carbon fiber neck reinforcement

[cpbiv]

during ww2 martin put ebony "truss rods" in their guitars and used as little metal as possible because of wartime shortages, which resulted in a very light guitar (18 styles) and so ive heard a much more resonant guitar. what im getting at is: has anyone tried to make a guitar with a carbon fiber "truss rod" instead of an adjustable metal one? ive heard of the all carbon guitars, but im wondering how a carbon fiber neck reinforcement would affect the sound? would it make the guitar as resonant (eventually) as a wartime d18?

[stratokatsu]

I think Carvin uses carbon fiber trussrods in their necks, but I don't know if anyone is doing it on an acoustic.

[Tim McKnight]

I use two carbon fiber rods, one on either side of the truss rod, in my necks. The CF rods add an incredible amount of stiffness without extra mass to the neck. I still think a truss rod is needed to adjust the relief in the neck. Yes, you could do without a truss rod but the engineer in me wants the adjustability

[rgregg48]

Some classical builders are using them on nylon string guitars..

Classicals have thick necks for a reason,, stability without

reinforcement.... with carbon fibre bars, they can go a little

thinner and keep stability,

Rick

[sharkydude50]

McPherson uses them in their gits

[drcmusic7]

I saw an interesting idea recently by Batson Guitars, www.batsonguitars.com, in which they sandwhich wood and carbin fiber together to make the fingerboard. They do this in addition to a truss rod. It's an interesting idea...

[PWoolson]

Like Tim, I use them on my guitars. Two CF rods on either side of the truss rod. The truss rod is still needed to set relief (not action) so I wouldn't do without it.

[rick-slo]

I used a carbon fiber rod in a classical guitar I built in 1970, so the idea has been around a long time.
Rick

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by cpbiv

...ive heard of the all carbon guitars, but im wondering how a carbon fiber neck reinforcement would affect the sound? would it make the guitar as resonant (eventually) as a wartime d18?

Hi cpbiv...
First of all, I want a guitar with an adjustable neck to be able to change and/or set the relief. Most guitar builders nowdays put carbon fiber rods in the necks for stability.

Carbon fiber is not particularly pleasantly resonant. Just attend a clinic with David Wilcox this past Saturday night. He uses a carbon fiber guitar on the road and leaves his Olson at home to write with and for studio. He commented that carbon fiber is indestructable (and can be used to jack up the car is how he put it), but that it lacks the subtlety and dynamic range of his wooden acoustics.

The rods in the neck are for strength, and I've never considered the neck a large contributor to the sonic tone of a guitar which comes from a freely vibrating top. In fact, the more rigid the neck, the better. I want that thing stable not moving.

Carbon fiber rods in the neck would not make a guitar sound like a war-time D-18 Martin, nor would they likely prevent it from sounding like one either.

Martin went through one of their non-adjustable neck phases in the 1970s and a lot of those guitars have had to have neck resets to make them playable.

[jyee]

Originally Posted by stratokatsu

I think Carvin uses carbon fiber trussrods in their necks, but I don't know if anyone is doing it on an acoustic.

Carvin uses a standard metal truss rod, with two parallel carbon rods to help with rigidity. Here's a pic:


The carbon rods are also used for their thinline acoustics, but not on their cobalt acoustic line

[Chazmo]

Cool thread, guys. I didn't know carbon fiber rods were in use in neck construction. Makes a ton of sense to me. Anything we can do to stabilize a guitar neck over the years of its life is a positive thing in my opinion.

[cpbiv]

thanks for all the help, i wasnt really sure of the resonant qualities of carbon fiber and im just getting started into lutherie so any help is awesome help, thanks again.

[HHP]

Originally Posted by cpbiv

during ww2 martin put ebony "truss rods" in their guitars and used as little metal as possible because of wartime shortages, which resulted in a very light guitar (18 styles) and so ive heard a much more resonant guitar. what im getting at is: has anyone tried to make a guitar with a carbon fiber "truss rod" instead of an adjustable metal one? ive heard of the all carbon guitars, but im wondering how a carbon fiber neck reinforcement would affect the sound? would it make the guitar as resonant (eventually) as a wartime d18?

While the materials changed from time to time, Martin didn't have adjustable truss rods until (I believe) the 80's. They used fixed reinforcement up til then.

[gregg]

Yeah, I'm using them in my guitars as well, for some of the same reasons that have been mentioned.

Greg

[alanjohn]

Do classical guitars generally have CF rods? I'm building an Electric Nylon with neck specs the same as my 1980 model Morris. I can't tell if the Morris has reinforcement. The neck is 23mm thick. I'm using a CF rod from StewMac on the back end of the neck.