Product Review of BrickForge Instrument Series

[Cygnet]

BrickForge Musical Instrument Series

As part of their 2010 line-up of new products, BrickForge has recently released their line of minifigure musical instruments. This review takes a look at the electric and acoustic guitars, as well as their violin and drumsticks.

Electric Guitars

The electric guitars are molded in ABS plastic with print on the body and neck of the instrument. The styling resembles that of a Fender Stratocaster. The detailing shows off machine heads on the headstock, frets along the neck, strings and pick-ups on the body, along with a couple of control knobs. The piece is about 4 cm long, 1.4 cm at the widest point, and 4mm thick.

There are three print variants. One where there's white print is on the body (seen here), representing the pickguard. This design comes in black, blue, red, reddish brown, and tan. There's also a white variant with a black pickguard design. Finally, there are a couple of designs where there's tan print on the neck of the guitar only in black and white.

Acoustic Guitar

The acoustic guitars are also molded in ABS, but the current design has no print on the product. The style of the guitar most closely resembles a folk or classical acoustic. The detailing on the guitar includes the tuning keys and machine heads on the headstock, frets along the neck, strings and bridge on the body along with the sound hole. The dimensions of the product are 3.8 cm in length, 1.4 cm at the widest point, and 4 mm thick. Currently, the acoustic guitar only comes in tan and dark tan. The dark tan variant is shown here.

Violin

The final member in this string instrument trio is the violin. The BrickForge violin details the scroll and peg board at the top, raised strings that descend down the neck to a bridge and tail piece, and F-holes on the body. The violin is roughly 3 cm long, 1.1 cm at the widest point, and nearly 5 mm thick. Similar to the acoustic guitar, this piece only comes in tan and dark tan. The dark tan variant is shown here. This piece does not come with a bow, but a standard LEGO bar of 4L or 3L length should suffice. As with all of the BrickForge products, this is made with ABS plastic.

Connections on Back of Instruments

All of the stringed instruments also have connections on the back of the piece. Both the electric and acoustic guitars have single holes which can be used in a variety of ways. The holes can accommodate any part the size of a single LEGO stud, this includes bars, posts, technic pins, or minifigure hands. This means if you wanted to 'hang' one of these guitars on the wall of one of your MOCs, it can be done. You could also sling the guitar on a minifigure's back if you had an accessory part with a stud on the back, like part 42446.

The violin has all of these features but includes an additional post connection on the underside of the piece. This is where the minifig can grip the part to achieve a pose where the body of the violin rests near the shoulder. Without this connection, the minifig would not be able to achieve this stance given current articulation in the arms.

Another feature all three of the stringed instruments have in common are how the minifigs can grab the neck of the instrument. The necks are rounded along the back in a type of semicircle design. I found that if the neck of the instrument is inserted into the hand sideways/flat and then twisted, it achieves a snug connection. This means you cannot have the minifig hold the neck 'sideways' as it would fall out of the hand. Armothe from BrickForge stated this was a design decision to have the pieces better resemble their large-scale counterparts.

Drumsticks

The last 'instrument' from this series comes from the percussion family. The BrickForge drumsticks are a 'fun' little item that can be used to help fill out your LEGO rock band. A simple design, they are roughly 1.6 cm long or comparable to a 2L bar. The main shaft fits firmly in a minfig hand and then tapers down to a tip. These come is six different colors including black, blue, red, reddish brown, tan and white. The tan variant is pictured here. There currently are no drums, drum sets, or cow bells for your minifigure to play aside from those you build yourself. The drumsticks could potentially be re-purposed in various builds. I've also heard that they can make nifty wands for certain students of Hogwarts.

This concludes our review of the BrickForge minifig instrument series. I hope you found this review helpful in deciding if these may be the right product for you. You can check out these products and many others at the BrickForge website (link below).

