SOUND CHECK
DON ’ T LET THE SUBMERSIVE TRAGEDY GIVE COMPOSITE GUITARS A BAD NAME
The entire world watched the tragic story of the submersive Titan vehicle and the loss of five human beings trying to dive down to the wreck of the Titanic ship deep down on the bottom of the ocean .
A large part of the submersive was made of composite carbon fiber material and now conversations are ongoing concerning the bonding of titanium materials to the composite fiber main body of the vehicle . The challenge of deep-sea diving to that level is the PSI ( or pounds per square inch ) pressure on the craft itself .
How does this relate to guitar making ? In some ways the blending of two different materials in construction of guitars has been going on for over 50 years . Look at Ovation guitars – taking a molded Lyramold body and attaching a wood top to it . They certainly have been successful at that .
Then there are all-composite guitars . I met the Plasma physicist Dr . John Decker of RainSong guitars more than two decades ago . He gave me a tour of his factory in Hawaii and I saw first- hand how the injection mold bodies were made and the sheets of carbon fiber are applied . The damping is constant across the acoustic spectrum resulting in a full range of sound -- from a treble that rings with crystalline clarity to a bass that is warm without being muddy .
Now several other makers have come along with composite guitars touting the same benefits I heard from the doctor … the instruments are lighter than wood and stronger than steel . They are impervious to weather and humidity . My son Drew recently discovered how wood guitars can be affected by a change in environment … he drove from Arizona to Rhode Island and now his custom luthier acoustic needs a good truss rod neck adjustment as the instrument has reacted to the road trip and change in humidity .
All of this to say , “ Don ’ t throw the baby out with the bathwater ” when you hear about composite materials now in the news .
I played bass this past Sunday on our worship team and the song “ He Reigns ” written by Peter Furler and Steve Taylor was one of the
songs in the worship set . I remembered that years ago Peter had asked me what I might suggest for him guitar-wise for an upcoming trip from Nashville to Australia and back . I told him that a composite guitar was the way to go ( for aforementioned reasons ) plus you can throw it in with the checked baggage on the plane and not worry about it getting destroyed . I sold him a CA ( Composite Acoustic ) guitar I had on hand .
A good amount of time passed and then the next time I was interviewing Peter , I told him how much I liked the song “ He Reigns ”. He smiled at me and told me that while in Australia he had written that song on the CA guitar .
How cool is that ? Today , it is still one of my top 10 worship songs …
Lord Bless You as You Serve Him !
Bruce & Judy
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