Sandvik has created a smash-proof, 3D printed guitar, then challenged rock legend Yngwie Malmsteen to smash it. Malmsteen, named one of the ten greatest electric guitar players in the world by TIME Magazine, is known for his virtuoso performances - as well as the fury he unleashes on his guitars.
Sandvik engineers teamed with renowned guitar designer Andy Holt, of Drewman Guitars, to match Malmsteen's exacting musical standards and his lightning-fast playing style. "We've had to innovate from the top down. There's not a single part of this guitar that has been made before. It's a piece of art, really," Holt said.
The guitar body was produced by additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, a technique involving laser-melting titanium powder in microscopically thin layers. The guitar's volume knobs and tailpiece - which anchors the strings - were also created with 3D printing. The weak point in any guitar is where the neck joins the body. Sandvik solved the problem by milling the neck and the main hub of the body as one piece. "You could use the guitar as a hammer and it wouldn't break," Holt said.
This is the second, global campaign in Sandvik's communication concept "Let's create". Following the success of the "Glass Labyrinth" and the "Giant Loader," the engineering company now highlights the capabilities they bring to complex manufacturing challenges.
