Superwood a modern technology for guitars builders?

PLOP

fretmeister said:

It's a bit weird the extent to which guitarists won't try other materials that are already well developed - like carbon fibre.

There's always "It sounds artificial" type arguments which usually fail under blind testing.

The makers of phenomenally good CF instruments Luis & Clark Instruments | Superior Sound of Carbon Fiber did a bunch of blind testing with their violins, cellos and double basses and while every acoustic instrument sounds different even when made from the same materials there were lots of situations when the CF instrument was preferred.

I'm not one for saying that new ideas shouldn't be explored, but whenever there is a new "wood-type" material invented guitarists seem to reject the concept completely without trying it anyway.

I don’t believe in electric guitar tone wood. 

And I think it’s fairly sensible to assume that had carbon fibre been available when the early violins/cellos etc were built then they’d have used that, because it’s a superior material. They used wood because its what they had that did the job, not because it has special tone characteristics. 

BillDL

Personally I think that the manufacture of "superwood" is really just trading one carbon footprint for another (bearing in mind the potential problems with recyclability), and to accommodate the replacement of traditional steel, concrete and plastics in many areas of construction it will require the planting of more managed softwood forests in areas where they will not adversely affect the ecology of those areas.

The construction industry will presumably use laminated "superwoods", whereas guitar building would likely call for "solid" planks of it.  Solidbody guitar building is already experimenting with alternative products but, while there has been some experimentation with alternative products in acoustic guitars, it's unlikely that superwoods will be adopted nearly as widely as they may be in solidbody guitars.

Sporky

PLOP said:

And I think it’s fairly sensible to assume that had carbon fibre been available when the early violins/cellos etc were built then they’d have used that, because it’s a superior material. They used wood because its what they had that did the job, not because it has special tone characteristics. 

CFRP isn't better than wood in every regard though. It's far nastier to work with, and has a much bigger environmental impact.

Wood is a superb material for a lot of things. 

stonevibe

Brio said:

This seems to explain the process better.
https://youtu.be/fB60TiL2jFk?si=9k02Rrjc_7jjSoew

Nice, I'll add that to my article. As has more useful info.

stonevibe

elstoof said:

Regular wood seems to be strong enough for guitars without having to fuck about with chemical processes, no

If it were immune to humidity changes, then it could be great for acoustics.

stonevibe

I had a reply from them today, so I'll stay in touch and pass along any questions. I have a few luthier mates who are interested in using their product, so it could be good to try some out.

Reply below

Thank you so much for reaching out, and for your interest in SUPERWOOD! And LOVE this article - thank you so much for covering us and for sharing.

And yes, SUPERWOOD’s high strength, durability, and compatibility with standard woodworking tools suggest it could be workable for guitar making, since it can be cut, routed, drilled, and finished much like dense hardwoods. Its ability to retain natural wood grain and accept stains or paints may also be beneficial for customizing both aesthetics and tone. However, we don’t have direct confirmation or tested guidance on using SUPERWOOD specifically for guitars, so its performance in that application would need to be evaluated before we could give you any real concrete info.

But we do appreciate you reaching out and we're here if any other questions come up. And thanks so much for sharing this article! We'll definitely be passing this along to the team.

ICBM

elstoof said:

Strength is meaningless without specifying how, ductile, tensile, stronger in compression, stronger resistence to oxidation etc. For example carbon fibre is incredibly strong in tension but woeful under compression, trying to pull a car with a rope as opposed to pushing a car with the same rope

Perhaps someone should have told Stockton Rush that before he built a submersible from it?

Oh wait… they did.