Guitar -> Case Mod Questions and Help

[Sagacity]

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Background

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Recently I had purchased a new guitar hoping that it'd replace my old guitar from the 90s but had found out that it had a twisted neck, and now am left with a somewhat useless guitar and have already purchase a replacement and began to think to myself; "Wouldn't it be awesome to keep it as a showpiece?" Which led me even further to want to try and turn this old Luna guitar into a computer case. So here I am today asking for feedback and info on how to tackle this.

 

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Preparations I've Already Made

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I have measured the guitar thoroughly and found the usable space inside of it (avoiding any and all of the guitar's body curvature) to be 9.5 x 15 inches in size vertically (bottom of the guitar on the bottom). This makes it suitable for some full-sized ATX motherboards. So I'll be fine in finding a motherboard and fitting components in that sense. The depth of the guitar however, is the real problem. The guitar is just over 4 inches thick/deep. I do think however, taking the face of the guitar off and extending it from the rest of the body may look quite nice. Almost as if it were on stilts. This would also provide more air-flow.

 

Before drilling any holes for mounting on the inside, I will probably begin with flattening the sound hole's innards and drawing up positions for radiators/fans as well are power switches and the like. I'll also be consulting my neighbors who are quite skilled in wood-work to lend me a hand.

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Questions I Have

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So with all of that said, I have a few questions that I hope you guys can answer;

• Is this even possible? Is there something that makes this inherently difficult/impossible other than dimensions?
• How big of an issue would the wood turn out to be thermally? Would I absolutely need a water-cooling loop to compensate?
• Are there any specific components I should look into that would help me accomplish this?
• Are there any specific power control switches that are easily repaint-able/come in a wooden tone similar to the guitar.
• How big of a deal will the 4 inches of clearance be? Will it make or break having a card like the nano in it?
• Is there anything I should know before starting?

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Thank you for reading and helping me.

 

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Update 7/2/2015

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I've got a major update for you guys that you'll probably like. I finally got the chance to talk to my neighbor who will be doing most of the wood work since he is a professional in the field. He said he would love to help with the project, and as it stands right now, our priority is finding a blade to cut the rear of the guitar so that we can take it off and put it on a hinge. It is very likely that we will ruin much of the finish, but will probably hide this by placing risers over where we cut. Once the rear is removed we will do measurements and figure out the usable space we have to work with. Similarly we've decided that we will probably use a slab of mahogany to mount the motherboard on top of.

 

As for questions, I would like to know if anyone has any good suggestions on a way to ground it all.

 

[W-L]

-SNIP-

 

Before anyone worries or says this it's perfectly safe to have a PC case made of wood, it will not spontaneously combust. 

 

Now I think it could be done, one thing is are you planning to add in a window to have the PC be visible inside. Personally I would design the body of the guitar as a hinged box to swing open and up if you need to work on things easily and access in the future.

 

For the actual cooling and internals If you want a full size or large GPU's you could go with an Matx motherboard and a side mounted GPU using a PCI-E riser cable. For the cooling I'd be sure to add in some mesh grills or opening hidden ideally to allow for fresh air and exhaust.

[Sagacity]

Before anyone worries or says this it's perfectly safe to have a PC case made of wood, it will not spontaneously combust. 

 

Now I think it could be done, one thing is are you planning to add in a window to have the PC be visible inside. Personally I would design the body of the guitar as a hinged box to swing open and up if you need to work on things easily and access in the future.

 

For the actual cooling and internals If you want a full size or large GPU's you could go with an Matx motherboard and a side mounted GPU using a PCI-E riser cable. For the cooling I'd be sure to add in some mesh grills or opening hidden ideally to allow for fresh air and exhaust.

 

Oh don't get me wrong I didn't think it'd combust, but I do know wood enjoys absorbing heat.

 

I will actually consider putting the face on hinges, that sounds like an awesome idea. Perhaps I'll raise the face with an air intake mesh grill as well.

 

I was hoping I could put a full computer inside the guitar though.

 

Thanks for the help, it will help me dive into this.

[W-L]

Oh don't get me wrong I didn't think it'd combust, but I do know wood enjoys absorbing heat.

