Guitar Case
Alex Forlong
Tauranga Intermediate School
Year 8 Multi-materials Technology
Teacher: Jo Young
When Alex was asked to design a sportswear bag, he saw an opportunity to extend the given brief to reflect his musical interests. Alex is enthusiastic about music – he plays guitar and drums, and is in a band – and suggested to two musician friends that they make covers for their acoustic guitars. Given the go-ahead by their teacher, Alex led a project in which each of them created a guitar case.
Alex considered the simplest way to make a guitar case, given his level of skill and the time available, which would meet his specific requirements. It had to:
- protect a guitar from damage, so needed some sort of padding;
- fit a range of different sizes;
- be suitable for transporting a guitar in any weather;
- be strong and durable;
- be 'hands free' when carried;
- hold extra accessories; and
- have a bright colour to give an individual look, because the commercial versions available were all black.
The boys brought an acoustic guitar to class so that they could examine it and work out the best way to approach the design. Alex had drawn a concept sketch which he modified with extra details, such as the padding. He wanted to ensure that his design would be capable of fitting up to three different sizes of acoustic guitars, so modelled the case by pinning paper around the largest guitar. This also helped him realise that the only practical way to put the guitar inside was through an end so he incorporated this into his design.
After modelling the case in paper, Alex thought about how he would construct it and decided to make a "sandwich" – inner, padding, and outer layer – in two pieces. He did lots of experimenting to work out the best techniques for shaping the case. His original design featured Velcro, for securing the opening, but he found this wasn't strong enough and decided to use side-release clips as well.
Alex wanted some "extras" on his case and designed pockets to hold his pick, drumsticks, and music. This involved a lot of trial and error, as he worked out sizing, the best position for each pocket, and a method of securing them. He also wanted a padded shoulder strap and decided that a computer case strap worked well so based his design on that. He modelled this using calico, sliding it up and down a piece of webbing strap to see if it would work effectively.
Alex and his colleagues constructed a prototype from calico, wadding and some leftover fabric, using a combination of pins and sewing. The prototype allowed them to test for fit and ease of access, how much space to allow for the thickness of the fabric, and to experiment with constructing the shapes in the design – they did a lot of technological modelling to work out the best way of making the curved shapes at the ends.
Each of the three boys was going to wear his guitar case in a different way, so the prototype allowed them to experiment with different placements for the straps. In making the prototype, Alex realised that the wadding, though effective for protecting the guitar, would be difficult to sew, so he learnt to use the classroom industrial sewing machine.
Alex looked at different types of fabric and decided to use a camouflage-patterned drill for the outer layer, Dacron wadding for the inner, and a pink waterproof fabric for the other side, with webbing for the straps.
Alex is proud of his work and received many positive comments from his peers.
Teacher comment
Alex is a self-motivated student who continually thinks outside the box and doesn't let what has been done before constrain him. He showed exceptional ability in the way he thought about and trialled construction techniques to solve problems. He led the whole project, experimenting with ideas and delegating tasks – he was so keen that he put in extra time during lunchtimes to work on his project. The prototype was so good that I've kept it to show other students.
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