Humble cardboard, is there anything you can’t make out of it? Even massive, global corporations use the stuff from time to time; Google makes its virtual reality goggles with it, and Lexus made an entire car. But it’s all been missing a bit of soul, so guitar manufacturer Fender and Signal Snowboards teamed up to recreate the iconic Fender Stratocaster with it.

Starting off with a rough outline, the first problem for the project is the neck. Usually under 114 kilograms of torque (if the video is to be believed), recreating it in cardboard was always going to be a challenge.

The folks over at Ernest Packaging Solutions took care of that. As the only packaging company we’ve ever seen with a design lab, they created a grid out of cardboard to form the body and neck of the guitar. Not only does this make it strong enough to survive being strung, but it also makes the instrument see-through.

The rough shapes were then handed over to Fender for the team at their custom workshop to hand cut. The result is a once-off guitar that happens to be made out of the same stuff used to box up other guitars.

But an instrument that doesn’t get played is completely useless, so the technicians at Fender gave it the first bash.

For the real rock star treatment, it was handed over to Linkin Park (that band everyone remembers from the early 2000s, and who capped off BlizzCon this year).

Singer Chester Bennington handed it over to guitarist Brad Delson, who was quite enamoured with it.

“I play these guitars on stage, and the similarity, even in the terms of the way it looks to what I’m used to is amazing,” Said Delson,  “It’s super fun to play.”

No word as to whether the next Linkin Park performance with mainly feature cardboard instruments. If it does, we hope it doesn’t rain.