hi guys! it’s cath! today, i’m going toshow you how to make these super cute and realistic looking miniature acoustic guitars.they’re made up of mainly popsicle sticks so this is a project anyone can do! i’mshowing how to make them in 1/12 scale standard dollhouse size but you can use the same exactsteps and adjust the size to your liking. now this is a pretty in depth video so let’snot waste time and jump right into it.
wood crafts for gifts, the first thing we need to do is draw thetemplate. i grab a sheet of graph paper and draw a 1.5 inch by 1.75 inch rectangle. i know i wrote 6 here but i really mean 1.5 inches. here, i’m showing you the length of guitarneck
which will extend 1.75 inches past the body. draw 2 lines straight through the middle ofthe rectangle as guidelines. i draw the shape of the guitar body startingfrom the top of the vertical line and curving it out and down to one side. curve it back in and out again making sure the bottom half of the guitar body is wider than the top. make adjustments until you like the shape. you don’t need to draw anything else forthe template (you're done there) but i’m showing you how the neck will look
and where the soundhole will be. as reference, the center of the hole will be half an inch from the top of the body. cut out the body. we’ll use this templateto cut the front and back pieces for guitar. grab a jumbo popsicle stick and split it inhalf. then glue them together to create a wide panel. trace around the template and cut off the excess wood. make 2 of these. one for the front and one for the back. sand them to smooth out any rough edges. then draw that soundhole onto one of the pieces and cut it out. to sand the inside of the hole, i like to roll
some sandpaper around a dowel and just use that. for the sides of the body, i’m using some wooden coffee stirrers. i boil a pot of water and soak them in there for a few hours. you just need one stick for a guitar but i made extras just in case. you’ll love what we do with these. while that’s boiling, let’s get started on the neck. using a regular popsicle stick, i first cut a curve onto one end. then i mark the width of the widest part of the neck which is a quarter of an inch. make a mark at 2.25 inch length area.
draw 2 vertical lines that gradually get widerat the bottom. guitar necks are always thinner at the top than the bottom. now draw on the headstock. there are so many headstock shapes so go with whatever you like. this one is pretty simple. cut that final shape out. lightly sand it. position it on the body right above the soundhole. mark where the body ends.
thin that part ofthe neck out just a little bit. it’ll make the finished guitar look that much better whenthe 2 pieces fit together perfectly. now throw that piece into the boiling water and grab out one of those coffee stirrers we put in before. it should bend and curve nicely without snapping. put the 2 body pieces together. wrap the coffee stirrer around the body pieces and use rubberbands to secure the coffee stirrer in place. add as many rubberbands as it takes to really tighten it.
once that’s dry, the coffee stirrer willkeep the curved shape. how cool is that? glue it to the front body piece. cut off any excess. alright, let’s grab that headstock out ofthe boiling water. we need to bend the head back a little bit. i place it on the edge of my desk and gently push it back. this is what it looks like when it dries. at this point i decided that i didn’t likethe curved bottom so i cut it into a straight
edge instead. totally optional. then i draw a bunch of lines down the neckfor the guitar frets. i drew about 20-25 lines gradually spacing them closer as i get tothe bottom. with my x-acto knife, i carve out each of those lines. we’re going to put in real metal frets…bc we’re crazy... but first, let’s stain the fretboard. iuse a mixture of dark brown and black to create a dark gray-ish brown.. mix in a bit of waterso it becomes a stain. for the frets, i'm using some super thin wire. this is 28 gauge jewelry wire.
with some metal shears, i snip off a bunch of little pieces. then with some superglue, glue each wire piece into the little slots. with a tiny handdrill, i make some shallowholes into the frets. i do it on frets 3,5,7,9,12, and so on. this is a good time to referencea picture of real guitar on google then i add some white paint into those holes. trim off the excess wire and add some varnishfor a glossy look. yup that’s 3 headstocks! we’re making3 mini guitars. the design on the first one will be very simple.
i use a brown micro-tipped pen to draw a circle around the soundhole. the second onewill be a lot more interesting. i’m making a sunburst design on this one so we’ll needblack red and yellow paint. with a makeup sponge, i’m going to dab these colors on. i tear off a piece of the sponge and dab yellow all over the front of the body. then i mix some that yellow withsome red and add that orange hue everywhere except the center. gradually use less yellow and more red so the colors get darker as you move outward.
