Whoosh! is a concept electric guitar designed with the aim of perfecting the balance of form, sound and practicality in an electric guitar.

The main guitar shape is optimized for comfort and versatility between various seated playing positions while maintaining a live powerful presence when played standing. The body and headstock are hollowed-out for weight reduction and handling, and the guitar can be picked and held safely from the body handles. The shape of the voids is algorithmically driven by interpolating the least utilized parts for hardware and wiring, allowing for an extremely light-weight design. The addition of the voids comes with its own challenges, but with every challenge arises an opportunity to innovate and explore a new horizon in guitar-making.

In addition to the carved body, Whoosh! differs from the conventional electric guitar in almost every aspect, namely the body-neck connection, bridge, output socket, electric layout and nut. Those differences often require a fresh outlook on production and building technique.

With regard to the body-neck connection, the neck is permanently attached to the body in a hybrid set-neck method (with the addition of bolts) whereby the joint between body and neck would look completely seamless upon attachment, as opposed to other traditional set-necks (i.e. stratocasters) where the neck reads as a seperate entity from the body. This hybrid method allows to acheive the look of a neck-though design while using different materials for the body and neck. It also permits a smoother and more comfortable touch at the higher frets.

Another important aspect of this design is the fact that the bridge and ferrules are laid slightly diagonally, with an intermediate gap. This was envisaged essentially as a way of both harmonizing the tension on the strings as they reach towards the ferrules, and aligning the bridge to the inclination of the picking hand for ease of playing and better palm-muting.

When it comes to the output socket, the jack is plugged at the back of the guitar into a bespoke 3D-printed backplate, and the cable comes out diagonally to the side without interfering with the thigh or disturbing the player’s comfort when seated.By inserting it at the back, the jack is always hidden, contrastingly with others guitars where the jack is inserted either at the top of the body (i.e. Fender Stratocaster) or on the side (i.e. Ibanez).

The manufacturing of the “Whoosh!” relies on a number of construction methods and techniques. The wooden framework requires a 3-Axis CNC router to carve out the bespoke 3D shape of the guitar. Both body and neck are made of hardwood (maple in current prototype) whereas the fretboard is Indian rosewood. Contrastingly, the decorative inlays and knobs are SLS 3D-printed PLA parts. Functional parts such as the bridge, ferrules, nut and signage plate are steel 3D-printed, while both backplates are printed in PA12 Nylon.

• Slim & lightweight maple body & neck (seamless neck-through connection with bolt reinforcement, neck fitted with dual-action truss rod)

• Rosewood fretboard (24 frets, medium size)

• S.Duncan Invader Pickups (custom wiring with 5-way lever switch, tone and volume control)

• Stainless steel custom-designed nut and bridge

The gutiar electric parts and materials can be customized to covers any of the great music genres from Blues and Jazz to Rock and Metal. However, the body shape is fixed and can only fit 2 humbuckers (1 bridge and 1 neck) with no pickup rings.

The design alows for various colour customizations based on personal preferences. Though the main colours for the full wooden body and 3D-prints are preset for the first prototyple, it is still possible to vary those in favour of the player’s taste and preference. While the main body can have virtually any desired colour and finish, the PLA inlays and knobs could only be produced using a limited set of colours and finishes that are enabled in the 3D-printing process.