I made a guitar from IKEA furniture. How does it sound?
861,893
Published 2022-08-05
This idea came to me while I was making a Brian May's Red Special replica: while I was following the footsteps of Dr. May, like anyone who's ever made a Red Special I guess, I kept asking myself the following questions: "what the ....?", "how did he ...?", "wait a minute ...", "no way, that's brilliant!".
Having access to the plans felt a little bit like cheating so I started wondering how I would personally do it in 2022 ? e.g design and build a guitar from scratch, using nothing but what's available around me.
Truth is, ever since the "Electric Shelf 335" became viral (4 million views, thank you), I've been wanting to make something like this. In my original design, I was trying to emulate an actual solid body guitar, so I had to find a way to make bent sides, which is not an easy thing to do when all you have is stuff from Ikea. Another problem I had was that, to my knowledge, the only tone wood that Ikea uses is acacia, which they use in some of their outdoor furniture (and I don't have any of those at home). Anyway, I kept finding excuses not to make the final jump, but the Red Special really opened up my eyes: Brian May taught me that they are no rules, as he demonstrated by making a legendary guitar with a body that is essentially pine and oak.
The guitar started out as a joke. I remember going upstairs and telling my wife "I'm gonna make a guitar out of Zoé's old bed". She rolled her eyes to the ceiling and asked me "why". Then I immediately thought "This is the way".
Now I could have done everything differently. For example, I could have glued all the bars together, routed the whole thing and make a generic shape like a tele or an SG. Or, I could have used some solid pine tabletop or a chopping board and call it a day. But it's not 2019 anymore !
Today, the tone wood myth definitely lost another believer.
Why Vecna you might ask ? Well, why not. I think it's suiting for some reason.
The pickup is the only thing that I bought for this build, I took the bridge from build VII (the wenge neckthrough), and the tuners from build XI (the ocean blue top), I had spare frets and electronic parts. So in the end the guitar only cost me the price of the pickup !
OK, enough rambling. Here are the specs
Neck : STUVA cot
Body: HENRIKSDAL chair, LACK shelf
Fretboard: MÅLERÅS picture ledge
Knobs: APTILIG chopping board
Jack output plate: LILANGEN door handle
Strap buttons: KALLAX insert knob
24 frets - Lace Alumitone pickup - Split coil push/push (turns on an LED when engaged)
Hope you enjoy the video.
I'm always making something, so follow me @ www.instagram.com/tchiksguitars
Bisous !
All Comments (21)
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If guitarists talked about IKEA pieces the way they talk about tonewood: I personally prefer UTESPELARE for the body, HENRIKSDAL is too dark for a 24.75" scale length while UTESPELARE is nice and sparkly and very resonant, especially when paired with a 5 piece EKENABBEN neck.
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That demo sounded amazing! I'm glad IKEA only uses hand selected tone wood for their furniture, because it really shows here!
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clicked for the meme guitar build, stayed for the beautiful piece made with incredibly meaningful wood that literally supported you and your family for years
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Wow.. great job. Great design and really creative use of materials within the design.
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This just has everything, creativity , craftsmanship , looks , sounds … you’re an artist and I’m happy that YouTube recommended this video !
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I love how this build is both silly AND sensible at the same time.
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Really impressive. Traditional skills married to a great understanding of mass production techniques. Fascinating to watch and the guitar looks so cool, original design but not outlandish, traditional but not derivative. Inspiring, thank you.
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This guitar actually has a damn nice tone.....well done
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Outstanding! It's a thing of beauty
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Interesting and very creative build. Reminiscent of the construction of the 1950s Danelectros from New Jersey, USA, which used Masonite (countertop material) for the body, with a plywood frame and center block; mostly hollow inside. I like the re-use of the honeycomb paper/cardboard stiffener/filler. Great idea for recycling all those junky but useful Ikea furnitures after they start to wear out... In a word: Funky! Plus you've got the mojo of your kid's crib, your old study chair, and cutting board, all amalgamated in there somehow, not to mention all the other bits and pieces you 'appropriated'...
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Creativity, craftmanship and your sense of Humor is terrific. Well done Sir, well done
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Just shows you are a craftsman and not just a CNC operator
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As always, amazing in all aspects: the build, the creativity, the cinematography, the jokes. Keep it up, man! You make the rest of us look bad in all the best ways.
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Amazing and talented work! When it comes to electric guitars i always will say that in terms of sound skill of musician is significantly more important than materials guitar is made of.
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I was not expecting you to make such a beautiful guitar to be honest. Great job!
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Cool project. And a Red Special replica in the works. That sounds like an awesome build.
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"If you ask me if there's a truss rod... " 😂
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Awesome build and sounds pretty good, for what it is made from. Lace do make nice pickups! Can't wait to see the red special video.
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I adore crafting videos with this level of creativity. Awesome work.
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This is one awesome and insane build project. Thanks for taking time to film and also share you experience with everyone.
