Wonderful job and a unique build to be sure. If by chance you could build a gold guitar that would weigh 35 lbs. it would cost roughly $1,034,600.00. Split between your 674K subscribers each subscriber would only need to donate $1.54. Round up to $2.00 each and you could have gold pick ups, control knobs, and tuners. I'm in!
You had some trial and error, but you really did a fantastic job with this casting. I'm a metallurgical engineer in the casting industry and you've obviously done your research on the casting process. One thing to keep in mind in the placements of your gates/risers is thermal mass. Your gates need to have enough thermal mass near them to remain open and feeding the casting. Another thing to keep in mind is the linear distance to fill in a thin-ish casting like this. The more distance required to travel, the more the metal is going to cool, elevating the likelihood of a poor fill or defects. You made the right correction with your second body mold. You also want to minimize the amount of turbulent flow into the casting, which causes gas entrapment, sand erosion/inclusions, and cold shuts, which you had a fair amount of in your neck and body casting. One thing you could do to prevent the blowout issue is use very thin wire, or even a drill and drill bits to add venting to the mold in the areas most likely to entrap air, but also clamping your mold halves together, or weighing down the top of the mold to prevent the cope from floating on the fill.
Can confirm. My dad has a Gibson Les Paul. When you warm up to play it, it isn’t for the playing, but for your body to support the damn thing! I used to have to lug the thing around for him when he played at a gig. I was just a little guy and with the hard case, it weighed more than a third of my body weight.
Love your work man - to answer the implied question around 5:10 about how adding two soft metals makes a harder one: it’s the atomic structure that matters. Copper and tin are both ordered lattice structures, which is naturally quite soft. When you add tin to copper, the larger tin atoms replace copper within that lattice and that makes it harder for the copper to flex. If you’re more into visuals, imagine the copper is a bead necklace and the tin is a baseball right in the middle. Coiling it up would be made much more difficult by the baseball. It’s just that same mechanism at the atomic scale.
ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!! What was most impressive for me was your perseverance to continue with the project despite the setbacks and errors. A testament to the human spirit.
I came from Primitive Technology's latest video straight to this one and was briefly startled to hear Burl's narration instead of only forest sounds 👁️👄👁️
My recommendation is to cast hollow next time. I know it's cheap to sand cast, but being able to make your pieces out of wax, dip them in refractory slurry and cast each piece will make the guitar lighter. Then you can tig weld them together, clean them up and you a more desired result. Maybe you can do a promotional piece with a local foundry, where you promote them and get to use their facilities to make a guitar? Also, fifty-pounds of bronze if pretty expensive and not practical in terms of playing long term. However, beautiful piece none the less.
Na dude that would ruin it things, too fancy; the reason we watch this guy, is cause hes one us. If that guitar didnt weigh 40 pounfs, i wpuld have only been ok with it weighin 90.
@@zatoichimasseur6767 While I get what you're saying and I fully enjoy watching content like this that I can very easily do (as in I don't need a welder, know how to weld, be buddies with a foundry for little to no cost) it would be very interesting to see what someone could do with this concept but in a bit more "sophisticated" way. I love legit DIY shit like this, but seeing a uber professional take on it from time to time is cool too.
The density of pure copper is 8.9 g/cc. For comparison, iron is 7.9 g/cc, and pure aluminum is 2.7 g/cc. As soon as I saw the thumbnail, I knew this guitar was going to be a heavy SOB.
Copper is a metal with opposite properties to steel. It work hardens, meaning the more you mess with it, the more difficult it gets. To anneal it, you quench it.
I think the mirror polish with the voids is cool. It shows the imperfection of the medium, but the skill and attention of the artist. Sounds cool, too... :)
I love your channel man. I was genuinely interested and engaged throughout the whole video, and thats pretty rare these days on TH-cam.. And all that without any stupid cliffhangers and "stick to the end" tricks, props to you!
I used to work in a steel mill where i used to operate a furnace. Poured thousands of pounds of molten metals. During my time there. The reason your mold blew out is because of hydrothermal pressure. You need to put weights on top of the mold before you pour. This will help the mold from expanding.
Glad you pivoted to bronze for pourability. The gas voids do give it character, but you could toss in some flux to degass the melt before pouring to lessen it. Maybe the gate could have been closer to the thin area where the neck joins, but having that area on the back bearing witness to it being hand cast is a cool “happy accident” detail.
