So, it hit me. While searching my desk, I found this: 13 Tips for More Effective Time Management. Entry 10 hit me hard:

AVOID BEING A PERFECTIONIST. In the Malaysian culture, only the gods are considered capable of producing anything perfect. Whenever something is made, a flaw is left on purpose so the gods will not be offended. Yes, some things need to be closer to perfect than others, but perfectionism, paying unnecessary attention to detail, can be a form of procrastination.

OK, so instead of “perfect” blog entries, I’ll simply churn out stuff as it goes.

Luis and Clark Carbon Fiber Cello

Recently, improved manufacturing techniques are reducing the cost of carbon fiber. Carbon fiber is now becoming a mainstream material finding its way into applications that require durability, high-strength, low weight and insensitivity to humidity and temperature changes. Its exceptional strength-to-weight ratio is the main reason why it is a material of choice in the aerospace industry and much later, for F1 race cars and high end sports cars. Now, it is increasingly common in consumer goods such as tennis racquets, golf clubs, archery equipment, tripods, fishing rods, laptops, bicycle frames and parts, aftermarket automotive body-panels and parts, and… you guessed it, musical instruments.

Stockbridge Summer Music’s 18^th season, July 7, 2003, was an unusual event. Cellist Luis Leguia gave the opening recital featuring standard works from Bach, Vivaldi, Faure, and Kodaly, with a cello made not from wood, but carbon fiber. The cello is his creation.  In 1989, he began experimenting on a prototype carbon fiber cello in his basement. The result is an instrument with exceptional sonic quality, projection and volume; good enough for the discerning professional musician. A decade later, Luis Leguia started his company named Luis and Clark and began building carbon fiber violins, violas, cellos and double basses. Now, a carbon fiber cello costs $7,139.

Carbon fiber is stronger than even the hardest wood. There is no comparison. It has a tensile strength of 565 kN/cm² which is more than 10 times than that of steel with a tensile strength of 37 kN/cm. Yet, it is 4 times lighter.

But then again, a strong material does not necessarily make a good instrument. Early carbon fiber composite based instruments sounded dull and lacking in character, noted Charles Besnainou, an instrument builder at the Paris Conservatoire and France’s National Center for Scientific Research. Since 1986, Charles has been studying and building composite instruments. Over time, he has learned the fine art of tweaking the balance between the material’s rigidity and flexibility (its viscoelasticity) to make the response more like “tonewood”.

Does that sound familiar? Is this again another case of “tuning” the material?

From the descriptions above, it is immediately apparent that carbon fiber is a suitable candidate for building guitars which require high strength to counteract the tendency of the strings to pull the head towards the body with a total tension in excess of 45 kilos (99 lbs) while being extremely low weight and thus less fatiguing to carry around.

A process, called a wet layup, involves laminating multiple sheets of carbon fiber fabric soaked with two part epoxy resin and laid up over a fiber glass mold. Before layup, the mold is first prepped by polishing it with carnuba wax and applying a thin layer of release agent, typically PVA, to ease separation when the resin cures. After layup, the laminate and mold are placed inside a plastic vacuum bag. Air is drawn out using a vacuum pump to eliminate bubbles from forming and to remove excess resin. The piece is then set aside to allow the piece to cure. This is the same process used in fabricating fiber glass composites.

Here’s a small gallery of musical instruments made of carbon fiber:

“The Handle” by XOX Audio Tools	Blackbird Super OM	Carbon Fiber Mandolin by NewMAD
G1 Seven by Gus Guitars	Luis And Clark Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass
WS1000 6-string acoustic by Rainsong	Flute by Maltit	Adamas 2080

Links

1. Japan Carbon Fiber Manufacturers Association
2. Carbon fiber
3. Bacon’s breakthrough
4. Carbon-Fiber Cellos No Longer Playing Second-Fiddle to Wooden Instruments
5. A Summer Cello Expedition with Luis and Clark
6. Carbonfibre
7. 6 Sexy Carbon Fiber Guitars
8. Acoustic characteristics of carbon fiber-reinforced synthetic wood for musical instrument soundboards

This is the legend of the first man and woman according to Philippine oral tradition. Several creation related legends exist throughout Asia. In Malaysia, a similar legend tells of a man discovering the beautiful woman of his dreams emerge from a bamboo tree he split open. In Hawaiian mythology, bamboo is the body form of Kane Milohai, the god who created the sky, earth and upper heaven.

The bamboo is firmly entrenched in many cultures throughout Asia for thousands of years. Some still believe the bamboo has mystical powers. In feng shui (an ancient Chinese art and science), it is known to promote positive energy flow (chi) and is sometimes used as medicine. In Japan, bamboo forests sometimes surround Shinto shrines as a barrier against evil spirits.

