3D Printed Electric Violins created by 3Dvarius – Interview with Founder Laurent Bernadac

3Dvarius is a pioneering company specialising in the creation of 3D printed electric violins. Co-founded by Laurent Bernadac, a french violinist and engineer, the company gained attention for producing innovative and visually striking violins using 3D printing technology. Their instruments are designed not only to be visually stunning but also to offer excellent sound quality and playability. The company’s instruments have been used by professional musicians and are known for their unique blend of modern design and traditional craftsmanship. In an interview with 3Druck.com founder Laurent Bernadac shares his insight into the additive manufacturing industry.

An idea was born

When the idea of the 3Dvarius was born back in 2012, Laurent Bernadac wanted to create an electric violin which could fulfil all the needs of a classical musician. His initial intend to create a violin made of aluminium would have been too difficult to realise. The first prototype was entirely hand-crafted by a stringed instrument maker in transparent polycarbonate. However, as this violin was too heavy and therefor hardly playable, Laurent continued improving the design by reducing the weight, creating a smoother sound-wave flow and redefining the curves. 

For the second prototype Laurent turned to 3D printing and decided to make an electric violin fully created using stereolithography (SLA). After a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2016 the 3Dvarius became a reality.

The process of creating a 3Dvarius

Since stereolithography offers exceptional precision and resistance of objects printed, it can guarantee the accuracy of the violin’s sound spectrum. Manual post-processing involves removing excess resin and cleaning before the instrument is treated with UV light for complete polymerisation and durability of the material used. 

Following the final manual assembly takes place by inserting the bridge, jacks, tuning pegs and strings. Stringing and tuning is done progressively and must be exactly symmetrical to attain the perfect chord.

Interview with founder Laurent Bernadac

In an interview with 3Druck.com, founder Laurent Bernadac shares his insight into the industry and outlines the areas in which he believes the strengths of additive manufacturing technology lie.

In your opinion, what significance does additive manufacturing have for the musical instrument industry?

3D printing technology is a new tool in every musical manufacturing process. A tool to improve the design, improve the repeatability of the process and to give more personalization possibilities to the customers.

Like every new tool, it has to be tamed by the workers and included in the design and production process with a lot of care and future minding.

I think 3D printing is not the future of the musical industry, it seems to be the present.

Additive manufacturing has continuously developed in recent years. Which innovations or technological breakthroughs do you consider to be particularly important for your industry sector?

The most important things I saw appearing in the last few years are the variety and the quality of the materials. Before, only the “pro” resin or filaments were able to be used in the production process, and the price was really high. Nowadays, the new materials available have quasi-normal technical properties.

What impact do you think additive manufacturing will have on various industries and possibly society as a whole in the coming years?

The future will be to be able to produce a lot of small series objects in any location for a reasonable price. It’ll help small companies to make more prototypes and improve their ability to innovate.

For society, it’ll help to decentralize the productions units to each house, and allow more products repairs.

You can find more information on 3Dvarius here.