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I present to you, the extremely rare . . . Quilted Ebony


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I bet that would go done a storm on a modern fretless bass. How's the resistance to abrasion from string contact? I'm curious as to how the materials specific resonances translate to instruments that really sing from the board.

Did I read/remember correctly that you've hooked @KnightroExpress up with something?

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On 31/08/2017 at 12:37 PM, StratsRdivine said:

Here is a recent video showing the quilt in 3D - skip to end, but the previous info gives context.  BTW - I just shipped a quilted CF panel 14 x 21 to Ron Thorn.  Ever heard of Thorn Guitars?  

Test video (Kickstarter) showing products leading up to the quilted CF

this is sick!!!! awesome!!!!

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20 hours ago, Prostheta said:

I bet that would go done a storm on a modern fretless bass. How's the resistance to abrasion from string contact? I'm curious as to how the materials specific resonances translate to instruments that really sing from the board.

Did I read/remember correctly that you've hooked @KnightroExpress up with something?

I wish you were easier to ship to, as I could send a sample for you to hear the ring and feel the slickness of the solid CF after diamond polishing.  When you drop it, it sounds like a cross between aluminum and ebony - serious resonance, but at 3mm thick, not really gonna make a difference.  When I use the best silicon carbide abrasives (used for glass) to sand it, the discs get dull within seconds, so I used diamond for smoothing and polishing after carbide milling (I sharpen my own carbide - thank god - need to sharpen my carbide a lot with this stuff), if that gives you any idea of abrasion resistance for strings on a fretless.  

Yes, I sent Knightro a few samples.  Never heard back.  That was before I made the solid CF.  I only sent the resin filled heavy figure quilted.  The fiddleback is such a tight, low topography figure that I can form it solid from a two part mold, then mill it flat.  The Quilt would require a full 8mm layup of CF in order to mill down to 3mm.  Only practical for fingerboards.  Then one needs carbide mills for fret slot cutting (or .024" kerf diamond lap blades).  

I am molding my gold aramid fiber today in the quilt mold - just doubled its size to 33 x 58" to get six guitar bodies from it.  Then once I get my order shipped of .021 thick CF, I will be interleafing the gold fiber in between every three layers of CF, and going in my fiddleback / flame mold so when its machined it will create a zebra stripe effect within the 3D curly chatoyancy.  Can't wait to see that.  

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  • 2 months later...

Wow - been a long time.  You'd be proud of me, Carl, ramping up production of my solid figured CF, and developing machining specs for it like you asked above.  Way more potential than the epoxy filled version.  Knife makers are gobbling it all up for handles, but found that market after applying for a booth at NAMM in a couple weeks, so getting my CF guitar done (setting up now) just in time to exhibit.  I am making thick panels in the solid CF, for machining nuts, full acoustic bridges, and even full guitar faces in the new "Micro Quilt" pattern (panel below is 14 x 23").  The resonance is insane.  Sounds like a cross between ebony and aluminum.  Making full fretboards for NAMM too.  The smoothness really has to be felt - like a baby's bottom, once I lap it on 400 grit diamond and follow with cerium - perfect for string bends.  

Common carbide blades cut it nice, (dulls quick) and smoothing / polishing with common abrasives work great.  

This new solid CF shows chatoyance all the way throughout the thickness, regardless how much is machined off, as seen in the nut below (not pressed into its slot all the way),  The MicroQuilt is cool on the surface, but back is just as 3D due to its figure going all the way through.  Exactly like real wood, but twice the chatoyance and twice the hardness.  

 

 

CF-Nut.JPG

MicroQuilt.JPG

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Well, I hardly expected you to not be keeping yourself busy John....! NAMM'll be an absolutely goldmine opportunity for your materials, doubtless.

I'm guessing that the only requirement to make a new "figure" would be machining a mould? "Only" being somewhat of an understatement of course.....! How tightly can the solid CF be moulded, and how detailed can a pattern get?

Really looking forward to an after-NAMM report. Especially on the extent of the Saturday hangovers that seem to be more or less obligatory.

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On 1/13/2018 at 7:52 AM, Prostheta said:

I'm guessing that the only requirement to make a new "figure" would be machining a mould? "Only" being somewhat of an understatement of course.....! How tightly can the solid CF be moulded, and how detailed can a pattern get?

Planning new molds (moulds for you Euro - trash:)) for tighter curls with more authentic duplication of Flame figure.  Once I get real good at this, I will be attempting Block Mottle and Angelstep.   Then there's Bee's Wing Mottle, Ribbon Stripe, Pomelle, Burl, etc etc etc.   

Meanwhile, I am making as many examples as possible of what you can do with this bulletproof, tiger-eye from heaven that polishes like nothing you ever worked with.  Like this acoustic bridge for example.  

 

AcousticBridge-txt.JPG

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Hey! I apologize for the (massive) delay, I switched school programs and jobs in the middle of last year and haven't been nearly as engaged with Project Guitar as I would like to be. I definitely appreciate the samples, and I'm interested in talking to you more about a full top's worth of the figured carbon! 

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On 1/16/2018 at 9:00 PM, KnightroExpress said:

Hey! I apologize for the (massive) delay, I switched school programs and jobs in the middle of last year and haven't been nearly as engaged with Project Guitar as I would like to be. I definitely appreciate the samples, and I'm interested in talking to you more about a full top's worth of the figured carbon! 

Cool!  

Finally got the last touches, and finally got studio shots before going to NAMM.  And its going on stage tonight. 

 

CFQuilt-Medrez-full.JPG

CFQuilt-MedrezHornsl.JPG

CFQuilt-Medrez-Headstock.JPG

cfq-leftqtr-clsp-txt.JPG

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3 hours ago, KnightroExpress said:

Yeah! That top is exactly the material I'm talking about. Are you making it with any colors other than red? I showed your samples to a friend today and he was interested in seeing what blue or green would look like.

The basic color is the charcoal gray that is Carbon Fiber.  I color it with candy tints.  Easily colored with any color of candy tint in the topcoat.  Here below is the text from my NAMM banner to explain more.  Will be spraying blue and green candy samples tomorrow.  

 

FFCF-banner-Vista..JPG

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11 hours ago, Prostheta said:

I think it needs more video demos! What lighting did you use in the lazy Susan vid? More diffuse multipoint lighting would be very good to see this in action.

When I have more time (June?) I plan to mount the guitar onto a motorized display turntable (via the bolt plate) and shoot the guitar with my 1000 watt stage spotlight and some other fill spots.  

In the meantime, I forgot that I have this video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBJjwvfYpKQ  

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