Bamboo is revered and is extensively depicted in art, poetry and literature especially in Southeast Asia. This plant has numerous meanings. Its durability and evergreen nature represent eternity, tradition, longevity, loyalty and fidelity. It is also the symbol of luck and wealth in China. In India, it is a symbol of friendship. In Vietnam, the bamboo symbolizes the Vietnamese soul.  In China, the bamboo, the plum blossom, the orchid and the chrysanthemum represent the four seasons and are known as the four noble plants. The bamboo is symbol of summer in China, and winter, In Korea. The Japanese call the bamboo, the pine tree, and the plum blossom, the “Three Friends in Winter”. Bamboo represents flexibility, the plum blossom represents beauty and the pine tree symbolizes survival through difficulty.

The Humble Grass

Yes, bamboo is a grass, members of the Gramineae (Poaceae) and grouped in different subfamilies, the Bambusoideae with some 1,400 species. The diversity makes it adaptable to diverse environments. It is native to all continents except the coldest regions such as Europe and the poles where they were wiped out during the recent ice age. Bamboo evolved from prehistoric grasses in what is now Asia in the Cretaceous period where it reached heights of 75 meters (250 feet) in vast, enormous forests.

Bamboo Forest

As a material of choice, it is sustainable and “rapidly renewable”. Bamboo is the fastest growing woody plant in the world with a growth rate of up to 90 centimeters (3 feet/day). Some species can grow as tall as 30 meters (100 feet) and more than 25 centimeters in diameter (10 inches). It grows to a harvestable height of 18 meters (60 feet) in about three to five years. After harvest, its extensive root system continually replenishes the plant with new shoots without the need for replanting; making it one of the most renewable resources available.

It is environmentally friendly. The plant absorbs more greenhouse gases (12 tons/hectare) and provides five times more oxygen than the equivalent surface area of trees. Bamboo cultivation does not require pesticides (it has natural anti-bacterial properties), fertilizers, heavy harvesting machinery or irrigation.

Bamboo is green in every sense of the word. It is traditional and even ancient yet so 21^st century!

When treated, bamboo forms a lightweight and exceptionally durable hard wood. High content of silicic acid gives the plant its extraordinary elasticity, hardness and strength. The tensile strength of bamboo (up to 40kN/cm²) is greater than that of steel (37 kN/cm²). It is known to be almost three times harder than oak and 16% harder than maple.

Bamboo is used as material for musical instruments predominantly in Asia since antiquity. Its tonal properties make it particularly suitable for musical instruments. Its hollow structure makes it a natural choice for building wind and percussion instruments. The fibers and natural resin that constitute bamboo material itself is very resonant due to its resilience and high elasticity. A narrow strip of bamboo flexed like a bow will freely oscillate when released and emit a pleasing “thooouummmnnn”  sound at its resonant frequency plus some overtones.

Let us see what the world of bamboo musical instruments has to offer. Here’s a sampler:

Traditional Instruments

Angklung

Angklung (Indonesia): Made out of two bamboo tubes tuned to octaves.

Shakuhachi (Japan): An end blown flute.

Shinobue (Japan): A high-pitched transverse flute.

Xiao (China): A vertical end blown flute.

Jinghu

Palendag (Philippines): A long slender lip-valley flute.

Dizi (China): A flute with an extra hole covered with a tissue-like membrane that gives the instrument a very unique timbre.

f’ohe hano ihu, meaning “bamboo, breath, nose” (Hawaii): A nose flute with 4 holes, one for the breath and the rest for the notes.

Shakuhachi

Nohkan (Japan): A high pitched, transverse flute made from smoked bamboo (susudake) or burned bamboo (yakidake).

Jegog (Indonesia): A large percussive instrument (3.3 meters in length and 18cm in diameter) with pitch as low as 60 hz.

Valiha (Madagascar): A bamboo tube zither. The Valiha is Madagascar’s national instrument.

Valiha

Rangguin (Malaysia): A Jaw harp consisting of a flexible bamboo strip attached to a frame. The bamboo strip is plucked using the mouth as a resonator.

Kuliteng (Philippines): A zither made from single bamboo section, three to four inches in diameter, with strings also made from bamboo.

Balingbing “Buzzer” (Philippines): A bamboo tube with slits on two sides allowing the halves to buzz when struck with the hand.

Bamboo Organ

Jinghu (China): A bowed instrument with two strings tuned in fifths.

Las Piñas Bamboo Organ (Philipines): Probably the largest bamboo instrument ever built, it was built in 1816 by Fray Diego Cera dela Virgen del Carmen. Made almost entirely of bamboo with 843 bamboo tubes out of a total of 900, only the trumpet stops are made from metal.

