Carbon Fiber Scratch & Ding Resistance?
 

The environmental toughness of Carbon fiber instruments is well known, due to their ability to tolerate rapid swings in temperature and humidity.

However, it is much more difficult to find information regarding the hardness, strength, and general "toughness" of carbon fiber. What is the scratch and dent resistance of a carbon fiber guitar like compared to a traditional tonewood example?

I just got a CA OX RAW that I really like, and it will likely see gig action, but I'd like to know how concerned about scratches and dings I need to be...Less, more, or the about the same as with my wood guitars?

Ed - My Rainsong has two small "dents" in the top. One is a mystery to me, the other is from an impact that I suspect would have broken a wooden top. Mine is the hybrid (fiberglass & CF) top, so it may be more susceptible than a full CF top. It doesn't have any pick scratches. It has a couple of small spots where the finish (mine is a burst) chipped off from the angle where the side meets the back. I'd guess those chips are from the guitar being leaned up against something like rough concrete. Based on personal experience, I'd say you can be vastly less concerned compared to a wooden guitar, but recognize that your OX ain't bulletproof.

The wood veneer on my Emerald "X7-Life" took an impact and dislodged a piece of the veneer about the size of a penny, and cracked some of the surrounding wood. After contacting Emerald, I mixed up a bit of five-minute epoxy and smoothed out the top. The actual carbon fiber portion of the guitar under the veneer was not at all affected by the impact, so it seems that it's pretty tough, as well as thermally stable....

Hi Ed,

Your OX has the RAW finish, so it will show scratches on the back and sides, but not much on the top. As to dings, much tougher than wood of course, but I have seen small indentations on CF guitars so it's possible to dig them. Good news is the dings will not turn in to cracks, no matter how big, or deep they are.

Other than leaving them in my SUV, and getting them wet, I tend to treat my CF guitar the same way as my wood guitars. I try not to bang them against anything, and I wipe them down after each use.

For what counts in this test, the Hybrid is identical to the Classic Series. Both use CF for the visible layer outside the guitar.

CF Bicycle components eg seat posts and handlebars, and frames, have been known to occasionally fail dramatically ,,,
But I think they are going for lightest possible weight, thinnest wall construction.
Also a big fellah sitting on you, bouncing down a mountain trail is probably more stressful than even the heaviest strummer .

The high gloss finishes will scratch like most guitars. I've had to buff out light swirls on two of my Carbons.

My used OX had a small chunk taken out of a corner on the lower bout when I bought it - the original owner probably whacked into a piece of furniture or something. I filled it in with a Sharpie and it's barely noticeable and certainly not a structural issue.
Scratches will happen but are usually easily buffed out with a little product.

I definitely have scuff marks on my CA GX, but you can only see them if you looks closely and under a bright light. There are a couple of small chips around the "binding", but dings and dents? None at all. This guitar hasn't been babied at all, is rarely in its case and I've had it for about 8 years now.

Hi bsman - can you expound a little more about the mishap with your guitar? Was it an impact of significant force? What did it hit? That size and that much damage seems like a lot for a finish where the wood veneer is basically impregnated with the top coat so just wondering about the impact that caused that much damage. Did you get any photos? How did the final epoxy fix look when all was said and done?

CF guitars are known for light weight and stable necks with almost zero movement that keep the strings in tune. That however doesn't mean they are damage proof.

I think some people confuse carbon fiber with kevlar.

I treat all my guitars with care, wood and CF. In all the miles of carting my guitars around, I haven't marked up the carbon fiber models. I let a friend of a friend use my Shorty for a jam two years ago, and that player managed to put a couple dings in the top.

While I am convinced that CF is tougher than wood, it isn't "bullet-proof."

I can't really say how it happened, because I took it out of it's gigbag at the office one day, and there it was (and the chip wasn't in the bag! I think someone at work "borrowed" it, damaged it, and put it back. :(

Anyway -- it's been stabilized, but I really need to go back and do a bit of remediation, since I did it quick and dirty and none too neatly. However, it's been this way since last winter, and even thought it's traveled with me to the office and back every day since and been played on a daily basis, no further damage and not problems in terms of the structural stability of the actual carbon fiber body. I think that perhaps Emerald these days are using a somewhat different process to do their veneers, because their website indicates now that "we add a thin layer of real wood veneer to the top during the moulding process and the epoxy resin which encapsulates the carbon fibres also infuses into the grain of the wood fusing it to the top, giving the strength of the carbon structure and the natural beauty of real wood." I can attest that the veneer on this one is overlain between the carbon-fiber body and the resin coating.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/...268f9d32_k.jpgUntitled by Soccergeezer, on Flickr

Yikes! Yes, that had to be a seriously significant force. Ouch! Sucks that it was not done by you. That would drive me crazy that someone would do that and then not own up to it.

I maintain a strong faith in humanity, leavened by the realization that certain members of the class are somewhat lacking in terms of honesty and decency...