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Double Bass Building Instruments from Styrofoam ?

#6
Its innovative...Its cool....'can't argue with the voice.....just like many of the newer balsa wood creations that are blowing the doors off tradition....

....and it will make for one hell of a show when I light it on fire smash it into 10,000 pieces at a gig and then show up with a new one the next week for less than the price of a single Olive string! Could I use a water soluble styrofoam and then just dissolve it as the last set fades out???;););)
 
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#9
I read a bunch of articles about this, but couldn't find any real details. It appears to me that "styrofoam cover over wood" is maybe a translation error, and that they mean it's a styrofoam top. From the photo it looks like the body is constructed entirely out of styrofoam, with a strip of wood down the center to keep the bridge from pushing through, and as a way to hold the neck. The bits of wood at the C bouts are probably there only to keep the bow from digging gouges, but if you look at the F holes (well just racetracks actually) it doesn't seem like there's any wood under the table. I'm sure they will release more details when and if the patents get approved.

Personally, I'm all for it. If this is viable for the bass, then we could do away with chopping down trees to make BSO's and maybe even plywoods.
 
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#11
drurb said:
I hear that styrofoam from the Markneukirchen region has particularly desirable sonic qualities.
Click to expand...
There are a lot of weather/climate issues to consider. Markneukirchen was the place for styrofoam a few years back, but I think that the Dolomites region currently produces a better product. You have to be a proper plastics luthier to really know, I guess.
 
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#12
This is Styrofoam on steroids - known to all Plastics Luthiers.

Invalid Link Removed


The structural foam that has that certain something
norm_land_rohacell-sw.jpg

The principle of increasing stiffness of a composite structure by means of sandwich construction is now well established. ROHACELL®, PMI-based structural foam has been used in fiber-composite technology for more than 30 years. And it is by no surprise that ROHACELL® still dominates in the area of high-grade lightweight sandwich construction. ROHACELL®’s success can be attributed to the following:

  • Excellent mechanical properties over a wide temperature range, even at low densities
  • High temperature resistance up to 220°C
  • Unique compressive creep behavior for processing up to 180°C and 0.7 MPa
  • Excellent dynamic strength
  • Cell sizes that can be tailored for each processing method
The 100 percent-closed-cell foam uptakes resin only in the exposed cut cells at the surface. This prevents excess resin from infiltrating further into the foam, which would add unnecessary weight, and also provides an adequate means of restraining the ROHACELL® by way of vacuum fixation during mechanical processing. ROHACELL® can be processed by common machining methods which include milling, drilling, turning, and sanding. ROHACELL® can also be thermoformed into complex geometries.
 
#13
robobass said:
There are a lot of weather/climate issues to consider. Markneukirchen was the place for styrofoam a few years back, but I think that the Dolomites region currently produces a better product. You have to be a proper plastics luthier to really know, I guess.
Click to expand...
It seems that opinions differ. It just shows that no one type of styrofoam is right for every player. YMMV. Still, best to stay away from the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. :D
 
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#14
The styrofoam is not just a cover on top of a wooden top. It replaces the the wooden top. The structural part of the instrument holding the strings is still made out of wood. I just wanted to share the idea because it might lead to a EUB with DB sound.
 
#15
robobass said:
I read a bunch of articles about this, but couldn't find any real details. It appears to me that "styrofoam cover over wood" is maybe a translation error, and that they mean it's a styrofoam top. From the photo it looks like the body is constructed entirely out of styrofoam, with a strip of wood down the center to keep the bridge from pushing through, and as a way to hold the neck. The bits of wood at the C bouts are probably there only to keep the bow from digging gouges, but if you look at the F holes (well just racetracks actually) it doesn't seem like there's any wood under the table. I'm sure they will release more details when and if the patents get approved.

Personally, I'm all for it. If this is viable for the bass, then we could do away with chopping down trees to make BSO's and maybe even plywoods.
Click to expand...

TheBass said:
The styrofoam is not just a cover on top of a wooden top. It replaces the the wooden top. The structural part of the instrument holding the strings is still made out of wood. I just wanted to share the idea because it might lead to a EUB with DB sound.
Click to expand...

According to Invalid Link Removed, it is a wooden instrument with a 1.5 cm-thick covering of styrofoam. The video even explicitly states that it's a cover. I don't think it's an error in translation at all. The Strad published Invalid Link Removed, which states the same. That the top is wood covered by a thin styrofoam layer seems very clear in the picture Invalid Link Removed. In the picture, from what I see, the entire top is wood and the decorative "f-holes" cut in the styrofoam expose what looks to be the same wood as that at the center. Furthermore, the picture reveals the thin edges of the styrofoam. The styrofoam appears to be thicker at the actual vertical sound holes next to the bridge. That could give some the misleading impression that the entire top is made of styrofoam because the styrofoam apparently overlaps the wood at the cuts.

This all seems quite consistent with the stated goal of the student, which was to amplify the sound of an existing cello.

It sure is an intriguing effect. I wonder if it yields a sound that is not just louder, but better.
 
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#16
Thanks for your correction, @drurb . I guess you are right. I lookied at the pictures in the video, specially the .. kind of "f-holes" where I couldn't find any wood underneath. The Cello also doesn't seem to be build like a normal Cello covered by a styrofoam top. It seemed to be a special build with a styrofoam top only. I guess I was wrong here. The belgian / dutch audio doesn't give any information about this either.
 
#17
TheBass said:
Thanks for your correction, @drurb . I guess you are right. I lookied at the pictures in the video, specially the .. kind of "f-holes" where I couldn't find any wood underneath. The Cello also doesn't seem to be build like a normal Cello covered by a styrofoam top. It seemed to be a special build with a styrofoam top only. I guess I was wrong here. The belgian / dutch audio doesn't give any information about this either.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I was just trying to get to the truth of how it's built. You are quite right, though, that it is not a regular cello simply covered with styrofoam. Now, I wish I understood how the effect comes about. :)
 
#20
Bisounourse said:
The scription/dissertation (in Dutch) can be found here: Invalid Link Removed

Pictures of the actual body can be found on page 32; the top is styrofoam, the body is wood.
Click to expand...
That picture shows the instrument with no top at all. Is there something in the text that specifies that the top is styrofoam? Pictures of the finished instrument clearly show some wood. The text seems to speak of strengthening with veneer, but I don't claim to be able to read Dutch.
 
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