Modern Instruments

Yamaha FGB1: The world’s first all-bamboo acoustic guitar. Everything in this guitar is made from bamboo, the top, back, sides, neck and even the braces. The bamboo’s straight grain gives it a warm, crisp and resonant sound.

The Stick

Bamboo Saxophone: Philipus Jani of Sabah, Malaysia builds saxophones made entirely from bamboo. It took him 12 years to design and patent his creation.

The Stick: A revolutionary guitar-like instrument designed for  two-handed tapping. “Laminated bamboo is an ideal natural material for making Sticks. It’s lighter in weight and more rigid than hardwoods, and also has a very tough surface. Three tiers of 3/16″ wide ‘vertically’ laminated strips form an attractive ‘breadboard’ construction with maximum strength in the direction of string tension.”

Links

1. Bamboo Boom: Is This Material for You?
2. Earth Healing with Bamboo
3. What Is the Meaning of the Lucky Bamboo?
4. Three Friends in Winter
5. Mechanical properties of bamboo
6. World Instruments Gallery
7. Bamboo Orchestra
8. Yamaha Announces World’s First All-Bamboo Guitar
9. Strong as steel and environmentally sound, bamboo is branching out – The Boston Globe
10. Would a bamboo neck be feasible?
11. The Stick

All these theories miss a crucial element: the craftsman himself. I’d say that while the wood and the finish matter, it is the luthier’s skills more than anything else that is responsible for making a great instrument. Case in point: a Californian builder by Bob Taylor proved to the world that an outstanding instrument can be built regardless of the wood used. He built the infamous Pallet Guitar made from shipping pallets using various woods such as weathered oak and pine which are never regarded as tonewoods. Experts including C. F. Martin all agreed that Bob Taylor made his point.

My instinct as an engineer tells me that the real secret is in tuning the wood.

In the book “Clapton’s Guitar”, the author Allen St. John describes in great detail how Wayne Henderson, whom the author claims to be the world’s greatest guitar builder, built a guitar for Eric Clapton. One crucial step involves a process known as voicing the top. With his sharp whittling knife, Wayne slowly and meticulously trims away everything that is “not a guitar”.  Every once in a while, Allen recounts, Wayne stops and holds a piece of spruce up his ear, lightly tapping on the top and listening closely to the emanating overtones. Essentially, he is using his well trained ears as a very precise spectrum analyzer.

Joseph Nagyvary, a biochemistry professor at the Texas A&M University, claims to have made violins that sound as magnificent as the great Stradivarius. Such a tall claim, indeed, but what I find particularly interesting is that Nagyvary says he can tell a great violin from a mediocre one simply by looking at its spectrum and all great violins have similar spectrums. He continues: “And the pattern almost exactly reproduces that of the human voice. It’s no coincidence that listening to a great violin, played by a great violinist, can be such a powerful emotional experience.” I think that is a very good and crucial observation. Nagyvary experimented on various wood treatments until he replicated the spectrum he sought for.

In my course of research, I came up with similar accounts. Somewhere around the globe, in Heinävaara, Finland a group of experienced guitar luthiers and wood material experts doing extensive research and experimentation for many years came up with what they call Flaxwood, a moldable wood with exceptional tonal properties. I’m guessing this is another case of tuning the wood. Flaxwood is manufactured in an environment where the acoustic properties can be monitored, controlled and optimized.

Finally, in an article titled “The Heretic’s Guide to Alternative Lutherie Woods”, the author John Calkin from the Guild of American Luthiers (GAL), takes it to the extreme. He writes: “First of all (and speaking from a steel string guitar perspective), let’s discard the notion that some species of wood make good instruments and that others don’t. The concept of tonewood is a hoax. Of the few things that we can do to a guitar and still call it a guitar, changing the wood it is made of will have the least impact upon the quality of the sound that it produces”. He continues: “The tone of a guitar lies more in the hands of the builder than in the materials from which it is constructed.”

“The concept of tonewood is a hoax.”

Now his observations more or less confirm my suspicion all along!

The perception of sound is very subjective. How often do you hear people describe sound as “full bodied”, “fat”, “thin”, “open”, “airy”, “crunchy”, etc.? We try hard to associate the words with the sound we hear. Some descriptions are lightly amusing, some are outright hilarious. Take this comment from a purported audiophile expert, for example: “You will enjoy a pitch black background, deep, yet lightning fast bass, smooth midrange, and most importantly, seemingly limitless top end extension. Though not at all bright or fatiguing in any manner, Pure Palladium’s sparkling highs allow for the presence of the often coveted sense of air as well as glorious imaging and soundstage. This interconnect possesses the ability to untangle even the most complex pieces of music.” That’s for a $1,550.00 pair of 1.5 meter RCA cables!