Among all the suggestions, i had to add another one to the bunch. But not on the guitar itself rather how to put it on the wall. Im a drywall finisher ( retired after 53 years) Actually my thought was not put it on the wall but in the wall. By making a shadow box in the wall Then either lining it with wood or sheetrock it then tape , finish and texture it. With small flush mount lights and possibly a glass door. lol. It's a beautiful piece of art. . The worlds first ''REAL'' heavy metal guitar. You were born to be wild !
I'm sure you probably didn't do the first body pour at night for its awesome look..... but it looked awesome. Another great build made possible through your rugged determination, patience and dilligence. Thanks for all your effort. A truly beautiful finished piece.
@@anonnona8099 Set fire up it, good do you know anything kid Go ask your primary school science teacher if it’s possible and see what he says You might learn a thing or too
@@CricketEngland > Set fire up it, good do you know anything kid > > Go ask your primary school science teacher if it’s possible and see what he says > > You might learn a thing or too Dear god, WT~ is wrong with you? I tell you what - get hold of a bit of bronze, and with the aid of a can of lighter fluid and a box of matches see if you can make it catch fire. Jeez.
Watching you over the years has been cool, especially seeing the different ideas and material you create guitars with, but most of all your playing level has increased so much that I feel like someone should give you flowers for that, I know as a 30+ years player that it's hard to hear yourself progressing, but as an outside object listener, you have gained much more skills than previous videos.
Was that "Slither" from Velvet Revolver at the start of the demo? I swear I could hear Slash and The Conspirators playing that and getting the crowd shouting to it!
Those holes are called dendritic porosity. It has to do with the inability of air to escape the mold during the pour. I was gifted with an apprenticeship with Desperado Bronze and learned from a master. I'm impressed with your skills. Bronze is tough as hell. It has a great sound!
3 full days to radius the fretboard... I'm still stuck on that one! Whenever I come up with an annoying challenge during a build, I just need to remember you and the patience it requires for you to pour, re-pour, rebuild, cut up... Very cool!
As a guitarist who’s been in 3 rock cover bands and 3 church bands, as well as somebody who went to college for 4 years doing welding and automotive tech, your luthier skills as well as playing skills are absolutely lethal dude… I know I sound like every other person when I say I am thoroughly impressed by your work but holy hell dude this was no easy task, this was honestly an insane task to take on.. but major major props to you for persevering and making it happen for us viewers because I know none of us could’ve made it happen like you did, or any of your other builds honestly. Your dedication and work ethic is unmatched and I can’t stop applauding you for it! I saw Burls Art posted a new video and I knew I was in for a treat and you legitimately never disappoint. Never stop doing your thing man, I hope all is well with you :)
I had an old Veleno guitar. An aluminum guitar made in the 70s. That guy did the body in two hollow halves (machined out) that are screwed together. It was all aluminum. Sold it for way too much money a few years ago.
Considering my band is called Our Man In The Bronze Age this is basically a signature guitar, and I love heavy guitars haha! Fantastic build as always and love seeing the process, your persistence is inspiring, much respect! 🙌
For the rest of the world: The 20 pounds of copper + 2 pounds of tin translates to 9 kg of copper + 0.9 kg of tin, so about 10 kg for the neck. 30 pounds of copper + 3 pounds of tin used for the body is equivalent to roughly 13.6 kg of copper + 1.36 kg of tin, so about 15 kg for the body. The 60 pounds crucible full of metal for the body weighed about 27 kg. The finished guitar weighs about 40 pounds = about 18 kg.
@tommy_svk > For the rest of the world: The 20 pounds of copper + 2 pounds of tin translates to > 9 kg of copper + 0.9 kg of tin, so about 10 kg for the neck. 30 pounds of copper + > 3 pounds of tin used for the body is equivalent to roughly 13.6 kg of copper + > 1.36 kg of tin, so about 15 kg for the body. The 60 pounds crucible full of metal > for the body weighed about 27 kg. The finished guitar weighs about 40 pounds > = about 18 kg Gold is approx 2.4 x as dense as bronze, so solid gold one would come in at about 96lb/43kg If one could be made from iridium (osmium is a bit toxic), you'd be looking at 110lb/50kg. And about $8M.
Have you thought about doing a Kintsugi styled guitar? one that was broken, chipped, and such, but repaired with urushi lacquer with powdered gold/silver/platinum?
