Official Luthiers Forum!

A recent topic, that of which truss rod folks use, made me think about the use of Carbon Fiber for reinforcing the necks. It's been my experience that this practice is completely unnecessary, provided one has installed an adequate truss rod. In fact, I believe the practice is a waste of time and money. I still have access to several guitars that I made between 1979 and 1985. Back then I was using single-action truss rods that I had purchased from my old boss, Bozo Podunavac. The rods were of Japanese manufacture and the same design as the Martin single action rods sold by Stew Mac. Among those previously mentioned guitars is a 12 string that was equipped with medium strings and tuned to concert pitch for over two decades--I do NOT recommend that. None of those instruments, (or any of the subsequent ones) that I built have exhibited any neck issues at all.

So, not intending to pontificate, just to share my experience.

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michael propsom
www.propsomguitars.com

I found the benefits to be not worth the effort as well. My main interest was tuning stability when switching between alternate turnings. However I found that there is enough play in the top alone to still need to do micro adjustments anyway,,so for my purposes it's a meh.

The one good real benefit I could see is if you run the rods all the way into the headstock that it could very much help prevent the headstock from snapping from rough handling.

Burton LeGeyts method might be more useful, and reports on the 'd' rod look interesting.

I also use the carbon fiber in the neck but I'm thinking lately it might not add much benefit. On my current build i have yet to cut the channels for them. But then I have quite a few rods in the workshop. I might use a few of them then save the rest for the occasional 12 string.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

One thing I am most certain of, it can't hurt. For the 15 minutes it takes to install and the $10 or so worth of CF, I put it all guitars on the upper end of my pay scale. I think it looks good on the spec sheet. Mmmmmmmmmmm Carbon Fibre.

It doesn't hurt unless you sand too much off the back of the neck and expose them! Don't ask how I know this.

+1 to Michael's comments.

Also +1 to what Ed said about extending the CF through the head stock - especially with Gibson electric style builds where they are well known for head stock breaks.

I think the main benefit is to help prevent something that is most likely not going to happen......................especially with Mahogany necks.................that is twist. They surely will add some stiffness but should be either placed deep or allowed to come up into the board to get it away from the neutral central plane. The first option being the likely choice. I think they are a worthwhile effort if one is using a rod other then an epoxied Martin style U channel rod. When I used regular rods I would install two .125" by .375" CF beams as deep as I dared. They seem to work nicely.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

For acoustic guitars, carbon fiber is unnecessary insurance. It may make some difference for electric guitars, and is quite beneficial in bass necks.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon