And throwing his hat back into the ring with his latest entry to that competition is YouTuber and DIY luthier Tchiks Guitars, who has constructed a semi-hollow electric guitar using only Ikea furniture.
“The guitar started out as a joke,” he explains. “I remember going upstairs and telling my wife, ‘I’m gonna make a guitar out of Zoé's old bed.’ She rolled her eyes to the ceiling and asked me, ‘Why?’”
For the instrument’s top and back, the hobbyist builder uses wood from his six-year-old daughter’s old crib, specifically Ikea’s Stuva cot, as well as a Henriksdal chair and Lack shelf.
The guitar’s fretboard is crafted from a Målerås picture ledge, while the knobs come from an Aptilig chopping board, the jack output plate a Lilangen door handle and the strap buttons a Kallax cupboard knob. Seriously, you can check most of those products out on Ikea's website.
Now, it would require a certified genius to make a functioning electric guitar pickup using Ikea furniture, so Tchiks Guitars takes the easy route and equips his Ikea guitar with a Lace Alumitone humbucker.
Brian May taught me that there are no rules, as he demonstrated by making a legendary guitar with a body that is essentially pine and oak
“Ever since the Electric Shelf 335 became viral (four million views, thank you), I’ve been wanting to make something like this,” he says. “In my original design, I was trying to emulate an actual solidbody guitar, so I had to find a way to make bent sides, which is not an easy thing to do when all you have is stuff from Ikea.
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“Another problem I had was that, to my knowledge, the only tonewood that Ikea use is acacia, which they use in some of their outdoor furniture, and I don’t have any of [that] at home.”
He adds that Brian May’s approach to building his iconic Red Special inspired him to make the leap and begin the build.
“Brian May taught me that there are no rules, as he demonstrated by making a legendary guitar with a body that is essentially pine and oak.”
Watch Tchiks Guitars construct the Ikea six-string, and hear some of its tones in the video above.
Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.
