You really can get everything at IKEA. Even musical instruments it turns out, if you’re handy enough. A hobbyist in Belgium certainly is, proving you can make a stylish working guitar from pieces of an IKEA crib, shelf, and chair. Plus some random hardware he apparently stole from his office and parent’s house. Even the infamous hex key, also called an Allen wrench, that accompanies every IKEA build makes it onto the IKEA furniture guitar. He named the guitar Vecnå and shows off at the end of the video.
We learned about this cool project thanks to Laughing Squid. The tchiks guitars YouTube channel and Instagram feed is full of other inventive guitar builds and tutorials. He kept saying the IKEA furniture guitar was a joke, which it may have been to start. But considering he spent two weeks on the build, he clearly became dedicated.
Watching the guitar come together piece by piece as he dismantles furniture is quite amazing. I knew IKEA products aren’t always made of wood, but I had no idea so much of the company’s products had a honeycomb structure made of paper inside. He uses that inside the IKEA furniture guitar and leaves the edges open, showing the unconventional material off with every note. The best part of the video though, is when his cat and daughter wander through to “help.”
We’ve see a lot of creative guitar builds recently. It’s an inventive medium and leads to some beautiful instruments. And music. Check out this one made of colored pencils. There’s also a guitar that used to be plastic trash found on the beach. And of course there’s even one made out of LEGO bricks.
Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.