Outdoor Ukulele may sound like a skit on Portlandia, but it’s actually a company that produces, curiously enough, outdoor ukuleles. Specifically polycarbonate ukuleles durable enough to be used in extreme outdoor conditions. That made rapid prototyping with 3D printed resin an ideal solution for a small business in need of a functional prototype.
When Realize project manager Brian Cazzell was approached by Outdoor Ukulele, they were looking for someone who could produce a functional prototype of their new tenor ukulele concept in a material as close to polycarbonate as possible. With a printing vat capacity of 20 x 20 x 23 inches the SLA 5000 was a 3D printer ideally suited for a full size tenor ukulele, and Realize just happened to have one lying around the office. The ukulele would be printed in Accura 60 resin, a clear plastic that would aesthetically resemble moulded polycarbonate and would look so accurate that it could be — and was — mistaken for an actual production model.
Outdoor Ukulele needed the prototype to be as close to the finished product as possible, and it needed it to be completely playable. As a small company they would not be able to start production until they pre-sold a certain number of ukuleles. A functional musical instrument has to be constructed with exacting standards if it’s going to sound they way that it is intended to sound. That meant that any functional prototype had to be exact in the placement of things like the frets and the length of the scale. Luckily Cazzell was up to the challenge of working closely with experts in the construction of musical instruments.
“I was extremely excited to be a part of the project due to my personal interest in musical instruments. This made the project go smoothly because we spoke the same language in terms of the components that were being used in the assembly of his prototype.” Said Cazzell.
For his part Outdoor Ukulele’s Scott Seelye seems to be very pleased with the finished result. Not only is he still using the prototype and posting some amazing videos of himself playing it on the their Facebook page, but the company is about halfway to their goal of 200 pre-orders. If you want to pick up one of these bad boys then head over to Outdoor Ukulele and pre-order one. And take a listen to the actual printed prototype being skillfully played by Mr. Seelye here:
Outdoor Ukulele Tenor Prototype – Sound Sample from Scott Seelye on Vimeo.
This isn’t the first 3D printed musical instrument, much less the first 3D printed ukulele, however once again we’re seeing how rapid prototyping is just as useful and valuable to smaller companies as it has already proven to be to larger companies. You can learn more about the ukulele print on the Realize blog.
