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.
Hey thanks everyone for the encouragement. TBH I haven't really been trolled that much before, and I'm probably too old to be that worried about the trolling aspect. My genuine worry is to get on the nerves of people who take pride in their craft (i.e. actual pros who do this work for a living) when I'm coming in with my munted ideas and lack of knowledge, etc. Like when I spent many years as a car painter, and someone tells you that they fixed up their bumper with a bit of a spray can and it's just as good, its like.. dude.. so this was mostly my concern coming into this. Anyway, much thanks for the warm welcome, I have cleared out my schedule tonight and will post up my progress to this point. Thanks again.