These videos are goated. Easily some of the most interesting stuff on TH-cam. And I appreciate that the videos aren't titled like " I BUILT A GUITAR OUT OF BRONZE AND IT SOUNDS INSANEE!!!!!!!!"
You know what would be really meta? Building a guitar out of old guitars. Like, get a couple of junk guitars people are throwing away, sawing them up then using different pieces from each guitar to make a jig-saw puzzle like guitar. 😅
11:38 i agree with the sentiment, chasing perfection is a modern stupidity affliction... but you could stand to buy some old school books on casting. Making mistakes is a learning experience, but not if you're butting your head against the wall blindly. Getting some apprentice time with someone who does casting properly for at least a month or so would also help. You learn it once, it sits with you for the rest of your experiences in casting. Even if you cast once a year, it's worth it IMHO.
A project that would go along with that bronze guitar would be... a brass bass. I would recommend hollow-cast technique. It requires casting wax (can be made at home) and plaster. You can greatly reduce the weight and add a truss rod to correct for string tension. Another bonus is the mold can be preheated to help flow during the pour. Or instead of brass zinc alloy offers tensile strength of iron while being lighter and resists corrosion.
I work in Bronze but I’ve never thought about making a guitar. Your mold blew because of hydrostatic pressure. It takes a lot of weight on top to keep all that pressure under control. With bronze you can get bronze filler rod and fill in those imperfections with a tig welder. But holy cow who needs to do that. Your guitar looks awesome!
That was a super fun process to watch. The final product looks very cool, but I must say you are a true madman for following through with this kooky idea.
I've just recently started getting various crafting videos in my suggestions. I just had this video suggested and just 2 minutes in I already want to see what else you have uploaded. I am definitely going to seek out the video of the construction of the aluminum guitar. That looks like it came out beautifully! Back to the video :D
I've cast a few hundred objects over the years, and I can tell you exactly what happened in the last casting when the sand bulged up. The melted metal is a liquid as you pour it into the sand mold, an as such exerts hydrostatic pressure. In a nutshell (leaving out the math and scientific explanations) as the cavity in the sand filled up and you kept pouring metal in, the pressure inside the mold was enough to push the sand upwards. Its what also caused the blowout on the side - the pressure was just high enough to compact the sand from the mold cavity to the side, allowing some bronze to squirt out. And that is why your casting, once it cooled and solidified, had a bulge on the back. If you ever do a project like this again, get a heavy piece of metal or concrete big enough to reach from the wood on one side of the mold to the wood on the other side, and lay that on top of the sand mold before you pour the metal. It will hold the top of the sand down, preventing the bulge, and it may also keep it from blowing out the side (though using a bunch of clamps or screwing the top and bottom parts of the mold together will work better in preventing the blowout). Great project, and I'm happy you succeeded!
It’s call porosity in your metal. Common in casting. You need to put a riser in the head stock area so the metal will completely fill out the mold and feed back metal into the casting when it is cooling.
That looked like it took some serious determination to build. Subscribed because you will improve, you're humble enough to eat up the imperfections and progress. Keep it up! ❤
Very nice job. Lots of work. I used to make sand molds in a foundry back in the late 80’s for brass fire system 6 way manifolds. Poke several holes in the top mold with a straight wire about the thickness of a coat hanger to relieve pressure and get rid of air pockets. Then cut off any metal that went into those vents and sand smooth.
Weight is along with material cost is why we don’t generally build them with heavy metals (pun intended) having said that it’s an amazing experiment/exercise just to unconventional- that thing is awesome. I envy people who have taken the time to learn these fundamental tools and techniques to build creative things with woods metals etc. cheers bud keep making cool sh*t for us to watch. Just found you on the tube and since my favorite videos here are people doing woodworking guitar building its a good find 😎
Beautiful in every respect. The imperfections are what make this guitar perfect. People pay a premium to have imperfections built into a brand new guitar.
Advice: Opening the mold early was probably what caused the brass to harden. If it cools too quickly the brass hardens same way steel does. You could anneal some of the hardness out by putting it in the oven at max until it reaches temp then shut it off and leave it in the oven overnight.
I don’t think a mill would have helped you’d just uncover new defects you needed vibration when you poured to help eliminate some voids but it just gives it character it’s beautiful
Would you consider doing a neck-through for your next build? I always see you doing bolt necks but it'd be really cool to see a metal style guitar with your skills!
