carbon fiber soundpost

james condino · #1 02-13-2010, 10:06 PM

Has anyone tried a carbon fiber soundpost design? I've been lookng at some of the tubing from Dragonplate. They make a pretty stiff, thinwalled (.040" ID) 1" carbon fiber tuning that I have been eyeballing. The raw tubing alone would be a bit rough on the inside of the top and back plates; I was thinking about a spruce plug on both ends where the contact points are. Very low mass and high rigidity were the two reasons that came to mind for the experiment.

Currently I'm using the western red cedar soundpost that I posted a couple of months ago. I switch it out with a spruce one on a regular basis, but the difference is pretty subtle- probably due more to subtle location shifts than to composition. 'Still loving the trapdoor....more than ever.

j.

jonas · #2 02-14-2010, 06:59 AM

Nice idea. And easy to try out. The wooden plug will be necessary to make the SP fit. I'm looking forward to your review!

ctregan · #3 02-14-2010, 10:47 AM

As long as you can get your hand in there, have you ever thought of a sound post, that adjusts in hight?

lincland · #4 02-24-2010, 09:43 PM

I'm not sure I would use "tubing" if by that you mean hollow. I think that would not transfer sound very well. However, carbon fiber is a great material.

Having said that. I have some carbon fiber in my bass. it's extremely hard to work with. Harder to cut than steel, at least I thought so. But if you have the patience, and some luck, you might be well rewarded. Carbon fiber's stiffness allows faster response than wood, so in certain spots on the bass, it's great.

robobass · #5 02-25-2010, 02:20 AM

Sounds like a great idea to me, as long as you've got a metalworking lathe to make a clean cut and shape well matched plugs. I've used CF plate and it cut fine on a knee mill. It doesn't like being sawn, but maybe a chop saw with a super fine blade would work.

Andrew McGregor · #6 02-25-2010, 03:25 PM

In model aircraft practice, the usual advice is to work CF with metalworking tools. The other important bit of advice is DO NOT breathe the dust, it's carcinogenic and generally bad for your lungs.