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-   -   Custom carbonfiber wood hybrid (https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=362192)

littlesmith 04-09-2015 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.R. Rogers (Post 4443630)
Really interesting build - probably our first CF/hybrid. The next prototype sounds interesting too. I always wondered why builders didn't use colored CF material. I asked CA once and they said something about stability and strength.... Emerald guitars does something interesting - tinting the epoxy somehow to get their different colors.

If you only use it as a surface layer there is no problem, It is still carbon / fiberglass 50/50 just with a dye,. i see no reason why stability would be compromised at all. A dye does not attack the fiber strands, it`s just a surface thing. The draping of the fabric is very tricky, that is why alot of companys use smaller pieces (and hide them under paint).

I just talked to the guy from Emerald today, coincidentally, very nice guy!

We are carbon buddys now! https://twitter.com/EmeraldGuitars/s...47749718052864

I like his builds, very original stuff.

littlesmith 04-09-2015 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim.S (Post 4443650)
When you say choice of colours does that mean choice of colours for the back and the neck, if so how do you colour it. Will you use a gel coat? Also do you know of any reason why you could not use a aramid fibre mat as it has that sort of tanish neutralish colour already rather than black?

An existing range of dyed fabrics can be chosen then for the body, there are many colors on the market :

http://i62.tinypic.com/w2ovwj.png

The choices for the top would be, blackwash, greywash and whitewash as well as semi transparant epoxy coloring :

http://res.cloudinary.com/indiegogo-...6rpm54yk5h.png

My first prototype had gelcoat but it was dampening the vibration.
You can use aramid as a surface layer or reinforcement, i could not make a sensible statement about the acoustic properties....

littlesmith 04-09-2015 08:26 AM

Made a new top joiner from an old table clamp thingy. It can do any size top pieces, even if its not cut square.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCGMPjwUIAAXWKp.jpg:large

Oak wood, 1 piece is glued and screwd on the moving piece of the table :

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCGMj9lUMAAIdUP.jpg:large

You rotate these handles and it clamps the top :

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCGMQr2VIAA-pJt.jpg:large

Sloped wood to press the top down on that side automaticly :

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCGMROyUMAA0uBF.jpg:large

Top fits snugly in this cavity :

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCGMQK7UIAEHTd1.jpg

I still need to make something to press the pieces down, i am using dummbell weights now.

Also : I have rebranded Littlesmith to Klijnsmit (my real name). Littlesmith was a littural translation. I originally thought my name would be too difficult to pronounce, but i must stand behind my guitars, so that`s why i did it!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CB8dL6kWMAAAYg2.jpg:large

Jim.S 04-09-2015 07:30 PM

Thanks Smity now I get it, I have been checking out fibreglass and CF retailers lately (I use CF in my guitars) and had not seen anything like that dyed twill combination stuff.

J.R. Rogers 04-09-2015 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by littlesmith (Post 4444173)
An existing range of dyed fabrics can be chosen then for the body, there are many colors on the market :

http://i62.tinypic.com/w2ovwj.png

The choices for the top would be, blackwash, greywash and whitewash as well as semi transparant epoxy coloring :

http://res.cloudinary.com/indiegogo-...6rpm54yk5h.png

My first prototype had gelcoat but it was dampening the vibration.
You can use aramid as a surface layer or reinforcement, i could not make a sensible statement about the acoustic properties....

Wow - I'd love to see a CF guitar done in some of those colors. Rainsong's Black Ice series looks like a patchwork of fiber pieces and it would be neat to see something similar done by creatively layering some different colors.

http://www.laguitarsales.com/media/c...dr1000n2-3.jpg

The Emeralds look great in color:
http://cdn3.bigcommerce.com/s-q7vs5/...0.1280.jpg?c=2

littlesmith 04-10-2015 07:33 AM

Very beautifull!

You can see by the orientation of the weave in the red guitar, that this is also multiple pieces. It is nearly impossible to do this in 1 piece. The back is a piece and the side is another piece, after that you can back it with overlapping sections for strenth. His minitature black sunburst on the edge must take a tremendous ammount of skill.

By the way, it`s not certain that is red fabric, it could also be the semi transparant epoxy dye (especially since the wooden top he has matches perfectly), this is one of my old test samples with that stuff (3% in this sample) :

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCPC7qdUEAA_6mq.jpg:large

The patchwork looks like a very smart and creative way to utilise cutoffs (i could be wrong, it could be made from new fabric from the roll). I do think they were at least 1 layer thick cured pieces, and then cut and sanded while it was already hard and then glued onto a 1 piece backing. You can not lay the soft fabric without having all the fuzzy strands going open at every edge, it would not look this clean (the red dye sample above shows what i mean with fuzzy edge).

Maybe if you put spray glue on the back it would sort off remain together, but it would just be very difficult to handle, and line up the pieces.

