Someone Built a Working Synth From Cardboard and Walnut Keys - Yanko Design

"Most synthesizers look and feel like appliances. They're plastic boxes mass-produced in factories, efficient and functional but utterly lacking in personality or warmth. Pianos and guitars get to be handcrafted instruments with wood grain and visible joints, while synths are treated like glorified toasters with circuit boards inside. That disconnect between electronic music and tactile craft has always felt like a missed opportunity, especially when you consider how satisfying it is to play a real wooden keyboard."

"One maker decided to fix this by building a fully functional synthesizer from scratch, using materials that sound completely impractical. The result is a compact, 34-key synth with a fiberglass-reinforced cardboard body, a steam-bent walnut frame, and individual keys handmade from oak and walnut. It looks like something between a vintage record player and a mid-century hi-fi component, with a turquoise fiberglass shell and warm wooden accents that feel more like furniture than electronics."

"The body starts as folded cardboard panels cut from a template, then gets layered with fiberglass cloth and epoxy until it transforms into a rigid, glossy shell. The process borrows from old automotive techniques where fiberglass shaped custom car bodies in the 1950s, giving the synth a retro-futuristic sheen. Around the perimeter sits a continuous steam-bent walnut strip with oval cutouts that mimic speaker grilles on vintage radios, adding visual warmth and a furniture-like presence."

The instrument is a compact 34-key synthesizer built with unconventional materials: a fiberglass-reinforced cardboard shell and a steam-bent walnut frame. Individual keys are handmade from oak and laminated walnut offcuts, each shaped, drilled, beveled and finished with fiberglass and sanding to a 3000-grit smoothness. The body is formed from folded cardboard panels laminated with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, borrowing automotive coachbuilding techniques to create a glossy retro-futuristic sheen. A continuous walnut strip with oval cutouts provides a speaker-grille aesthetic and furniture-like warmth. The overall aesthetic combines mid-century hi-fi styling with tactile, piano-like key action.

Read at Yanko Design - Modern Industrial Design News