Carbon Fiber Wrap / Hydro Dip

[sissy kathy]

Almost forgot. Some local guys are making glider wings and fuselages by laying up CF on foam cores, then once everything is cured, they pour gasoline into the part and melt the foam core then flush it out, but they are obsessing over grams so it might be more work than it's worth for an instrument body, but it does beg the question of what a foam core bass body laid up with CF and bagged might weigh versus a layup over a wood core.

I almost bought a cheap little Chinese lap steel at a pawn shop recently just to use for a pattern to carve a foam core and make a laid up CF body for it. Fortunately sanity prevailed and I let it go, for now.

I'd think that would produce neck dive so severe you wouldn't be comfortable playing it. You may also have problems attaching the neck, p/u, & bridge.

 

[Will_White]

I'd think that would produce neck dive so severe you wouldn't be comfortable playing it. You may also have problems attaching the neck, p/u, & bridge.

If it was me I would do the middle part where everything connects in aluminum u channel or tube and then foam around that for shape and put the carbon fiber around that with a headless system and/or a carbonfiber neck it might work.... Dang it stop putting ideas in my head

 

[CosmoReverb]

I'd think that would produce neck dive so severe you wouldn't be comfortable playing it. You may also have problems attaching the neck, p/u, & bridge.

I imagine that you could solve two birds by having an inner channel of wood or some such material that you could carve and screw into and also serve as a counterweight.

I would imagine that the tougher part would be a way to cleanly extract all of the melted foam goo out of the chamber assuming that it was sealed. This might be a fun method to do separate fronts and backs which you can then epoxy together though I suppose a "negative mold" setup is the more preferable way to do that. (Since I believe that is what is usually used.)

 

[fhm555]

If it was me I would do the middle part where everything connects in aluminum u channel or tube and then foam around that for shape and put the carbon fiber around that with a headless system and/or a carbonfiber neck it might work.... Dang it stop putting ideas in my head

I was thinking about a central core of wood or metal to work around. Take it a step further and build a neck through without body wings, then carve them from foam, lay them up, remove the cores and attach. I make rods for people with upper torso/arm strength issues which enable them to get long casts with limited strength and/or mobility issues and it's mostly about how the rods are weighted and where the balance point is. If you had a neck through foundation to build on, it would be easy enough to adjust the balance point to just about any place (within reason) you wanted it to be. The further away from the balance point you move, the less weight it takes to adjust, so devise a system where you could add or subtract weight on an insert that also held the rear strap button.

 

[sissy kathy]

Gotcha.....I was kind of thinking I would ask them to

Thanks for the help Goad!

They send inst, no sweat.

 

[Helix]

I got the body back today.....to say the least, I think it came out pretty awesome!!

 

[wraub]

Well, I guess it was worth a try. Too bad it didn't work out.

I suppose, if you want, you could toss that body my way, as it's clearly not good enough to move forward with.
A shame, really.




That came out great!

 

[Helix]

Well, I guess it was worth a try. Too bad it didn't work out.

I suppose, if you want, you could toss that body my way, as it's clearly not good enough to move forward with.
A shame, really.




That came out great!

I know, I don't know what I was thinking........well, live and learn

Thanks Wraub! Now to put it all back together.

 

[MPU]

I got the body back today.....to say the least, I think it came out pretty awesome!!


View attachment 665027 View attachment 665029

Looks good but nothing like real twill carbon.

 

[Helix]

Complete

The plan was to contour the slab body to provide some relief for the forearm and to lighten it up a little. And instead of the regular paint or natural finish I wanted to try something out of the box……I think it came out pretty good

Thank you everyone who chimed in. I learned a whole new approach to finishes………..I really appreciate all your help!

Old and New pics below

 

[sissy kathy]

Nice looking bass; on an unrelated note, my niece likes your rug.

 

[Will_White]

Complete

The plan was to contour the slab body to provide some relief for the forearm and to lighten it up a little. And instead of the regular paint or natural finish I wanted to try something out of the box……I think it came out pretty good

Thank you everyone who chimed in. I learned a whole new approach to finishes………..I really appreciate all your help!

Old and New pics below

That looks sweet . How do the sides look?

 

[Helix]

That looks sweet . How do the sides look?

Here's a top shot. If you look close you can see the seam. You don't even notice unless your looking for it

But it also shows how I shaved the slab body to get that relief for the forearm and belly and to get rid of some of the weight. I think I dropped maybe 2lbs of wood

 

[handofseven]

Super cool, man! I dig it!

 

[Helix]

Super cool, man! I dig it!

Thanks man!

 

[Hopkins]

This turned out really well, regardless of weather or not it looks exactly like real carbon fiber wrap or not. Its good enough that it would have fooled a layman like myself

 

[Helix]

This turned out really well, regardless of weather or not it looks exactly like real carbon fiber wrap or not. Its good enough that it would have fooled a layman like myself

Thanks Hopkins....Coming from a builder, that means a lot!

I think with my skill level I would have had a lot of trial and error (and frustration) with the wrap, and I couldn't find anyone in town to take on the challenge.

With the Hydro Dip there were are a few shops in town ready to take on the job, so that wade heavily on my decision.

 

[tdogg]

that looks awesome! Personally, I think I would be looking for a mirrored/chrome pickguard

 

[tdogg]

Hmmm.....I didnt think of that.

Its never to late to change the PG

Or clear. That CF is just too flippin cool to cover up! I'm curious if a "chrome" PG would match the chrome hardware, or if it would clash.

 

[Goad]

you can do carbon fiber in different colors too. Maybe a pick guard? Looks great!!
Sorry I just saw this update!!