I will actually consider putting the face on hinges, that sounds like an awesome idea. Perhaps I'll raise the face with an air intake mesh grill as well.

I was hoping I could put a full computer inside the guitar though.

Thanks for the help, it will help me dive into this.

 

As long as there is enough room for everything I guess you could go with a full sized ATX the only thing that might an an issue is the PSU since it takes up a fair bit of space. Something like Silverstone's SFX PSU would work well with the short cables and smaller size.

[Sagacity]

As long as there is enough room for everything I guess you could go with a full sized ATX the only thing that might an an issue is the PSU since it takes up a fair bit of space. Something like Silverstone's SFX PSU would work well with the short cables and smaller size.

Plenty of room for it really. I did the measurements super quick. If I actually had the spare time to trace and all I'd be able to provide people an actual map of usable area, but to put it in a quick easy to understand format, the box with which the curved body lies within (That is, if the body were a box having the dimensions of the widest and longest portions of the body) it'd be 12x15. Plenty of space, even with the curvature added in.

[Wellington the Skellington]

I would drill plenty of holes in the back of the guitar for ventilation/air flow. It'd stop your components from overheating. You could take the back off the guitar, and put it on hinges so that you can access the case. It is feasible. If you kept the neck you could hang it on the wall, which would look sick. You wouldn't see the ventilation holes from the back, the pc would be off the floor and you wouldn't collect dust. You could also drill out the bottom peg thing for a shoulder strap and use that for your psu power in (just an idea). I'd love to see this happen If you go ahead with it please update this thread

 This is the sort of wall mount I'm talking about. 

[ThomasD]

I would suggest going into the sound cavity from the back of the guitar.  That way you keep the front cosmetics entirely intact and will not need to do a refinish.  

 

By leaving about an inch of the back intact around the perimeter you will also keep the guitar structurally sound by not removing the kerfing that holds the back to the sides.

 

Then you would just mount everything up to some sort of back plate, that you would then bolt to the intact portion of the guitar back.

[Sagacity]

Updating everyone on the 'progress'. At the moment, I'm preparing for the project but have not yet started. I am waiting for a motherboard + CPU first and foremost and still drawing up plans, but I will probably take your guys's suggestion of using the rear for access and ventilation.

[Sagacity]

I've got a major update for you guys that you'll probably like. I finally got the chance to talk to my neighbor who will be doing most of the wood work since he is a professional in the field. He said he would love to help with the project, and as it stands right now, our priority is finding a blade to cut the rear of the guitar so that we can take it off and put it on a hinge. It is very likely that we will ruin much of the finish, but will probably hide this by placing risers over where we cut. Once the rear is removed we will do measurements and figure out the usable space we have to work with. Similarly we've decided that we will probably use a slab of mahogany to mount the motherboard on top of.

 

As for questions, I would like to know if anyone has any good suggestions on a way to ground it all.

[W-L]

-SNIP-

 

Sounds like good progress as for grounding I believe it's all done via the 24 pin nowadays but if you want make sure you can add a ground wire from the metal casing of the PSU to a standoff on the motherboard.

[Sagacity]

Sounds like good progress as for grounding I believe it's all done via the 24 pin nowadays but if you want make sure you can add a ground wire from the metal casing of the PSU to a standoff on the motherboard.

I'm actually not entirely sure how grounding even works for it all. Atm it isn't that high of priority since we still need to do body work, but if someone, perhaps you, could look into it right now and give me a definitive answer I'd be very thankful.

[W-L]

I'm actually not entirely sure how grounding even works for it all. Atm it isn't that high of priority since we still need to do body work, but if someone, perhaps you, could look into it right now and give me a definitive answer I'd be very thankful.

 

Grounding is mainly for metal components like the case so it doesn't build up a charge that can shock you, which is usually handled by the contact with the PSU and case screwing together but as said and from looking around the motherboard itself is grounded via connections from the (negative) terminals of 24 pin. It doesn't necessary need a green earth line like the wall plug since the PSU is in a metallic housing it's required.

[Sagacity]

Alright, thanks for the update.

[Sagacity]

I've got another update for you all! We've just finished cutting the guitar in half, I'll get some glamour shots of it in the morning, but we've decided to use a ITX case in order to fit a PSU inside.