Have you thought about adding a 45 degree angle at the base of your pour holes. It may allow the smelted metal to pour faster. Which may help the Liquid Metal reach more of the tight spaces. Also i work in concrete and we vibrate along the forms to help the concrete fill in any voids, to keep from having honeycombs. So I thought to my self if you could make a pour table/ jig that holds the mold and vibrates lightly. I figured you fill your mold with the Liquid Metal of your choice once it tops of, flip the switch on the vibrating pour table/ jig. In theory the Liquid would then fill in the harder to reach voids.
Will build a gold one next if anybody’s willing to front the cost
Wonderful job and a unique build to be sure. If by chance you could build a gold guitar that would weigh 35 lbs. it would cost roughly $1,034,600.00. Split between your 674K subscribers each subscriber would only need to donate $1.54. Round up to $2.00 each and you could have gold pick ups, control knobs, and tuners. I'm in!
The tungsten guitar instead
uranium guitar
It would have to be a gold top/veneer only. Gold is way too soft.
A Les Paul actual Gold top
Up next: hand forged damascus steel guitar
Jokes aside this is the most insane thing you've done so far and it's super impressive.
_"This guitar will cut"_
It will keel.
I was thinking that
PEDAL steel guitar. ;)
Someone call Alec Steele!
I think it's ready to gig. The perfect guitar for your roadie to throw to you mid concert 💀
I once threw a guitar at a drummer. The guitar body broke in half. This one would have lived for the encore.
Some crackhead would probably snatch it mid-air.-
@@Les537 But the drummer wouldn't survive if you threw this guitar at them lol
Lmao
yeah and if you don't catch it your going to get fucked up because it weighs so much. the sucker might put a dent in the stage!
Good on you for not editing out the screw ups. Shows the reality that these builds never go as smooth as other creators make it out to be
💯 this.
Life is about the mistakes we make and how we bounce back.
No. This is dangerous. The fumes are carcinogenic.
@@davidpower3102not if you’re lung cells are mutated. I feel bad for this channel.
@@GardenGuy1942 mate go watch something else.
You had some trial and error, but you really did a fantastic job with this casting. I'm a metallurgical engineer in the casting industry and you've obviously done your research on the casting process.
One thing to keep in mind in the placements of your gates/risers is thermal mass. Your gates need to have enough thermal mass near them to remain open and feeding the casting. Another thing to keep in mind is the linear distance to fill in a thin-ish casting like this. The more distance required to travel, the more the metal is going to cool, elevating the likelihood of a poor fill or defects. You made the right correction with your second body mold. You also want to minimize the amount of turbulent flow into the casting, which causes gas entrapment, sand erosion/inclusions, and cold shuts, which you had a fair amount of in your neck and body casting.
One thing you could do to prevent the blowout issue is use very thin wire, or even a drill and drill bits to add venting to the mold in the areas most likely to entrap air, but also clamping your mold halves together, or weighing down the top of the mold to prevent the cope from floating on the fill.
I'm pretty sure this guitar is still lighter than the average les Paul. Great video!
I had a BC Rich Warlock that weighed something like 18 lbs.
So it ways les?
(Sorry)
lols my Les Paul is 9lb at most . This thing weighs 4xLes Paul
Great stuff, I'd love to play it. Thanks, good work.
Can confirm. My dad has a Gibson Les Paul. When you warm up to play it, it isn’t for the playing, but for your body to support the damn thing! I used to have to lug the thing around for him when he played at a gig. I was just a little guy and with the hard case, it weighed more than a third of my body weight.
Love your work man - to answer the implied question around 5:10 about how adding two soft metals makes a harder one: it’s the atomic structure that matters. Copper and tin are both ordered lattice structures, which is naturally quite soft. When you add tin to copper, the larger tin atoms replace copper within that lattice and that makes it harder for the copper to flex.
If you’re more into visuals, imagine the copper is a bead necklace and the tin is a baseball right in the middle. Coiling it up would be made much more difficult by the baseball. It’s just that same mechanism at the atomic scale.
Excellent explanation. It's the same if you add 4% copper to aluminium, to make Duralumin. The copper makes it harder for the aluminium to flex.
@@1man1guitarletsgocongratulations on using the CORRECT spelling of Aluminium!!
@@philgallagher1 Thanks Phil, it's the pronunciation too!
