A 3D printable rebec I designed and built earlier this year

Alto Rebec on Printables

This is a 3D printable rebec I designed and printed earlier this year. It features a changeable soundplate with a complicated support structure on the underside, which I intended to mimic the acoustic properties of wood. The final version has a carbon fiber reinforced soundplate, which is not shown in the photo. You can find two sound samples on the linked printables page.

After half a year I could make a few long-term observations:

1. The sound quality improved significantly. A very noticeable wolf tone on the A string disappeared completely. Apparently the carbon fiber filament settled under string pressure - similar to wood

2. Several non-CF parts warped. The bowl is now 2mm wider and the fingerboard a bit crooked, which affects playability. This could maybe have been avoided if I glued the soundplate to the bowl instead of having it be held by string pressure alone, because it would have supported the bowl and not pressed against the underside of the fingerboard.

3. The carbon fiber soundplate didn't warp at all. I'll make the next printed Instrument entirely out of CF to avoid warping.