Alpha

Design and Evolution

Carbon Fiber-Bamboo Guitar

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I have a quest, and that is to design and build a one of a kind concept guitar, the culmination of many years of experience, experimentation and pondering on my ultimate dream guitar. The basic solid body electric guitar design has not changed for over fifty years and it is time to bring the guitar into the 21st century. It will be nothing like you’ve seen before. I am a non traditionalist and I always think outside the box. I have never been bounded by the “standard” ways of doing things. The project will involve research on both the arts and science of lutherie, lots of experimentation and definitely trials and errors along the way.

I want to make a statement. I will not be using any wood. Instead, based on extensive research and development on alternative materials, I will be using Carbon Fiber composites together with Bamboo-epoxy laminates. If that sounds heretical to you, well, you can take the blue pill, stop reading now. If this somehow piqued your interest, then you can take the red pill: read on…

Exploded View

“Cycles”
Featuring the Cycfi Alpha
© 2012 Joel de Guzman

This site will detail my journey. I invite you to join me in my quest. You can read the blog with the standard latest entries first layout. Or, if you are like me who prefer a structured book style organization, you can get to the pages and from the table of contents provided below.

Contents

  1. Alpha
  2. Design Philosophies
    1. Break the Mold
    2. Be Green
  3. Background
    1. Tuning the Wood: On Tonewoods and Other Myths
    2. The Mystical Plant
    3. Black Steel
  4. Design
    1. Specifications
    2. Design
    3. 3D Solid Modeling
    4. Perfect Switching [ Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 ]
  5. Prototype
    1. Bamboo Preparation [ Part 1 | Part 2 ]
    2. Carbon-Glass Truss Rod
    3. Neck-Thru Construction[ Part1 | Part2 | Part3 ]
    4. Compound Radius Fretboard
    5. Pearl Inlays
    6. Neck Dressing
    7. Finally
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