Aluminum
@@commonsenseisdeadin2024 Shall we agree to disagree?
damn that guitar is metal as hell
heavy metal, at that
Boooo
none more metal, literally.
He says he doesn't play metal. No matter what you play on this, you're playing metal!!!
@@FinEddyXX😂 I rarely like the original comment and a "diss" reply.
Perfect humor. 👌
Should've called it the Bronzecaster
Man, I want this one
Sounds good 👍.
ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!! What was most impressive for me was your perseverance to continue with the project despite the setbacks and errors. A testament to the human spirit.
Moved on from the caveman days of creating a guitar out of stuff found in the forest. Burl is evolving.
Collab with John Plant (a.k.a. "Primitive Technology" guy) when?
He’s officially entered the Bronze Age. I look forward to his upcoming Iron Age.
I came from Primitive Technology's latest video straight to this one and was briefly startled to hear Burl's narration instead of only forest sounds
👁️👄👁️
That episode is my favorite of his!!
Yes. He's in the bronze age now
"But I like shiny things" - my thoughts exactly
My recommendation is to cast hollow next time. I know it's cheap to sand cast, but being able to make your pieces out of wax, dip them in refractory slurry and cast each piece will make the guitar lighter. Then you can tig weld them together, clean them up and you a more desired result. Maybe you can do a promotional piece with a local foundry, where you promote them and get to use their facilities to make a guitar? Also, fifty-pounds of bronze if pretty expensive and not practical in terms of playing long term. However, beautiful piece none the less.
I don't think this guy needs any advice. He's a first-class engineer.
335 anyone????
@@1man1guitarletsgo he's a first class guitarist too. I'm just a lowly sculptor who understands the process of making.
Na dude that would ruin it things, too fancy; the reason we watch this guy, is cause hes one us. If that guitar didnt weigh 40 pounfs, i wpuld have only been ok with it weighin 90.
@@zatoichimasseur6767 While I get what you're saying and I fully enjoy watching content like this that I can very easily do (as in I don't need a welder, know how to weld, be buddies with a foundry for little to no cost) it would be very interesting to see what someone could do with this concept but in a bit more "sophisticated" way. I love legit DIY shit like this, but seeing a uber professional take on it from time to time is cool too.
First time viewer,love the fact that you showed your mistakes, and how you fixed them. You are a real craftsman.
the imperfection of air pockets make it so natural and cool, beautifuly made, congrats
The density of pure copper is 8.9 g/cc. For comparison, iron is 7.9 g/cc, and pure aluminum is 2.7 g/cc. As soon as I saw the thumbnail, I knew this guitar was going to be a heavy SOB.
Gold 19.3 . Be silly heavey
I will never complain about sanding a radius ever again!!! Great work man
😂😂😂😂😂
Copper is a metal with opposite properties to steel. It work hardens, meaning the more you mess with it, the more difficult it gets. To anneal it, you quench it.
I think the mirror polish with the voids is cool. It shows the imperfection of the medium, but the skill and attention of the artist. Sounds cool, too... :)
I love your channel man. I was genuinely interested and engaged throughout the whole video, and thats pretty rare these days on TH-cam.. And all that without any stupid cliffhangers and "stick to the end" tricks, props to you!
Now that’s a heavy metal guitar
Lmaoo
Are you practicing guitar? “No, I’m working out”. One hell of a build and a lot of hard work.
That's one of the most interesting clean tones I've ever heard
I used to work in a steel mill where i used to operate a furnace. Poured thousands of pounds of molten metals. During my time there. The reason your mold blew out is because of hydrothermal pressure. You need to put weights on top of the mold before you pour. This will help the mold from expanding.
Glad you pivoted to bronze for pourability. The gas voids do give it character, but you could toss in some flux to degass the melt before pouring to lessen it.
Maybe the gate could have been closer to the thin area where the neck joins, but having that area on the back bearing witness to it being hand cast is a cool “happy accident” detail.
The neck cavity imperfection is one of the coolest parts of this guitar!
It’s always a nice day when Burls art uploads. Building guitars the unconventional way, but making true pieces of art in the process. Keep it up Burl.
And to Burls comment about not posting often, despite that, we get an epic build video by an epic artist! Loved the fake metal riff to start.
A Telecopper!
Love it.
Beautiful sound. The sustain is unreal!
