Fender Custom Shop think outside the box with cardboard Stratocaster guitar

By Michael Astley-Brown
published

Linkin Park test paper guitar, which sounds just like the real thing

We're used to guitars arriving in cardboard boxes, but could you imagine if one was actually made of the stuff?

Cue, oddly enough, Signal Snowboards and LA-based Ernest Packaging - in the past, the team have made cardboard skateboards and surfboards, but for this challenge, they set out to build a cardboard Stratocaster, with the help of Fender Custom Shop master builder Paul Waller.

Once the cardboard body and neck have been constructed, the guitar is cut out and tested by a number of dumbfounded Fender employees before being delivered to Linkin Park's Chester Bennington and Brad Delson, who put the Cardboardcaster through its paces.

It all begs the question: what's next? Corrugated Charvels? Tetrapak Telecasters? Answers on a postcard, please.

Michael Astley-Brown
Michael Astley-Brown

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com (opens in new tab), in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as a decade-and-a-half performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe (opens in new tab).