BeBeau Builds 2026: 48.7 lb Slate Acoustic Guitar
BeBeau Builds constructs a playable acoustic guitar from 18 pieces of slate, weighing 48.7 pounds with a familiar wooden tone.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- BeBeau Builds builds an acoustic guitar from 18 pieces of slate weighing 48.7 pounds
- Varying stone thickness forced a complete rebuild during the first assembly
- The resulting tone resembles a conventional wood acoustic with softer volume and shorter sustain
An acoustic guitar usually depends on a thin wooden body to turn string vibrations into a larger movement of air. BeBeau Builds starts with a much more stubborn material for his latest experiment, replacing the familiar timber shell with a faceted body assembled from 18 pieces of slate to produce a guitar weighing 48.7 pounds that still functions as an acoustic instrument.
The concept begins with sound. Struck on its own, the thick slate emits a long metallic ring, suggesting the stone can resonate once shaped into a hollow body. Its physical behavior creates the harder part of the project, as the heavy slabs vary in thickness while the guitar must still sit across a human body and hold string tension.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
Creator BeBeau Builds develops several body shapes before settling on the final angular form, then uses 3D-printed templates to transfer those geometries onto the slate. A tile saw struggles almost immediately with the inch-thick material. Once cut, the beveled edges must meet precisely to create a closed volume around a repurposed acoustic-guitar neck.
The first assembly exposes how quickly tiny differences accumulate. A 3D-printed internal frame is designed to position the 18 stone sections, yet the slate ranges from roughly three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a quarter thick. Those shifts throw cut angles off, forcing BeBeau Builds to pull the assembly apart and scrape adhesive from the stone.
"A guitar body can become a stone shell and continue to behave like a guitar"
BeBeau Builds
For the second attempt, BeBeau Builds works from exterior dimensions instead of relying on an internal frame. Hot glue holds pieces in temporary position while construction adhesive fills irregular joints and cures over several days, leaving room for the slate to behave naturally with each piece adjusted against the next.
Using slate for a musical instrument represents a fascinating exercise in material engineering. Because stone is typically dense and absorbs high-frequency damping better than wood, the fact that a one-inch-thick slate top plate can still displace enough air to create a recognizable acoustic timbre highlights just how critical top-plate flexibility is over total body mass in stringed instruments.
The front plate and salvaged neck bring the object closer to an instrument, though the material keeps making its presence felt. A stone panel breaks during fabrication and is replaced, gaps are filled, and a coating of mineral oil darkens the slate before tuning, resulting in a much heavier shell of hard planar surfaces.
Source: designboom
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