If you’ve read many of our blogs before you’ll know that the TVonics team love a bit of friendly competition and at Christmas time that’s no different. This year the office focus has been on what we each think would make the most creative and desirable design for one of our set-top boxes. As you know, we try to steer as far away as possible from the conventional set-top box design; our DTR-HD500is an example of this. Everything from a Swarovski crystal coated set-top box (nominated by Tracie) to a crash helmet set-top box were suggested. From hundreds of suggestions the one that made the cut was the ‘Guitar box’, and so for a bit of fun (well it is Christmas after all!) I made it. What can I say, ‘boys and their toys’.
Me with the guitar set-top box
Here’s how I did it.
It would have been too easy to put one of our set-top boxes inside a guitar or to mount it, so instead I created a completely new casing and body for the guitar. To do this, I firstly needed to take apart an actual guitar to better understand how everything connects in order to replicate this in my design. Conveniently, I had an old guitar in my garage that I rescued from Glastonbury earlier this year, so like the true rock star I am, I smashed it into pieces.
The parts of the guitar after I smashed it apart
After looking at the smashed up guitar in detail I was then able to make the shape of the guitar in CAD (Computer Aided Design) and plot exactly where are the guitar parts and set-top box would fit in my new creation.
In total, the design process in CAD took around 30 hours and once complete I was then able to retreat to my garage and start sawing. To form the body of the guitar set-top box I started by gluing four pieces of MDF together which provided an ideal body for the guitar and support for the fretboard and headstock.
MDF stacked together
Once glued I secured the MDF
Once secure, I cut away a section from both the top and the bottom plane of MDF in which I inserted metal plates. For the top plane, the below metal plate was used to secure the fretboard to the body and for the bottom plane the below metal plate was used to secure the body of the guitar to the guitar’s outer casing.
Top plane of MDF with section removed for metal plate
Bottom plane of MDF with section removed for metal plate
Fretboard secured to the MDF
It's starting to take shape now
With the fretboard secure and attached to the MDF I then needed to insert the body into the black outer casing which I took from one of our older PVR models. To do this, I measured how long and wide the extrusion would need to be for the fretboard to slot into and then cut the extrusion to the top of the casing. I then drilled four holes in the back of the case to join this to the metal plate on the bottom plane of MDF.
Section removed from the outer casing for the fretboard
I drilled holes to support the metal plate
Once the parts were fitted and slotted together the top of the guitar finally started to take shape as you can see below:
Although the top of the guitar was now in place, there was still a way to go before this could become a working guitar and set-top box. The next step was to integrate the set-top box to the guitar as well as creating holes for the pick-up and tail ends of the guitar. For this, I removed the casing from one of our DTR-Z500HDs (this is the same case, although different model as used in the top half of the guitar). On this casing, I marked out a rectangle with rounded corners for the guitar’s pick-up, making sure that this was in line with the positioning of the fretboard. I then roughly cut the extrusion using a hack saw and filed this down to make it smooth. Before inserting and securing the pick-up I drilled five holes in the case for the tail end of the guitar again ensuring that this was in line with both the fretboard and the hole for the pick-up. Once drilled, I attached the pick-up and tail end to the case with screws.
With the outer casing of the bottom half and the top half of the guitar complete I had another idea. An electric guitar wouldn’t be complete without making sure that the sound could be amplified when played. So to do this, I needed to connect the pick-up to the set-top box so that the sound could be heard through the television. For this, I also needed to create a volume controller and integrate this into the set-top box to allow the sound of the guitar when played through the television to be controlled.
Wires for volume and tone
I connected the volume and tone wires (red, blue and yellow wires in the diagram to the left) from the pick-up to the set-top box via the black wire in the picture below to the volume box in the chipboard of one of our DTR-Z500HDs. Before doing this I had already reinserted the innards of the DTR-Z500HD back into the outer casing. To link this to the TV output I used the blue wire in the picture below to connect the volume box to the SCART socket.
I then attached a volume controller to the extractor fan on the outside of the DTR-Z500HD (whilst still ensuring that the fan could function as normal to cool the set-top box) and wired this to the volume box so that when turned the volume of the guitar could be altered and heard through the television.
With the volume connected to the SCART socket, in order to hear the guitar play through the television, the set-top box would need to be connected through this socket rather than the HDMI. Of course for the guitar to play it needs some strings, I attached these to the tail end and headstock of the guitar once I had closed the base of the set-top box. As you can see, it works as a normal set-top box and you can still watch your favourite programmes as normal but will also allow you to play along using the guitar to your favourite theme tunes (I’ve got the intro to Top Gear spot on now!).
Me with the guitar set-top box plugged in and working- as both a set-top box and guitar
But there was one last step to complete before this guitar set-top box worked as normal, and you’ve probably already noticed it. How does the remote control work? How do you change channel? And where is the infrared? We’ll reveal that in the New Year! 