The way we describe sound depends on various factors such as the weather, our mood at the moment or the recalled emotions from a movie with a similarly sounding soundtrack. To someone who just purchased a very expensive, “high end” audio cable, the sound can be “sweet” and “danceable”, but subject that person to a double blind test and he won’t notice the difference between his cables and another less expensive but well manufactured brand.

Fender Strat Spectrum (E2 Neck+Mid PU)

I cannot claim to have golden ears like, perhaps, Antonio Stradivari or Wayne Henderson. I can however discern minute nuance in sound given two sources. I was not gifted with perfect pitch, but I do, at least, have good sense for relative pitch and I can discern dissonance and feel the sub harmonic beats when something is out of tune or inharmonic. Apart from my ears, the greatest tool, I would say, is the computer in front of me and some expertise in digital signal processing (DSP) and analysis. It is said that some people, like those with perfect pitch, can visualize sound like colors. Fortunately, for the rest of us, we have such tools now. These are the tools I used to find the exact material for the Cycfi guitar.

Links

1. The Heretic’s Guide to Alternative Lutherie Woods
2. Clapton’s Guitar
3. Flaxwood
4. A Comparison of Wood Density between Classical Cremonese and Modern Violins
5. Wood density holds key to Stradivarius sweet sound
6. Mineral Preservatives in the Wood of Stradivari and Guarneri

Can we just shrug it off with the excuse that luthiers only require a small quantity of these exotic woods? Up until the early 20th century, musical instrument makers make use of Ivory, in piano keys, as ornaments, etc. Unlike in the past centuries, killing an elephant in the wild for whatever purpose, let alone for ornamentation, is now considered horrific. But aren’t we committing the same crime against these wonderful majestic trees?

Take Mahogany for example. This fine wood is used in guitars such as the Gibson Les Paul, the Gibson SG, and most of the PRS Guitars. The wood is particularly prized for its warm tone, good midrange response and rich high notes. The trees are barely usable at 80 years old but favorable at around 170 years old when it reaches half a meter in diameter.

The paradox is that musicians as a group tend to be pretty progressive and ecologically savvy and concerned — until it comes down to their guitar…. They don’t want to take the chance that they won’t have the absolute best tone. It requires a little bit of education and it requires them to see the product. – C.F. Martin & Co. head of artist and public relations Dick Boak.

I want to make a statement. I want to see my children and my children’s children see these magnificent trees standing as they were for hundreds of years. With the Alpha project, we will not be using any wood. Nil. Zilch. Nada. So for that matter, here goes our disclaimer:

No Trees Were Harmed During the Making of This Guitar

Yet, the question is: is there a substitute that will sound just as good? I believe there are many potential candidates both natural and synthetic waiting to be discovered. I spent the past 2 years, on and off, looking for viable alternatives and I think I found some plausible green and renewable candidates. They won’t sound exactly like your Les Pauls or your Stratocasters, but so what? The main goal is not to sound like a copycat anyway. If you want the sound of a Strat, then get a Strat.

Piqued your interest yet? Watch this space…

Details vary, but almost every solid body guitar you see today is based on the same basic configuration. A truss reinforced wooden neck, bolted, glued or running through the entire length of the guitar (thru-neck), a solid slab of wood for the body, geared tuning pegs, a bridge and tailpiece that terminates the strings on the guitar body, sometimes with tremolo, one two or three single or double coil “humbucker pickups”, volume and tone potentiometers (pots), a pickup selector switch, and an output jack.

While it is safe not to stray too far from the basic design, I say it is time to bring the guitar into the 21st century. Don’t be afraid to be radical. Don’t let the fear of non acceptance keep you from hyper jumping outside the comfort zone of the “tried and true”. Don’t be afraid of failure. Be as bold as you can ever be!

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”

—Albert Einstein.

It’s been two years since I started contemplating, designing, researching on the ideas behind this guitar and developing a couple of rough development prototypes. Most of the work done so far was for setting up the tools, the jigs and the workplace and searching for, analyzing and experimenting on various materials for the guitar body and neck. It would have been easy to just follow traditional construction techniques and use tried and true tonewoods such as alder, ash, maple, mahogany, ebony, rosewood (more on tonewoods later), etc., but then again, I want the guitar to have its own unique character that no other guitar possess.

After two years working on and off on the guitar, things are now falling into place. I have defined my goals and I now know exactly what I want, give or take a few minor details.

Welcome to Cycfi!