You can go have a bite and you'd still be hearing that
Among all the suggestions, i had to add another one to the bunch. But not on the guitar itself rather how to put it on the wall. Im a drywall finisher ( retired after 53 years) Actually my thought was not put it on the wall but in the wall. By making a shadow box in the wall Then either lining it with wood or sheetrock it then tape , finish and texture it. With small flush mount lights and possibly a glass door. lol. It's a beautiful piece of art. . The worlds first ''REAL'' heavy metal guitar. You were born to be wild !
20:55 ceiling fan reflections on the headstock were making my brain glitch
Bronze has such a nice color to it. Solid choice on polishing it.
Keep up the great work Burl! You inspired my son to build his own guitar in high school wood shop
hope he uses wood. I built a bass in high school woodshop which I still use, decades later.
I love that you do this. I like "why not" approach. But wow, the amount of work it requires. You have great tenacity.
If the guitar strap snaps, you'll become a tenor singer.
the response on that guitar is INSANE, crank the volume through a good tube amp and pickups... oh boy... unreal the tone
Beautiful build. Also, sucha great tone. Much better sounding than I expected. Thanks
Warmest tone I've ever heard. Thick, smooth, brilliant.
I agree for all metal its awarm tone
21:30 ive never heard the main riff to Hotel California played in Am before, nor on such a stunning looking guitar!
You are so patient dude - hats off to you on another amazing build- 🙏🙏🙏
9:16 and watch the crucible holder flex dangerously when putting that heavy a weight on it. You REALLY need to re-enforce that before casting again.
I'm sure you probably didn't do the first body pour at night for its awesome look..... but it looked awesome. Another great build made possible through your rugged determination, patience and dilligence. Thanks for all your effort. A truly beautiful finished piece.
Even Pete Townshends is not gonna be able to smash up this one
Or the Clash.
@CricketEngland
> Even Pete Townshends is not gonna be able to smash up this one
Nor Jimi Hendrix (were he still with us) set fire to it.
@@anonnona8099
Set fire up it, good do you know anything kid
Go ask your primary school science teacher if it’s possible and see what he says
You might learn a thing or too
@@CricketEngland
> Set fire up it, good do you know anything kid
>
> Go ask your primary school science teacher if it’s possible and see what he says
>
> You might learn a thing or too
Dear god, WT~ is wrong with you?
I tell you what - get hold of a bit of bronze, and with the aid of a can of lighter fluid and a box of matches see if you can make it catch fire.
Jeez.
@@CricketEngland wow ur so smart
That guitar has a hell of sustain 👍
very nice! I also love how making a guitar is actually making a guitar and not just bolting a premade neck on bronze body.
Great work!
All that's missing is the flamethrower attachment. What an impressive project! Good lord. Well done!
Watching you over the years has been cool, especially seeing the different ideas and material you create guitars with, but most of all your playing level has increased so much that I feel like someone should give you flowers for that, I know as a 30+ years player that it's hard to hear yourself progressing, but as an outside object listener, you have gained much more skills than previous videos.
Was that "Slither" from Velvet Revolver at the start of the demo? I swear I could hear Slash and The Conspirators playing that and getting the crowd shouting to it!
It sure is, I caught that too. Followed by Edge of Desire by John Mayer.
Those holes are called dendritic porosity. It has to do with the inability of air to escape the mold during the pour. I was gifted with an apprenticeship with Desperado Bronze and learned from a master. I'm impressed with your skills. Bronze is tough as hell.
It has a great sound!
3 full days to radius the fretboard...
I'm still stuck on that one!
Whenever I come up with an annoying challenge during a build, I just need to remember you and the patience it requires for you to pour, re-pour, rebuild, cut up...
Very cool!
The voids and mirror finish work! I like the effect.
Man! i love that you played a little metal riff on it!
*Slither by Velvet Revolver minus one chord at the end of each repetition
As a guitarist who’s been in 3 rock cover bands and 3 church bands, as well as somebody who went to college for 4 years doing welding and automotive tech, your luthier skills as well as playing skills are absolutely lethal dude… I know I sound like every other person when I say I am thoroughly impressed by your work but holy hell dude this was no easy task, this was honestly an insane task to take on.. but major major props to you for persevering and making it happen for us viewers because I know none of us could’ve made it happen like you did, or any of your other builds honestly. Your dedication and work ethic is unmatched and I can’t stop applauding you for it! I saw Burls Art posted a new video and I knew I was in for a treat and you legitimately never disappoint. Never stop doing your thing man, I hope all is well with you :)
Nice tribute
Straight out of The Last Waltz. 👌
Definitely needs a custom display stand/base that holds it at playing height. Maybe something like a pedestal you see under bronze sculptures haha.
