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#1
09-06-2023, 06:51 PM
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Carbon fiber archtop build
I did a carbon fiber archtop with some very nontraditional bracing a while back so I thought I’d share some build pics. Finished product first
https://i.imgur.com/kAafATF.jpeg 
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#2
09-06-2023, 06:52 PM
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#3
09-06-2023, 07:02 PM
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First step was carving a mdf mold, made some templates along key sections and just eyeballed the areas in between. Some epoxy and polyurethane to seal it and lots of sanding
    
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#4
09-06-2023, 07:20 PM
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Cut and pre bent some spruce to go along the centerline
 Test fit in the vacuum bag to make sure it would conform  Hand layup with 2 plies of 300gsm 2x2 twill, peel ply, and bleeder cloth. Vacuumed down in a large storage bag (shop vac to rough it out and a hand pump to get to final vacuum  One out of the mold, shape is good but a little distortion in the weave where the reinforcement is.  
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#5
09-06-2023, 07:25 PM
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Second one for the back wrecked the mold and took a ton of work to clean up
  
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#6
09-06-2023, 07:35 PM
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Laminated some maple mahogany sides
 Instead of bracing this has two carbon fiber strips and an internal bridge I can pull vertically to counteract the string tension. Aim here was to have minimum weight to hold the static string forces (~180lbs along the string length and ~30lbs vertically from the bridge break angle) but as compliant as possible in torsion so the top can still rock back and forth to move lots of air. 
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#7
09-06-2023, 07:40 PM
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Top glued on with internal bridge in place
 Trimmed flush, you can see the carbon rod adjustment screws in this shot  Back glued on 
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#9
09-06-2023, 07:44 PM
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Mahogany neck with a spalted oak fretboard, carbon headstock veneer
  
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#10
09-06-2023, 07:50 PM
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Bridge and tailpiece
 Pickguard with two floating pickups and all electronics mounted to it (two slider pots hidden on the backside, one volume and one blend between the two pickups)   
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#11
09-06-2023, 07:53 PM
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And that’s that. For all the monkeying around with the internal structure I did compared to any regular guitar it sounds surprisingly normal.
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#13
09-07-2023, 11:19 AM
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That's amazing Carl! I admire your skills.
__________________
-Joe Martin 000-1 Rainsong CH-OM Martin SC10e sapele My Band's Spotify page https://open.spotify.com/artist/2KKD...SVeZXf046SaPoQ
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#14
09-10-2023, 03:48 PM
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Sounds good to me and it’s what I play most often these days. Brighter than other archtops I’ve made but still not as bright as a flat top. Volume wise I don’t notice much improvement with the light finger style stuff I noodle around with but it seems like with a pick I can get more volume out of it before it stops getting louder or starts sounding bad.
If I did it again I’d probably make the back rigid, I notice I loose quite a bit of volume if it’s held against my stomach which is hard to avoid when standing. Plugged in holding it tight helps with feedback a bit but acoustically it’s not ideal.
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#15
09-10-2023, 03:55 PM
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Sounds good to me and it’s what I play most often these days. Brighter than other archtops I’ve made but still not as bright as a flat top. Volume wise I don’t notice much improvement with the light finger style stuff I noodle around with but it seems like with a pick I can get more volume out of it before it stops getting louder or starts sounding bad.
If I had to do it again I’d probably make the back rigid, i loos some volume if it’s held against my stomach which is hard to avoid while standing. Acoustically it’s not ideal but plugged in you can stop some feedback if you hold it tight so not all bad. Any good way to share sound clips on here without setting up a YouTube or band camp account that’ll spam my email for all eternity?
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| Tags |
| archtop, carbon fiber, experimental |
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