Heavy rock: YouTuber casts guitar body out of concrete

Adding to the world of unconventional guitar materials such as 3D-printed metal or Himalayan rock salt, YouTuber Crafted Workshop has taken on the task of creating a guitar body out of concrete.

The first step taken was to create a silicone mold, using a sealed-up S-type body from a DIY kit. This was then filled with concrete that, due to Crafted Workshop’s hectic schedule, cured for a lengthy 10 months before being turned out, polished, sealed and fitted with a loaded Mad Hatter strat pickguard.

Unlike Burls Art’s salt guitar, the concrete guitar ended up being a set-neck rather than a bolt-on – presumably because drilling the kind of holes needed for neck screws into brittle concrete would have broken off parts of the neck pocket. Similarly, the holes drilled for the pickguard screws were done so into wooden dowels.

Concrete is, of course, a fair amount denser than wood, meaning the guitar weighed in at 8.6kg, or 19lbs. As to how that affects the sound, you can hear Crafted Workshop give it a spin above. In terms of ergonomics, it’s hard to imagine it being an easy player – or one that you’re keen to take to any gig that requires walking. Or standing.

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