Quote:
Originally Posted by NoodleFingers
I think all types of carbon fiber guitars are a growth market. But because guitars have been made out of wood for literally hundreds of years, I think it's true that the best thing for this burgeoning market is to get carbon fiber guitars in front of as many people as possible.
The woods we use for guitars were chosen for very specific reasons—because they are light, stiff and strong. That's what produces good resonance. Carbon fiber is lighter, stiffer, and stronger than any wood could ever be. In many ways, it is an ideal material. But because it is so much lighter and stiffer and stronger than wood, it sounds somewhat different. Guitar design has been wood-centric for centuries. It will take some time to expose people to this new material, as well as to figure out the best ways to use it.
Instruments called guitars have been around for 800 years. Chordophones (stringed instruments like guitars, lutes and bouzoukis) have been around for more than 3000 years. Carbon fiber guitars have been around for 30 years. I think they have achieved amazing success and market penetration in a very short amount of time.
Unfortunately, as a new technology, carbon fiber materials are still very expensive. So I think RainSong has done a great thing finding a way to get more carbon fiber guitars into the hands of more players. I also think it's a very smart business decision.
I would never want to not have any wood guitars. But I would also never want to not have any carbon fiber guitars, either.
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In my opinion, this is a great, intelligent post...one of the best I've read in a long time about the state of the situation. Thanks for this. I will only add that I find the term "carbon fiber" to be a bit limiting. I prefer "composite" to encompass a range of in-use and emerging materials (e.g. ekoa linen ala Blackbird) and innovative, flexible design approaches (e.g. Emerald).