The wait was worth it. Amazing build.
I had an old Veleno guitar. An aluminum guitar made in the 70s. That guy did the body in two hollow halves (machined out) that are screwed together. It was all aluminum. Sold it for way too much money a few years ago.
That design was my first thought when it came to reducing the weight of the guitar
I love your videos bro! You should make a 7 string one day!
Although he clearly said he doesn't play or listen to metal I second this suggestion. 👍
Considering my band is called Our Man In The Bronze Age this is basically a signature guitar, and I love heavy guitars haha! Fantastic build as always and love seeing the process, your persistence is inspiring, much respect! 🙌
For the rest of the world: The 20 pounds of copper + 2 pounds of tin translates to 9 kg of copper + 0.9 kg of tin, so about 10 kg for the neck. 30 pounds of copper + 3 pounds of tin used for the body is equivalent to roughly 13.6 kg of copper + 1.36 kg of tin, so about 15 kg for the body. The 60 pounds crucible full of metal for the body weighed about 27 kg. The finished guitar weighs about 40 pounds = about 18 kg.
Thank you! I have no idea what a lb is, is it like 500g? Ahaha
@@cassermck yeah, 454g
@tommy_svk
> For the rest of the world: The 20 pounds of copper + 2 pounds of tin translates to
> 9 kg of copper + 0.9 kg of tin, so about 10 kg for the neck. 30 pounds of copper +
> 3 pounds of tin used for the body is equivalent to roughly 13.6 kg of copper +
> 1.36 kg of tin, so about 15 kg for the body. The 60 pounds crucible full of metal
> for the body weighed about 27 kg. The finished guitar weighs about 40 pounds
> = about 18 kg
Gold is approx 2.4 x as dense as bronze, so solid gold one would come in at about 96lb/43kg
If one could be made from iridium (osmium is a bit toxic), you'd be looking at 110lb/50kg. And about $8M.
When youre done pkaying use it as a bar bell
Your beautiful playing at the end is always the icing on the cake. Love it!
Have you thought about doing a Kintsugi styled guitar? one that was broken, chipped, and such, but repaired with urushi lacquer with powdered gold/silver/platinum?
you could make parts of guitar with tungsten, if bronze one is too light ;)
These videos are goated. Easily some of the most interesting stuff on TH-cam. And I appreciate that the videos aren't titled like " I BUILT A GUITAR OUT OF BRONZE AND IT SOUNDS INSANEE!!!!!!!!"
I bet a bronzed sheet on a wood guitar would lo stellar!
The Bronzecaster
That is sick
You know what would be really meta? Building a guitar out of old guitars.
Like, get a couple of junk guitars people are throwing away, sawing them up then using different pieces from each guitar to make a jig-saw puzzle like guitar. 😅
11:38 i agree with the sentiment, chasing perfection is a modern stupidity affliction... but you could stand to buy some old school books on casting. Making mistakes is a learning experience, but not if you're butting your head against the wall blindly. Getting some apprentice time with someone who does casting properly for at least a month or so would also help. You learn it once, it sits with you for the rest of your experiences in casting. Even if you cast once a year, it's worth it IMHO.
A project that would go along with that bronze guitar would be... a brass bass. I would recommend hollow-cast technique. It requires casting wax (can be made at home) and plaster. You can greatly reduce the weight and add a truss rod to correct for string tension. Another bonus is the mold can be preheated to help flow during the pour. Or instead of brass zinc alloy offers tensile strength of iron while being lighter and resists corrosion.
Wow, that guitar body literally broke the mold!
Pretty sure this thing is grounded
Show this video to the tone wood guys
I work in Bronze but I’ve never thought about making a guitar. Your mold blew because of hydrostatic pressure. It takes a lot of weight on top to keep all that pressure under control.
With bronze you can get bronze filler rod and fill in those imperfections with a tig welder. But holy cow who needs to do that. Your guitar looks awesome!
Edge of Desire! Super great turnout! Nice sounding guitar.
hear me out, electric guitar with a built in amp
That was a super fun process to watch. The final product looks very cool, but I must say you are a true madman for following through with this kooky idea.
