For my final project I am still on course for creating a Viking aesthetic wood carving electric guitar. The main project entails the creation of a bespoke electric guitar entirely crafted from wood, including the body, neck, and fretboard. Embracing a natural aesthetic, the guitar will feature hand-carved wooden embellishments inspired by elements of the natural world, such as leaves, vines, and abstract patterns. Following this the neck of the guitar will be shaped like the head of a Viking ship.

Top 5 Specifications:

1. Viking Aesthetic: I want this project to give the feeling of a Viking longship but in the form of a guitar. Often made from wood carving designs into the guitar to create this aesthetic may be tricky. These designs include carvings, runes, and symbols all correlated to Norse mythology.
2. Metallic Borders: As seen in the cover photo, I want to incorporate a metallic border with rivets used to connect it to the wood. Doing this will allow for a more ancient feel to the guitar.
3. Electric Guitar Functionality: As this is going to be a functioning guitar I will need to allocate ad install the necessary equipment to ensure it maintains functionality. I have a couple of concerns as to how metal attached to the wood boy will make it sounds although hope it wont be to detrimental.
4. Wood Type: I will be using a soft wood for this project. Although most guitars or often made from hardwood, I feel that it would be to challenging to carve into if I used it.
5. Guitar Neck: For the guitar neck, my ambitious goal is to take it look like the head of a Viking ship. I’m not sure how I’ll do this or where to place the string pins if I do do this.  Nonetheless, I will try it out and see where the end result lead me.

Top 5 Constraints:

1. Limited Wood Carving Experience: The biggest struggle I’m going to have to overcome is wood carving. While I have experience with working with wood, I have zero experience in wood carving. I may need to get some scrap wood of the same type that ill be using to practice before going to town on the main base board of the guitar.
2. Financial Considerations: Buying a large amount of wood is not the cheapest, especially when requesting specific types of wood.  For this reason I will most likely have to go for a cheap option available online in order to stay within budget. I will also need to make sure I get good quality electronics to incorporate into the guitar and make sure it isn’t half assed.
3. Risk of Mistakes: There is a large amount of risks  that I will be taking and probably a lot of mistakes that are sure to come when carving into the wood and aligning the strings to the neck of the guitar if I plan on making it as a ships head. For these reasons i am prepared to alter the overall design if need be, although for now only time will tell.
4. Time Constraints: One of the biggest issues Ill also be facing is time constraints. Ordering the wood will take a while for it to get here as well as the electronics, although I’m hoping i can get that part through amazon. I am also taking my mechanical engineering capstone and have a lot of expo’s to prepare for making the time restriction very tight to complete the project.
5. Creative Challenges: As a mechanical engineer, I am not know for being the most creative. Hopefully with enough thought though I will be able to create a very cool and unique design that I am proud of.