Anyway, i love seeing so many people doing creative things with this, and putting their own spin on it. Carbon is a long process to learn how to handle it, but the amazing versatility makes it all worthwile.

Jim.S 04-10-2015 09:08 PM

I have another question Koen, what is the brand or product name of the dye you used in the epoxy and what brand of epoxy?


Okay can that question, I noticed your PM after I submitted and found the dyes in the link, cheers.

littlesmith 04-12-2015 12:01 PM

Getting closer to the finishing of this prototype! https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCY8doVWIAAtfKh.jpg:large

vintageparlors 04-12-2015 02:44 PM

We're rooting for your, bro

littlesmith 04-13-2015 01:42 AM

Thank you, that means alot to me. I am getting closer to a quality level i am comfortable with to present to Kickstarter supporters. I have vacation money coming in may and that should allow me to build another 2 simultaniously, with improvements from what i learned in this project.

I want a little bit more support under the fingerboard and some other constuctional improvements.

I got scammed for alot of money in the crypto community by overconfident fake entrepeneurs, so i refuse to make promises if i can`t be a 100% sure i can deliver. A few more builds and then i will be ready! :)

littlesmith 04-18-2015 05:21 AM

Been buisy finishing the guitar. I have to wait a day everytime a clear coat dries. I got 3 coats of clear on it, i have to sand it flat after that, but i dont have the polish machine, so i can`t get that professional shine...

I am doing some other stuff in the mean time.

New soundboards : https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCzTdx2VIAACN_w.jpg:large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCzTdOOUIAA-raK.jpg:large

Blackwash top :

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CC3t3WHUIAAUxc-.jpg:large
Making my first rosette :

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCuzGszWYAEDf1_.jpg:large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCzSwVcUkAAtYv_.jpg:large

Getting old projects out of the closet, 10 year old dust on this strat.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCjnsFPUwAECV0y.jpg:large

I just got this in the mail! Laser engraved stainless steel plates!!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CC3wp0LWMAE45XS.jpg:large

Making a bed for the plate :

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CC3-mJPVIAA0myB.jpg:large

Gluing it in :

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CC3-m6QVIAEbNF2.jpg:large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CC4QyisUIAAiwj2.jpg:large

Jim.S 04-18-2015 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by littlesmith (Post 4457001)
Been buisy finishing the guitar. I have to wait a day everytime a clear coat dries. I got 3 coats of clear on it, i have to sand it flat after that, but i dont have the polish machine, so i can`t get that professional shine...

You don't need a stationary buffer to get a pro shine Koen. You can do it on a limited budget with one of these.....



In the vid Allen uses a air tool but you can use a power tool although they are not as nice to hold as the air tool.

littlesmith 04-19-2015 04:56 AM

That`s impressive! I used to have a bigger hand held thing on electricity, but i could not get a good result and a cloth got snagged in the axl and i blew it up, hehe. This small thing really has a rood RPM for this job, the result is very nice. Thank you.

littlesmith 04-20-2015 01:40 PM

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDDnYB0WEAEpQTW.jpg:large

The red one is the first mold, that has the shape of the final guitar on a flat surface, then you make the anti shape mold, that you see on the left in light green. Now you can start making a guitar, haha.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDDm6WqW8AAOZ1s.jpg:large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDDm6_OW0AA-WR_.jpg:large

Working on nr 2 and 3 :

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDDlNnIWAAEfth7.jpg:large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDDw6E8WgAA8YPS.jpg:large

Very frustrating, this mold was only inteded for a 1 time use, now i have to build 2 more guitars with it, or sell something else to make a new mold.

Thats gonna be like 2000 for the unibody mold with self heating. BUt i need a full set of new molds, 1 per job. Unibody gets made in mold 1, mod 2 is trim unibody edge with mill, etc.

I am making new fancy master templates, for some absurd unknown reason there are no master molds to be found for this old mold, i think i used it in the plug to make it higher. Another lesson learned, save all your templates in 1 location, of everything you ever made.

These new templates do not match up with the old molds, becasue it had improvements. BUt you can`t blame the tools, although money is liturally possibilities. I don`t want to put the risk of a production quality enhancement on crowdfunding supporters. If i want to put the risk on myself i need a loan, which is undesirable for a variety of reasons.

I just have to make 2 more guitars with the old mold and try to sell all 3. Then i could enhance production quality with fuil new mold set (more then 10 different).

Use what ya got, etc.

Cut cut cut! I started to make rosettes :
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDDaPerUsAAOteD.jpg:large

That rosette on the black top above is a 0.5 mm thick piece of bamboo rosette i cut out of a sheet on some kind of weird glue backing film. I think that is supposed to stay on, but you can`t sand it much or you will go through very easaly..

J.R. Rogers 04-20-2015 03:35 PM

Looking good!! I like your rosette idea. Hopefully you can work out the business and keep improving your design.

JR


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