Is this the heaviest guitar ever? Check out this super-weighty bronze guitar made from melted copper wire
Crafty luthier and YouTube content creator Burls Art has made a hefty new bronze guitar using 50 lbs of melted copper wire.
To put things in perspective, a Les Paul can weigh between 9-12 lbs but this beast comes in just shy of 40 lbs once work is complete. In a new video showing the process of its creation, it manages to collapse a guitar stand.
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To begin making the mighty axe, Burls Art – whose real name is Blake Burley – creates a sand mould for the neck. Those familiar with Burley’s content will know he’s made a whole wild and weird range of guitars before, including one made using 1000 aluminium cans. He aims for a similar result to this for his copper creation.
His first attempt at a neck doesn’t come out so well, so he melts it down again and makes a new mould. This first attempt also allows Burley to discover how bendable and soft the copper is, so he decides on adding a two lb bar of tin to the molten mixture to make the build stronger and harder.
For the body he uses a Tele shape, and again, it takes a couple of attempts to get things right. Burley says that working with copper is actually really difficult, and likens it to working with steel. Despite the struggle, it comes out looking stunning and has a lovely warm tone in-play.
It’s now for sale at $5,000, named as Steampunk Bronze on the Burls Art website. He also jokes it might well be the first and last of its kind, due to its uber-heavy weight.
“Where the aluminium version of this ‘Steampunk’ line of metal guitars is absolutely a playable, normal feeling guitar, this bronze guitar is not. Weighing in at a hefty 39.8lbs, this guitar is best suited to sit on a guitar stand or a sturdy wall mount,” he writes on his website.
“Built out of copper wire (and a few lbs of tin), this was one of the most complicated and time-consuming projects I’ve ever taken on and is quite the sight to behold. This guitar is far from perfect and has various imperfections and voids from the casting but is without a doubt, one-of-a-kind.”
The model has a 25.5” scale length, Custom Lace Horsepower Humbuckers and Hipshot locking tuners. View the full video below:
You can shop the guitar and other cool builds over at Burls Art.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
