This acoustic guitar made of concrete brings a new meaning to 'heavy' rock
The musicians were absolutely bricking it
We’ve all done things for a laugh which have gotten a little out of hand but they usually always end up having interesting results. Guitar expert Jukka Sollasvaara may have taken this to a new level though, after he and his friend made what is possibly the heaviest acoustic guitar ever made. In true legendary behaviour, they “thought the idea was really funny” - which to be fair, we can’t argue with.
Sollasvaara and his friend have created an acoustic guitar made entirely from concrete which, at 62.8lbs, is more of an arm workout than a jam sesh axe. By swapping out tonewoods for concrete and stone, their experiment might just be the most ambitious and whacky guitar ever created.
It was made from a single concrete cast; the body from Terrazzo - a yellow crushed stone and concrete, whilst the fretboard was created from ebony crushed stone and concrete. The pair used a perspex mould and support beams to help keep the whole thing in shape, and used a skeletal rebar frame to help make it, well, an actual guitar. In case you’re wondering how they kept the sound hole, polystyrene was used to fill it up, before removing it during the demoulding process two weeks later.
The guitar’s neck clocked in at a whopping 9cm in thickness and the weight before sanding was 35.7kgs which incidentally is about the maximum I can currently bench press. After sanding, it measured in at a more accessible 1.57 inches (4cm).
Holes were drilled for the bridge and the wires, whilst the tuners were made from nuts and bolts, in keeping with the raw, DIY aesthetic. However, this does mean that in order to tune the guitar, you have to whip out a spanner and twist a series of bolts, before locking it in place - although according to Sollasvaara, once you get the hang of it, tuning is actually quite easy, and it exceeded all his expectations.
The frets, bridge, and nut were the only guitar parts made from more traditional and recognisable materials - wood and wire. As you can imagine, it was’t always smooth sailing, and the original bridge broke halfway through construction, with a replacement one being speedily reattached.
After sanding, the whole thing weighed 28.5 kg (62.8lbs) - roughly ten times heavier than an average acoustic guitar which generally weigh-in around 2.5-5lbs. The body thickness ended up measuring 1.33 inches (3.4cm).
The most surprising part? It sounds amazing. The guitar has a beautiful and truly unique sound. It may not have the depth of a traditional wooden guitar but manages to produce a great sound playing acoustic and even with distortion.
Talking about the project with GuitarWorld, Sollasvaara said: “I’m actually quite proud of how it turned out... This guitar has a tonne of sustain!”
Rock on, we guess.
Main image credit: Jukka Sollasvaara