then sponge on some black around the perimeterand on the sides. add some varnish to seal in the color. i made the 3rd guitar supersimple again with just the circle around the soundhole. next, let’s make the bridge of the guitarwhere the strings will come out of the body. i just take a coffee stirrer and draw a line at the half inch mark. then cut off 2 of the corners. stain it the same color as the guitar neck. look, i also made a wooden ring out of the coffee stirrers. these things are so versatile.
okay, back to our project. glue on the bridge about half an inch under the soundhole with some woodglue. while that is drying, let’sglue on the necks as well. also just using some woodglue here. next, i use that mini hand drill again todrill 6 holes on the bridge. it’s just a simple row of 6 holes that go through thewood. we’ll be threading our string through these holes. i cut out a super thin piece from a coffeestirrer to add to the bridge. it will lift the strings up higher and it will also helpguide the strings into their proper positions.
i do the same for the top of the gutar neck. cut some grooves into these pieces so the strings can slip into them perfectly. these cuts are a bit hard to see, but believe me...they’re there. okay, time for the strings. i just use someregular white sewing thread but you could also use wire, fishing line…really anything.cut out 6 lengths of thread. these are about 5-6 inches in length but it doesn’t mattertoo much. make them longer than you think you need. you can always trim off the excess. using a tweezer, i slip each thread into ahole. once all 6 are in, i turn the guitar over and tie a knot to secure all 6 strings together.
this will keep them all in place. see? tugging on them won’t pull them out.now you can glue the back piece of the body on. i like how the white thread really standsout against the dark neck but you can also paint the thread metallic silver for a morerealistic look. here’s how the silver strings would look. for some extra support on the guitar neck,i get a quarter inch dowel and line it up against the back of the neck. mark the lengthof the body and cut that piece out with a miter saw. once you have that little piece,slice off one side. this flat side is where we will glue it to the body.
just use wood glue for this. draw a small downward curve on the top ofthis piece to create a gradual downward slope. then carefully cut that piece out. looks pretty good to me. alright let’s add some interesting colorto these boring bare wood guitars. i’m going to create a cherry stain by mixing some darkbrown with red. paint it onto the sides and back of the guitar. add layers until you achieveyour desired color. while that dries, let’s make the tunersand pegs for the head. mark 6 holes in 2 columns of 3
drill those out with the tiny handrill. you can see i added the cherry stain to the head here too. then i get some 20 gauge wire and cut out 6 half inch pieces. stick them right into the holes. to secure them in place, i add some superglue to the back. let’s string this baby up. for symmetry,i first pull the 2 middle strings up to the neck wrap them around each of the top pegs. add some superglue so the strings don't unravel. trim off any excess string. then grab the next closeststring and wrap them on the lower pegs.
make sure all the strings come out from the center and outward towards the pegs. do this until all 6 strings are done. for a finishing touch to the pegs, i add a dropof silver paint to the top of each peg. you can do this at the end but i decided tovarnish the rest of the body since the cherry paint was dry. alright, back to the headstock. to make thetuners, i’m going to use some toothpicks. these have a small carved design on one end.i’ll be using 3 toothpicks per guitar. cut off a 1/8 inch piece from the end of withthe design. split that little piece in half to create 2 tuners.
use superglue to attach them to the sidesof the headstock. line them up against the pegs here, i’m adding some extra supergluejust for strength. then i paint them silver with some metallic silver acrylic paint. looking great so far. let’s finish thisup. for the pickguard, draw a half inch by ⾠inch rectangle. then draw a teardrop shape inside that rectangle.add a curve on the top left part of the teardrop. this yellow section will be the pickguard. with some clear plastic packaging, i tracethe shape of the pickguard. cut that out.
to keep this in place while i'm painting it, i stick it on the sticky side of masking tape i'm going to paint this with nail polish, but you can also use acrylic paint. you can use any color you likebut i’m going to mix some black with burgundy. i first lay down a layer of black nail polish,then add on dots of black and red. then swirl them together with a dotting tool. you can also add some clear top coat to seal it all in. once that's dry, attach it to the body of the guitar withsome superglue. okay last detail- i just add a line of white paintacross the top of the head. not necessary but i really like that extra detail.
that’s it guys! the guitars are all finished.they’re so tiny and adorable! i hope you guys like this video! give it a thumbs upif you did and make sure to subscribe for more. i have 2 new videos every week. i’llsee you next time. bye!