Printed Instruments

On this page are the current publicized 3d printed instruments. They are subdivided in three main categories:

  • Experimental instruments: Where there is an instrument that has no traditional equivalent
  • Enhanced instruments: Where traditional instruments get (musical) benefit of 3d printing
  • Replications of existing instruments: Where 3d printing is just used as an alternative manufacturing method

At this point, we've not listed 3d printed cases of electronic instruments as the 3d printing doesn't effect the resulting sound.

Experimental instruments

Multi Horn Trumpet by Amit Zoran

  • Description

A concept design from MIT Media Lab, to illustrate the possibilities with 3d printing. Not yet manufactured.

  • Image
multi-pipetrumpet.jpg

Shaker MikeBattaglia

  • Description

A simple sealed box with small balls inside. Easy and seems to work like a charm.

  • Image
022112161334_display_medium.jpg
  • Material

An unspecified polymer

  • Method

Not specified

Dual mouthpiece by Krrrl

  • Description

A mouthpiece+adapter for playing two reed instruments at the same time. Sadly, it didn't work.

  • Image
Dual_mouthpiece__01_display_medium.jpg
  • Material

An unspecified polymer

  • Method

Not specified

Spiral panpipes by ranjit

  • Description

An experimental spiral panpipes. Due to small size constraints, not a real playable instrument.

  • Image
IMG_5064_display_medium.jpg
  • Material

Unspecified

  • Method

Unspecified

Enhanced instruments

Violin by ranjit

  • Description

A violin made of purely laser-cut parts. A stylized design, perfectly in line with the manufacturing process. Works quite well as you can see in the video below.

  • Video

  • Material

Wood and plywood

  • Method

laser cut

Mechanical Synthesiser by Ranjit

  • Description

A simple noisy gadget which uses a method known since the 19th century to generate the notes of a scale: the number of teeth on each gear corresponds to the frequency of a note, so when you let something buzz against each gear, you'll hear the corresponding note. Made from laser cut wood, an electric motor and several other parts.

  • Video

  • Material

Plywood

  • Method

Laser cutting

Ocarina by ranjit

  • Description

An abstract ocarina design made of wood. Simple but effective.

  • Video

  • Material

Wood

  • Method

Laser cutting

Ocarina by phaux

  • Description

A classic ocarina shape, to be 3d-printed. Was split into pieces due to support constrains. 'moc.loa|dhpkcire#moc.loa|dhpkcire' notes that he has printed it in one piece and that it works pretty well

  • Image
Assembly_preview_card.jpg
  • Material

Unspecified polymer

  • Method

Unspecified

Zoybar TOR by Bård S D

  • Description

3d printed parts for the open hardware guitar Zoybar. Does nothing for the sound of the instrument, but demonstrates the use of 3d printing for instrument parts.

  • Video

  • Material

Unspecified polymer, looks like Polyamide

  • Method

Unspecified

Guitar by Odd

  • Description

A whole body 3d printed, though all functional parts are manufactured traditionally.

  • Image
atomblack5small.jpg
  • Material

Polymide or Alumide

  • Method

SLS

Trumpet at Loughborough University

There have been experiments at Loughborough University, but sadly, none seem to be published online

Saxophone mouthpiece by TuDelft Students

  • Description

Replication and enhancement of a Meyer mouthpiece. Experiments in different materials. This experiment proves that professional mouthpieces already can be printed. And there is a lot of room for new experiments, like internal wings.

  • Video

  • Material

Nylon, Titanium

  • Method

Object, SLS

Alto sax mouthpiece by Allanrps

  • Description

An alto sax mouthpiece replica, highly functional.

  • Image
IMAG0074_display_medium.jpg
  • Material

Unspecified polymer

  • Method

3D systems V-Flash

Croaking Frog by ranjit

  • Description

A functional model of a croaking frog, actually croaks!

  • Video

  • Material

Unspecified polymer

  • Method

Thing-o-matic

Rattle by tjhowse

  • Description

A rattle with printed peas which you have to break of manually after printing.

  • Image
rezoS_display_medium.jpg
  • Material

Unspecified

  • Method

Unspecified

Replications of existing instruments

Trombone by Pieter Bos

  • Description

The PrintBone, a printable trombone. The design is customizable in OpenSCAD to create all kinds of different trombones.
The bell sounds very much like a trombone. A carbon fiber outer slide was made and sounds very good, inner slide is still the original brass.
The PVC slide sounds a lot less good and works less good, but is very cheap to manufacture. And it's still a playable trombone.

  • Image
f6e45eca5b81127f4653a7c5c6b6d69c_preview_featured.JPG
  • Material

bell is PLA, slide is PLA with PVC or carbon fiber tubes

  • Method

Printed on an Original Prusa i3 MK2

Mouth harp/Dan moi by jprodgers

  • Description

Modeled it off of a brass bass Dan Moi, yet the sound is much closer to a bamboo one.

  • Video

  • Material

Unspecified polymer

  • Method

Unspecified

Flute by Amit Zoran

  • Description

A multi material replica of a flute. Made at MIT media lab. In depth article here.

  • Video

  • Material

Unspecified polymer

  • Method

Objet

Recorder by cymon

  • Description

Simple recorder replication, works nicely, tuned et al. Had to sharpen the lamel before it started making acceptable sounds.

  • Video

  • Material

Unspecified polymer

  • Method

Printed on a Fablicator

Great Bass Recorder by ssngai

  • Description

Great bass recorder (range starts at C below middle C). Because of the great size of the instrument (4 feet in length), 3-D printing was reserved for certain crucial parts, including the fipple cap, hinges, and two keys.

  • Video

Note: model in video was an early version with suboptimal tuning. This was corrected in a subsequent iteration.

  • Material

PVC and Shapeways "White Strong and Flexible" plastic

  • Method

Parts printed by Shapeways.com

Violin by Digitalforming

  • Description

A stradivarious has been copied and printed to an apparent success!

  • Video

  • Material

Unspecified polymer

  • Method

SLS

Shakuhachi Flute by Shelia Munro

  • Description

An ancient bamboo instrument, replicated one on one in stainless steel by shapeways.

  • Video

  • Material

'Antique Bronze Glossy' Stainless steel

  • Method

Unspecified

Musette (oboe) by Whystler

  • Description

A "musette" is the smallest member of the shawm family. Shawms were the renaissance/early baroque version of the oboe. This musical instrument has been created to exacting dimensions to play in the key of F (like a sopranino recorder). It has been designed to use a standard oboe reed. The dimensions are taken from a historical model. The decoration, including the greenman face, twisted flutes, and turning, are his own addition.

  • Image
640x476_5129_86093_1338413385.jpg
  • Material

Unspecified polymer

  • Method

Unspecified

Kazoo by elk

  • Description

A simple kazoo, made so it can be printed without supports. Some assembly required.

  • Image
kazoo_display_medium.jpg
  • Material

Clear PLA

  • Method

Unspecified

Whistle by Zaggo

  • Description

A simple whistle. Lots of derivations can be found on the site.

  • Image
3947992182_48a3da68c3_o_display_medium.jpg
  • Material

Polymer, steel

  • Method

Unspecified

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