Using composites on fretboards and/or necks.

[Josh Blagg]

Some people don't like the use of composite materials on guitar, but I for one think they are great. *If used only to add strength and smoothness to the fretboard, I think they can be an excellent material for any guitar. *What I mean is, the fretboard would be covered with a thin skin of epoxy composite (containing carbon, fiberglass, or even kevlar to enhance tensile strength). *I think this adds to the look, the feel, and the strength of the fretboard. *

A lot of people really like to sand the back of their necks and whatnot, so covering the back wouldn't really be necessary. *

There are several manufacturers that already use composite materials, and I think for the most part they make great instruments. *If I could get a Jem with a composite covered fretboard, I would buy one today.

[jemsite]

Interesting idea. I'll leave this open for others to add commentary for the next few days.

I know Ibanez has worked with synthetic materials and former employees have moved on to places like Modulus Guitars who specialize in that.

I need to mention that the JEM is still a "Steve Vai Signature" guitar. Again, Ibanez could never just impliment this regardless of how useful it might be, unless Steve approves. You'd really lobby Vai.com to consider such a drastic change on his guitars. Just something to keep in mind... glen

[darren wilson]

Ibanez used to have a graphite neck made by Modulus that had the pointy Ibanez headstock. I remember seeing it in a catalog a while back, and there's one on eBay right now, apparently.

Use of composites doesn't have to be extensive. Peavey lays a layer of carbon fibre between the neck and fretboard on the Cirrus basses, and it lays over the headstock (sweet). Carvin uses two graphite rods in their necks.

I think the carbon fibre idea that Peavey uses is a great one... probably adds a lot of stiffness and strength to the neck without adding significant mass to the neck.

[mecca777]

Not to mention Vigier's 10/90 composite system, which does away with the truss rod altogether.

[Josh Blagg]

I know they won't change the JEM series unless a request is made by Vai, but I think they could make a very similar guitar, perhaps a new model, with composites and other new ideas.

[mrthingyX]

I'm not so sure kevlar or glass fibre would be a good idea, as:

Glass fibre would need a lot of very accurate layup to be suitable for a fretboard overlay and I'm not sure how common kevlar is in epoxy-impregnated form.

Carbon fibre would be the answer - if you had a carbon fibre fret board (the whole 0.5cm, as such), you could say goodbye to the truss rod, and it would reduce fretting costs substantially as you could glue them in...

We're getting into Parker territory here.

An interesting idea would be to have a short and wide 'T' shape made from aluminium and glue the wood to that (the bottom of the T) and then the fretboard - out of whatever you want to the top of the T. Aside from the initial T-bar casting, extra machining costs would be minimal, as aluminium is relatively soft; as the T-bar, though, it would be really stiff. No truss rod, although lots of glue. It could be finished as a normal wooden neck... sort of.

I have no idea what impact it would have on tone, but hey...

[Josh Blagg]

Quote: from mrthingyX on 8:33 am on May 15, 2001
I'm not so sure kevlar or glass fibre would be a good idea

Not true. *Kevlar and glass fibre are both very common ingredients in epoxy composites. *Kevlar is used either as a pulp or as a "tape," and glass fibre can be elongated rods or crushed pieces.

The Steinberger blend neck contained kevlar, fiberglass, and carbon all in the same composite. *Their necks are solid composite with no truss rod. *The Parker necks have carbon and fiberglass, but are simply a thin coating over a basswood neck.

The composite materials have tensile strength many times greater than that of wood, so the tendency to bend, shift, and warp is improbable.

The Steinberger sound isn't as full as a guitar with a wooden neck. *At first, it sounds pretty good, but after a while, you notice the overtones aren't there. *It's a cold, sterile sound...but it can still be a great guitar sound.

The Parker design allows for more of the neck wood to ring through because the composite is so thin. *However, it is hard to get a good judgement of the sound because the body is so thin and the frets produce a much brighter sound than nickel-silver.

[mrthingyX]

Ouch, sorry - my mistake. I was thinking in terms of fibre glass or kevlar for a finger board. IMHO, I'd prefer carbon fibre. Carbon fibre is much stiffer than either of kevlar or glass composites, and so a simple fingerboard of carbon fibre would suffice, I think...

Take a hockey (field hockey) stick - it's effectively a guitar neck with a different shape, and it's got all three wrapped around it.

[Josh Blagg]

The Parker fretboard is actually mostly fiberglass I believe.