Case Study: Red Layer Guitars achieves precision guitar design and launches a thriving business with Autodesk AutoCAD

Designing Guitars and a New Career with AutoCAD

Red Layer Guitars, founded by Jort Heijen, faced the challenge of turning years of hand-built guitar craftsmanship into precise, scalable designs that could be manufactured with CNC tools and reliably visualized and measured. Heijen learned AutoCAD from Autodesk while at vocational school to solve mathematical, scale and precision issues and to convert creative ideas into DWG files ready for production.

Autodesk’s AutoCAD and Autodesk 360 provided a CAD-to-CNC workflow and cloud access that let Heijen iterate rapidly and store thousands of templates and designs; as a result he has hundreds, if not thousands, of completed designs, a 90-square-meter workshop, and his first retail model now on sale. Autodesk’s tools also helped him attract social-media attention for intricate fretboard work and transition from bicycle repair to a full-time career as a guitar designer and technical instructor.

Red Layer Guitars

Jort Heijen

Guitar Designer