We've seen many examples of cardboard breaking out of its box, including a rolling Lexus, play furniture for kids, and a bike and helmet. But the crazy folks over at Signal Snowboards and Ernest Packaging have teamed up with the Fender Custom Shop to build a one-off Strat that really rocks.
California-based Signal teamed up with Ernest at the beginning of last year to make a snowboard from 100 percent recycled cardboard for the first in a series of Cardboard Chaos projects. Subsequent cardboard creations have included a kid's pushbike, a surfboard and, most recently, a skateboard deck. All pretty cool, but not Fender Stratocaster cool.
After pushing together strips of cardboard to create a semi-transparent Strat-shaped body and neck, the Signal team paid a visit to the Fender Custom Shop where the pieces were reshaped by master builder Paul Waller.
Frets and dots were added to the neck, a truss rod installed for strength, and it was then bolted directly onto the body, though small wooden inserts were glued to the cardboard structure to give the screws something solid to grip onto. The body was treated to three 50s single coil pickups, a Strat scratch plate and other stock vintage-style Fender components.
Once Fender's techs and builders had spent a little time with the custom instrument, the Signal cardboard guitar was taken for its first real-world acid test – a shred-tastic workout by Linkin Park's Chester Bennington and Brad Delson.
You can see the guitar being put together and road tested in the video below.
Source: Signal