I've just recently started getting various crafting videos in my suggestions. I just had this video suggested and just 2 minutes in I already want to see what else you have uploaded. I am definitely going to seek out the video of the construction of the aluminum guitar. That looks like it came out beautifully! Back to the video :D
Wow that is a beast. You smack someone with that only bones are going to break
Can we agree to call this thing the Metal Caster Coppertone?
I've cast a few hundred objects over the years, and I can tell you exactly what happened in the last casting when the sand bulged up. The melted metal is a liquid as you pour it into the sand mold, an as such exerts hydrostatic pressure. In a nutshell (leaving out the math and scientific explanations) as the cavity in the sand filled up and you kept pouring metal in, the pressure inside the mold was enough to push the sand upwards. Its what also caused the blowout on the side - the pressure was just high enough to compact the sand from the mold cavity to the side, allowing some bronze to squirt out. And that is why your casting, once it cooled and solidified, had a bulge on the back.
If you ever do a project like this again, get a heavy piece of metal or concrete big enough to reach from the wood on one side of the mold to the wood on the other side, and lay that on top of the sand mold before you pour the metal. It will hold the top of the sand down, preventing the bulge, and it may also keep it from blowing out the side (though using a bunch of clamps or screwing the top and bottom parts of the mold together will work better in preventing the blowout).
Great project, and I'm happy you succeeded!
Loved how it sounded at the end and also loved the pocked, imperfectness of it. Thanks.
What a magnificent piece of art, well done! ..and, sounds great as well 😊👍👌
The bronze is beautiful. If you have any left it'll make gorgeous fittings.
It’s call porosity in your metal. Common in casting. You need to put a riser in the head stock area so the metal will completely fill out the mold and feed back metal into the casting when it is cooling.
That looked like it took some serious determination to build. Subscribed because you will improve, you're humble enough to eat up the imperfections and progress. Keep it up! ❤
This is amazing! Great job! The guitar has a unique transparent sound, I've never seen anything like it, bravo, guys!!! I want this guitar!!!!
As someone who works in an iron foundry this was really fun to watch since we do cast iron cool vid
Sounds good hope you still have circulation in your legs
Very nice job. Lots of work. I used to make sand molds in a foundry back in the late 80’s for brass fire system 6 way manifolds. Poke several holes in the top mold with a straight wire about the thickness of a coat hanger to relieve pressure and get rid of air pockets. Then cut off any metal that went into those vents and sand smooth.
40 pounds? Thats super heavy. Love your dedication. Every 3-4 months we get to see a creative build.
heavy metal. that first body pour with the flames in the dark was metal AF. Love this. Will be great to see how it ages. I wonder if it'll green up.
Weight is along with material cost is why we don’t generally build them with heavy metals (pun intended) having said that it’s an amazing experiment/exercise just to unconventional- that thing is awesome. I envy people who have taken the time to learn these fundamental tools and techniques to build creative things with woods metals etc. cheers bud keep making cool sh*t for us to watch. Just found you on the tube and since my favorite videos here are people doing woodworking guitar building its a good find 😎
Impresive indeed. Salf defence guitar 😊
Beautiful in every respect. The imperfections are what make this guitar perfect. People pay a premium to have imperfections built into a brand new guitar.
Advice: Opening the mold early was probably what caused the brass to harden. If it cools too quickly the brass hardens same way steel does. You could anneal some of the hardness out by putting it in the oven at max until it reaches temp then shut it off and leave it in the oven overnight.
Nice job man. Love to see fab guys pushing limits. You have talent
I don’t think a mill would have helped you’d just uncover new defects you needed vibration when you poured to help eliminate some voids but it just gives it character it’s beautiful
I do like the character of the sound when you played clean. Wonderful!
Would you consider doing a neck-through for your next build? I always see you doing bolt necks but it'd be really cool to see a metal style guitar with your skills!
Have you thought about adding a 45 degree angle at the base of your pour holes. It may allow the smelted metal to pour faster. Which may help the Liquid Metal reach more of the tight spaces. Also i work in concrete and we vibrate along the forms to help the concrete fill in any voids, to keep from having honeycombs. So I thought to my self if you could make a pour table/ jig that holds the mold and vibrates lightly. I figured you fill your mold with the Liquid Metal of your choice once it tops of, flip the switch on the vibrating pour table/ jig. In theory the Liquid would then fill in the harder to reach voids.