Mini Guitar Pick Organiser

My name is Jenny, and I am so excited to join my first contest in Instructables! Here's just a little bit of background information on why I want to create a Mini Guitar Pick Organiser: I have been playing guitar for around 2 years, and I found that I have been constantly asking myself the same question: 'Where did my guitar pick go?' It left me really annoyed and made me wonder if I could come up with a solution to this problem. I am sure that if you are a guitarist who uses a guitar pick often, you would relate to this! Please read through my Instructable to learn about how to a functional Mini Guitar Pick Organiser, so that you won't ever have to be frustrated with finding your misplaced guitar picks!

This Mini Guitar Pick Organiser does not require many supplies, however, it is important to take note that a 3D printer is necessary in order to print out the final physical product.

A list of supplies you will need:

1. 15 cm ruler (x1)
2. Plier cutter (x1)
3. Autodesk Fusion 360
4. 3D printer
5. Acrylic paint (optional)

For this Instructable, I will be using this standard acoustic guitar reference image above and scale it up by 50 on Fusion 360. You may like use it to follow me step-by-step, but if you would like to find your own online, inspect the size of your guitar base on Fusion 360 and make sure that it is convenient to carry around or to put on your desk. After that, screenshot your reference image and put it onto your desktop.

To design your Mini Guitar Pick Organiser on CAD (Computer Aided Design), you will need to install Fusion 360 on your laptop! After you have it installed, create a new design and ensure that you are on Design mode. On the top right of your screen, find insert and click on Canvas (the picture icon). Once you have your reference image, adjust it to the size you want (preferably scaled to 50), so that it is 1:1 to your final product.

If you are a visual learner like me, check out the screen recording attached below!

Measurements of different guitar parts on Fusion 360:

1. Guitar Body: 65 mm long x 19 mm tall
2. Guitar Sound Hole: 15 mm diameter x 10 mm deep
3. Guitar Neck: 45 mm long x 5 mm wide x 5 mm tall
4. Headstock: 11.5 mm long x 6.5 mm wide x 7 mm tall
5. Trenches for the Guitar Picks: depends on the thickness of your guitar pick

Extra details that you might want to include on your Mini Guitar:

1. Tuning pegs (x6): 1.5 mm long x 1 mm wide x 2 mm tall (fillet: 0.25 mm)
2. Bridge (x1): 3 mm long x 15 mm wide x 2 mm tall
3. Saddle (x1): 1 mm long x 10 mm wide x 0.5 mm tall

Measurements of the guitar stand (optional):

1. Side Parts (x2): 40 mm long x 1.2 mm tall
2. Poles (x2): 3 mm diameter x 19 mm tall

Guitar Body: 65 mm long x 19 mm tall

Click on Fit Point Spline and trace around ONLY the body of the guitar. In this step, you may ignore the neck of the guitar and sketch over it. To make it more realistic, you can choose to make a 1 mm fillet on both the edges on the top and bottom of the Guitar Body.

Guitar Sound Hole: 15 mm diameter x 10 mm deep

To make a Guitar Sound Hole in your Guitar Body, make reference with your chosen image and sketch out a circle. Select the circle sketch and make a cut into the Guitar Body.

Guitar Neck: 45 mm long x 5 mm wide x 5 mm tall

For the Guitar Neck, create a cuboid according with the measurements above. After that, select the Move/ Copy button to attach it to your Guitar Body.

Headstock: 11.5 mm long x 6.5 mm wide x 7 mm tall

For the Headstock, create a sketch similar to your reference image with the measurements above. After that, select the Move/ Copy button to attach it to your Guitar Neck.

The most important part to making your Mini Guitar Pick Organiser practical is by making the trenches suitable for your guitar picks.

Trenches for the Guitar Picks:

Grab a 15 cm (150 mm) ruler to measure the thickness of your guitar picks, and then cut on the side of the Guitar Neck with a 0.1 wider than the measured thickness of your guitar pick. You can have as many trenches as you want depending on the number of guitar picks you have. In my design, I have made 3 trenches and each one has a 2.5 mm cut into the side of the Guitar Neck.

It is important to take note that the trenches for the guitar picks are small details, but it is a required step in order to make the Guitar Pick Organiser functional!

If you are a complete beginner to Fusion 360, it is optional for you to add in small details on your guitar design. Although, it would be great if you have the small details included into your design to enhance its overall realism. Either way that works best for you!

Some details that you may choose to include:

1. Tuning pegs (x6): 1.5 mm long x 1 mm wide x 2 mm tall (fillet: 0.25 mm)
2. Bridge (x1): 3 mm long x 15 mm wide x 2 mm tall
3. Saddle (x1): 1 mm long x 10 mm wide x 0.5 mm tall

*As you can see, I did not include the guitar strings in my list of extra details as it might be hard to insert the guitar picks into the trenches later on when you utilise it.

If you want your Mini Guitar Pick Organiser to stand on the table, you may want to make a mini guitar stand to accompany it.

Create a blank design page and insert your reference image of a Guitar Stand (like Step 1). Scale and inspect your reference image so that your Guitar Body can fit into it.

Measurements:

1. Side Parts (x2): 40 mm long x 1.2 mm tall
2. Poles (x2): 3 mm diameter x 19 mm tall

To 3D print your Mini Guitar Pick Organiser, you have to export the design first. I have exported my CAD design on Fusion 360 with the STL format, it is also possible to 3D print from OBJ, AMF, and 3MF file formats.

*It is important to add supports underneath the Guitar Neck as it might snap due to its thickness.

If you acquire some extra help with exporting your Fusion 360 design to .stl for 3D print, please watch the short Youtube Video from Between CAD Classes (not my video).

After you have it 3D printed out, get a pair of pliers and carefully cut out the support.

If you only 3D printed the Guitar Pick Organiser with one colour, then you may choose to use acrylic paint to paint on your design to make it more aesthetically appealing. Feel free to customise your Mini Guitar Pick Organiser with a marker! Or if you are satisfied with it, then you can just leave it the way it is!

Thanks for reading my Instructable!