Edited June 5, 2023 by SentencedToBurn

[Bizman62]

Good to see you back! Insane projects like this deserve to be published and completed even if it takes years.

I just read a compilation of shorter stories by Ray Bradbury, included was *Somewhere There is a Band Playing* which he kept writing for half a century! So take your time but keep us informed...