Official Luthiers Forum!

Instead of setting the CF Rods all the way in the neck, do any of you set them in so they are a little proud and then route that given depth into the underside of the fretboard? Once glued up, wouldn't this make for an even stiffer and stronger neck unit? Perhaps THIS is overkill?

I believe there's a few people who do it that way.....but I can't remember who right now. I use thin fingerboards so I can keep more meat in the neck. I'm afraid I'd get into the fret slots.

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I've done it that way on a few and stopped. I came to the conclusion that there was no reason to do it that made it worth the trouble. It's also likely that it would make it more difficult to remove the fretboard.

From an engineering standpoint, one could probably make a case either way but I tend to think that putting it closer to the back of the neck gets it further away from the neutral axis and makes it more structurally efficient on the tension side. Of course, the opposite argument could be used for moving it to the compression side but my hunch is that it does more good on the tension side.

I think I recall Rick Turner talking about doing it that way but I'm not sure.

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from and engineering stand point , why ? I see no reason that it would be a benifit.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

If you typically cut your CF slots 3/8" deep and change to over 1/4" in the neck and 1/8" in the fingerboard, this will indeed make the neck stiffer as the outter fibers of the carbon fiber are further away from the neutral axis of the neck.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Only on the compression side.
It will leave the tension side fibres closer to the neutral axis which is not desirable.

Did I call it or what?

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I think the guy that originally came up with this idea(Rick Turner?) used it so he could get more CF in the neck such as 1/2" deep rather than 3/8".
It was not just moving the existing size bar up into the fretboard.

Sounds like over kill to me I've got guitars that are 20 years old with just regular good ole truss rods in them that are straight as arrows. I do put CF bars in my classical builds now, just in case...

No, you don't want to do that. In fact, the deeper those rods are in the neck, the greater their ability to stiffen the neck. I bury my .125x.325" rods down about .125" and cover them with a wood spline.

Sure wouldn't be much fun to remove a FB with a CF rod embedded in it...

Dave,
Do you align the rods so that the .325" is laying parallel to the fretboard or perpendicular? To best oppose the string tension, it would need to be perpendicular.

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The slots are .125, and about .5" deep, and are parallel to the centerline.