Additional Stats - Electric Guitars

Custom House: BrickForge

Website: www.brickforge.com

Location: United States

International Shipping: Yes (details)

Colors Available: With White Pickguard - Black, Blue, Red, Reddish Brown, and Tan. With Black Pickguard - White. With Tan Neck Print - Black and White

Retail Price: $1.00 USD

Additional Stats - Acoustic Guitars and Violins

Colors Available: Tan and Dark Tan

Retail Price: $1.00 USD

Additional Stats - Drumsticks

Colors Available: Black, Blue, Red, Reddish Brown, Tan and White

Retail Price: $1.00 USD

This review originally appeared at the minifigure blog 'The Ugly Duckling at BrickLink' on 9/29/2010.

[Skafte]

Thanks for the detailed input on these!

I hope LEGO starts making more instruments soon, the 7639 Camper was screaming for a campfire guitar!

[fred67]

Thanks for the review of the instruments.

I have all of them, and they are really great looking. The problems I have are strictly limitations of the minifigure articulation... you can't make your minifigure look like it's actually playing the instruments. The guitars come somewhat close... as you show how the violin is being held, the hand can't be on the neck, so it looks awkward.

That's not Brickforge's fault, of course.

In this thread I showed off the violin and acoustic guitar for my Mariachi band.

I really hate the bow... 4L is way too long, IMO, and bars just don't really look good. I wonder if BF didn't make a bow because it would be too thin... I think something that had one end the violinist could grasp, but having the rest look like a bow would have been great. Even a sword could look better... I imagine one of the rapier type swords with the tip cut so that it wasn't pointy (but I don't want to break my only spare and not have it look good).

And, of course, my wish list would include a nice trumpet.... I used the clown one for my MOC and just cut off the end, but now it's laughably short.

[Omicron]

And, of course, my wish list would include a nice trumpet.... I used the clown one for my MOC and just cut off the end, but now it's laughably short.

What about this piece?

-Omi

[fred67]

What about this piece?

WOW! I searched bricklink for both "trumpet" and "horn," and didn't see that. I never thought to search for bugle!

Thanks!

Edited October 1, 2010 by fred67

[drevim]

WOW! I searched bricklink for both "trumpet" and "horn," and didn't see that. I never thought to search for bugle!

Thanks!

Yep, got beat to the punch, but I was going to suggest the Wild West bugle. Not sure how it would look, but the bow from the forestman line may work for a bow (although the flex is exaggerated), with the arrow trimmed out.

[prateek]

Nice. The guitars are my favourites. I would like a bow for the violin, as the regular 4L bar just looks weird.

[Masked Builder]

Nice work! I've got the blue guitar and it's great!

I would like a bow for the violin, as the regular 4L bar just looks weird.

I do too.

[Jargo]

the violin looks more like a cello to me. I can see it working that way with a grand piano as a duet.

an alternate use for the drumsticks is as a cudgel/shelale/truncheon.

Edited October 3, 2010 by Brickenhead-town-dweller

[Mrlegoninja]

Nice. The guitars are my favourites. I would like a bow for the violin, as the regular 4L bar just looks weird.

Maybe you could use the drumstick as a bow.

Nice review, and WILL buy these right now.

[Magnus the Great]

I use a BrickArms bayonet as a bow.

Edit:

A small picture.

http://www.flickr.com/

Edited October 7, 2010 by Magnus the Great

[LuxorV]

I use a BrickArms bayonet as a bow.

Edit:

A small picture.

http://www.flickr.com/

Neat idea, Magnus the Great.

Thanks for sharing it!

[WhiteFang]

Very nice detailed review. It's great to see musical instruments like these, so we can gather a musical festival and concerts.

[fred67]

I use a BrickArms bayonet as a bow.

Edit:

A small picture.

http://www.flickr.com/

Very nice. Unfortunately I just got my order from BrickArms and I didn't buy any bayonets! I don't feel inclined to just order a couple of those, but it'll be on my list for next time. Thanks for the idea... it's looks great compared to a "rod."

[Magnus the Great]

Neat idea, Magnus the Great.

Thanks for sharing it!

You are welcome!

Very nice. Unfortunately I just got my order from BrickArms and I didn't buy any bayonets! I don't feel inclined to just order a couple of those, but it'll be on my list for next time. Thanks for the idea... it's looks great compared to a "rod."

Bummer! Hopefully BrickArms have it in stock for a long time. It is far better then a 4L bar.