CNC Guitar Workshop:

We offer this workshop in hopes to expose teachers to the tools and equipment available in the Dawson Center for Innovation Makerspace. It is also an opportunity to work through a larger, more complex STEAM project from the perspective of a learner as well as an educator. We hope teachers will come away from this workshop with many new skills, as well as inspiration and confidence to come up with different ways they could incorporate hands-on projects into their curriculum with the support of the Makerspace and the Innovation and Technology team.

Participants will conceptualize, design, and create a wooden electric guitar body and then assemble the necessary components to create a working instrument. The design will be created in Fusion 360 and the guitar body will be milled on the CNC router. 

CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control. Participants will learn to create and apply toolpaths to their 3D design. We will learn to export the design into a machine language called G-code to prepare to mill our guitars on the CNC. G-code provides the CNC router with precise locations, speeds, and paths for various router bits to follow in order to cut the guitar design out of the wood stock. 

Each participant will then customize and finish their guitar using a variety of techniques and materials. We will also learn to solder together the electrical components including hook-up wire,  potentiometers, pickups, and a capacitor, switch, and audio jack to create the guitar’s pickup circuit.  

We will then assemble all the components of the guitar including the guitar neck, body, headstock, pickup circuit, control knobs and audio jack. Finally, we will string the guitars and learn to adjust the intonation of the guitar so it can be tuned. By the end of the week, each participant will have created their own musical masterpiece to take home and enjoy.

Educational Goals: 

Participants will…

1. Experience the process of undertaking a large, complex project with a group of educators all working toward a similar goal with room for individual artistic expression. 

2. Gain confidence working in a makerspace environment using a variety of tools and equipment to complete a project. 

3. Use 3D modeling software to design their own custom guitar body.

4. Create toolpaths based on their 3D model to prepare for milling on the CNC.

5. Learn to operate the CNC router to mill their guitar body.

6. Develop foundational woodworking skills including cutting, planning, glue-ups, edge routing, sanding, and finishing.

7. Explore other makerspace equipment to customize their guitar body and neck.

8. Solder the necessary components to wire their guitar.

Previous Workshops