In this article, students build a prototype guitar. One way to get students to take creative risks is to allow playful approaches to their designs--let them come up with wild or silly ideas. By starting from such a wide-open place, many students will change their definitions and assumptions of what a guitar has to be. The result will be a wider breadth of unique solutions from the class. Moving from brainstorming in a sketchbook to planning a sculpture two-dimensionally to constructing a prototype is a valuable strategy for engaging students in the design process. (Contains 2 online resources.)