Over the years of guitar building I’ve amassed quite a collection of composite materials. Some are from old projects, some are from projects yet to come.

Here’s a small sampling of what’s in my shop right now (from left to right, top to bottom in the picture above):

• Woven carbon fiber (CF) flex panel - This has that cool, shiny “graphite” look because it’s finished in gloss epoxy. I’ll probably use this as a peghead laminate, as I’ve seen done on some Peavey basses.
• Graphite/Balsa sandwich brace- This was a test beam for the braces in the Big Red acoustic bass guitar. The sandwich construction makes it very stiff, light, and stable. This makes for a louder, more durable instrument
• Thin (.030″) woven CF plate - This will make a good bridge plate reinforcement.
• Graphite neck reinforcements - The shiny thin ones (top two) are pultruded, which makes them very smooth and consistent but not as stiff. The dull skinny ones (middle two) are laid-up out of multiple layers of CF cloth, bonded together, then cut out with a water jet. This construction if stiffer but leaves a rougher surface with less consistent dimensions. The dull wide ones (bottom two), are thin strapping material - one was used in the sandwich brace above, and the other went under the fingerboard of the Three String Bass.
• High-pressure laminates - A composite sandwich of phenolic resin and paper, this is a very tough material used for countertops. But with the right bracing and constuction techniques, it also makes a great skin material for acoustic guitars.
• End-grain balsa sheet - This is the best grain orientation for balsa as a composite core material. With skins laminated to the top and bottom, it becomes an incredibly strong but light material. In the upcoming acoustic bass guitars this will be used as part of the bracing under the bridge where the strings anchor.

Posted by Brian Goode on Saturday, June 17th, 2006 at 9:56 am.