carbon fiber

[earing]

I've notice that people are useing carbon fiber to construct speaker cabinets. I want to reinforce the neck on an old electric bass guitar. What I've read about the material makes it idea for the purpose. Does anyone have a link to a home scale manual for how to work with this stuff?

[Nigel Goodwin]

A very quick google found this:

[staggerlee]

Make magazine did an article on it in issueu 9. I have to admit that I haven't had a chance to read it yet. it's on the news stand as i type this:

http://makezine.com/09/primer/

[FastEddy]

" ... to reinforce the neck on an old electric bass guitar ..."

Yes, it can add considerable strength without excessive weight or bulk. The carbon fibers should run longitudinaly and any lateral reenforcing threads can be carbon or glass ... This is a lot like laying up a model airplane wing ... the RC glider guys have lots and lots tips, trrick and traps for working with carbon fiber and mixes of carbon fiber and glass fiber ... be sure you pick the correct, matching resin (epoxy or whatever) that matches what already exists on your bass neck ... otherwise you might end up with a huge, ugly mess ...(Glass fibers end up clear, carbon fibers ends up black or a very ugly, dull gray.)



Of interest: http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3470 ... carbon reenforcing ribbons ready to install = an easy way

[Jarno]

What kind of bass guitar is it? It might be easier to buy a mightymite neck on e-bay, they go quite cheap (but the bass has to be a f*nder, or lookalike).
Adding CF reinforcement to a neck is not all that easy, because I suppose that you don't want to change the profile of the neck.
The best way would be to remove the fingerboard (use steam) and then rout two channels in the neck (one on each side of the trussrod), and then fill those channels with premade CF rods.
No small job, me thinks.

Best regards,

Jarno Verhoeven.

[Daveze]

Ditto to the above.

Haven't thought about making the neck from scratch? That way if you bugger it up, you can just reattach the old one.

It also means you can construct it the way you want, you'll get more stiffness the further the CF is from where the tension is applied (eg as close to the back).

Josh D

[Trout]

You can get a pretty wide variety of carbon fiber products from Aerospace Composites.
http://www.acp-composites.com/ACP-CAT.HTM

I have been using their products for over a decade with good results.
The EZlam epoxy they sell is one of the best laminating resins I have seen for carbon work. It has a very low viscosity which allows excellent wetting of the cloth.

You may also think about applying the carbon to the entire back/outside of the neck. A thin layer of 45 degree bias over a uni-direction layer.

This will basically product a C channel of carbon on the outside the full length of the neck.

Carbon channels, tubes, and other 3D shapes offer the best load bearing improvements.

Carbon has terrible shear strength, But under tension it is amazing.

I used to build 2 meter precision aerobatic model fuselages and used vacuum bagging to apply carbon over odd shapes and inside molds. It applies the greatest pressure and removes the most excessive resin. Weight is a huge issue in modeling. Building a 2 X 2 meter aircraft with a 1.8 cu in engine, radio gear and under 11 lbs can be really hard.

Trout

[sreten]

Originally posted by earing


.... I want to reinforce the neck on an old electric bass guitar ....

Hi, for what purpose ? /sreten.

[I_Forgot]

I built a recumbent bicycle using CF cloth and epoxy and can provide some practical info if you have specific questions.

Do you really want to make the neck of the bass stiffer? I have been learning to play guitar for a couple months and I find the vibration in the guitar neck provides me with some feedback about how/what I am playing. If you make the neck too stiff you may not feel it vibrating any more.

Of couse, for all I know, the neck shouldn't vibrate at all... Maybe it's just my cheesy stratocaster that vibrate like that.

I_F