Laminated bracing - What do you think?

[kencierp]

The McPhearson guy leads you to believe that the Rosewood "colors" the tone is some way -- logic being that Rosewood is/was used for xylophone keys. Looks to me like there is "less" bracing -- over all maybe less mass for the strings to move -- I believe I read once that in the ideal guitar world the sound board assembly should weigh zero ounces.

[deadedith]

Why not lose the wood braces and use just the CF?

[Jim_H]

[deadedith]

That's a lot of ebony..:-)

[kencierp]

I'll try and find it -- my brother sent me an article from the New York Times, the essence was that a very large group of renown classical musicians heard demonstrations of an "all carbon graphite" violin -- the consensus was that it sounded not better but much better then the Stradivarius used for comparison.

Come to think of it, I did post that article here awhile back.

[deadedith]

I was only asking about braces! I'll have to find that article on the strad.

What is keeping CF from being the exclusive Brace material? Why does it need to be in a sandwich?

[Ken Hundley]

I can't really weigh the braces....They are already glued to tops and backs that I haven't used yet. I think I have a couple of scrap cut-offs I can weigh. I do have a digital mail scale, and can compare to a comparable piece of solid spruce.

I did make my braces thinner, they are about 0.25" thick. No real science behind what I did.....we'll see if it holds out.

[Darryl Young]

What is keeping CF from being the exclusive Brace material? Why does it need to be in a sandwich?

My guess is because it's so difficult to shape/tune. And CF dust is terrible for your lungs (from what I've heard).

[tippie53]

You can get this at Gemini in NY they have a CF brace .. It isn't cheap but light as a feather and strong as Steel

[deadedith]

John, have you or anyone you know tried using the CF exclusively for bracing (in an otherwise wooden guitar)? How did it work out? Is it a step forward in your opinion?