Rock the hive with this Alien-inspired, 3-D-printed guitar

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Let the creature from Alien inspire you to aggressively shred on this 3-D-printed guitar.
Let the creature from Alien inspire you to aggressively shred on this 3-D-printed guitar.
Photo: MyMiniFactory

Francesco Orru has a guitar that would make H.R. Giger proud and put Sigourney Weaver on edge.

The designer used a Delta Wasp 3-D printer to create a guitar with a body shaped like the killer creature from the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien.

Pieces of the guitar could be yours for around $150, but be prepared to also shop for volume and tone pots, a neck and Stratocaster neck plate, humbuckers, tuning pegs, a bridge and, of course, strings. Plans are also available for free download at MyMiniFactory.com to do your own 3-D printing.

Francesco Orru and his finished guitar that salutes Alien artist H.R. Giger.
Francesco Orru and his finished guitar that salutes Alien artist H.R. Giger.
Photo: MyMiniFactory

Francesco Orru’s creation follows Weaver’s recent announcement that she would reprise her role as the alien-fighting Ripley for a fifth movie in the franchise. The guitar is an homage to Giger, the Swiss artist whose Necronomicon paintings inspired the Alien villain. Giger won an Oscar for his role in creating special effects for the movie.

Orru’s guitar, printed in six pieces over an 80-hour period, was designed with ZBrush, a digital sculpting program that combines 3D modeling, texturing and painting. The program records lighting and depth information.

He works as a digital sculptor at MyMiniFactory and engineering colleagues helped with the guitar. Another colleague treated the body with brown acrylics, a black wash, wood stain and gloss finish.

Orru played in a band in his native Italy before attending design school in London. The look is more out-of-this-world than the sound only because, Orru said, he did not use expensive pickups on his creation.

“It still sounds quite good in my opinion,” Orru tells 3dprint.com. “I can’t say it sounds better than a wood one, but I know from my experience that if the pickups are expensive, you can even forget about the body material and have a good quality guitar with your customized design printed at home.”

You can hear the guitar being played on the YouTube video below and there’s fun in checking out other guitars made with 3D printers. Just do a search on YouTube and several creations pop up.

https://youtu.be/SEX75ZwIoN8

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