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Alternate Materials For Guitars


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i was just wondering what every ones thougths were on using different materials for guitars. maybe things like acrylic, graphite, carbon fiber, etc. what do you guys think of the tonal properties of these materials and how is their workability? we have an engineering shop at the school that they sometimes allow students to use on individual projects that i might be able to use for sheping of these kinds of things. any one ever think of building a guitar out of metal? i wonder how that would sound?

-RAF

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There are already quite a lot of acrylic guitars already in the mainstream. Wesley Guitars sell a range of cheap budget guitars made from acrylic that could be good to use a template or base for your own project.

Kirk Hammet also had a clear acrylic guitar with liquid in it which was very cool, although I don't know how made that one.

As for metal, there is a poster on this forum somwhere who posted a picture of guitar made from aluminium (use search as I can't remember where it was).

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Here are some links:

SoundCompound

Beyond rosewood and spruce

I am sure there are more out there. Bottom line is that alternative materials or the advanced usage of these newer materials in combination with woods are the future of guitar building. Check out Cumpiano, Charles Fox, Rick Turner, Steve Klein (the master innovator), etc.

~David

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WOW!! i had no idea that there was so much information like that out there. does any one know where or how to get a guitar made of soundcompound or if any one has played one. i am seriously curious as to how this stuff sounds. theoretically it seems superb, but its all in experience....also how do some of you feel about the sound of acrylic guitars. has any one explored the idea of a glass guitar?

-RAF

EDIT: btw thanks for the links...

Edited by thewrathofraf
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If you go here: http://www.catalyst.nl

Click on dealers, and it will list all the places you can get them from, it seems they are all dutch so you may need to get shipped.

Glass would probably too heavy and brittle to use, and you wouldn't want to drop it whilest in the middle of a jimi hendrix wig-out !! :D

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i agree. the bc rich acrylics are very distasteful. i did see the guitarist for rob zombie a ffew years back with an acrylic that had a liquid inside. he flipped open a tab on the top of the guitar(i believe it was an explorer, but its been a while so i could be wrong) and he tilted the guitar up to his mouth and started to drink the liquid. very interesting flask if you ask me. and yes that would be a neat project. im not sure that its something that i would venture into tho.

-RAF

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i think this would definitely be a field that the us would have to start looking into. seeing as how the supply of the worlds trees is dwindling and we really should leave some for the environment. i am by no means against luthiery i think it is a fantastic thing to do, but technology is in our midst and if this can eliminate a lot of the problems with wood and also help the environment then why not look into it right?

-RAF

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i think this would definitely be a field that the us would have to start looking into. seeing as how the supply of the worlds trees is dwindling and we really should leave some for the environment. i am by no means against luthiery i think it is a fantastic thing to do, but technology is in our midst and if this can eliminate a lot of the problems with wood and also help the environment then why not look into it right?

-RAF

Using Graphite-reinforce PLASTIC is not the most ecological thing I could think of. I would much much more advocate the use of wood from controlled origin (like Gibsons Smartwood concept).

On a sidenote, it's not exactly technology which is saving the environment.

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i think this would definitely be a field that the us would have to start looking into. seeing as how the supply of the worlds trees is dwindling and we really should leave some for the environment. i am by no means against luthiery i think it is a fantastic thing to do, but technology is in our midst and if this can eliminate a lot of the problems with wood and also help the environment then why not look into it right?

-RAF

One of the problems I can see is the industry isn't suddenly going to stop using wood, most guitar players will need to be educated and convinced this stuff is as good as wood, and even then the purists won't have anything to do with it.

Also smaller independent custom shops and luthiers will have to invest in new tools, training and techniques etc, even then figured wood is most likely still going to be wanted to be used for it's look, its sounds interesting, but I can't see how regular tools are going to be able to cut, shape and route into ceramic celled material - ceramic is rediculously hard and usually required diamond wheels to cut (I used to do this in my previous carear).

Luthiery uses a tiny percentage of the worlds wood resources, and some of that wood comes from sustainable forests. What we need to do is look at the larger industries that rely on non-sustainable wood.

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Luthiery uses a tiny percentage of the worlds wood resources, and some of that wood comes from sustainable forests. What we need to do is look at the larger industries that rely on non-sustainable wood.

Thank you!! This is the truth. I build about 24-30 guitars a year and that is more than some acoustic builders. You are absolutely right about looking at the larger industries and at the throw away society we live in.

~David

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