Guitars Made From Carbon Fiber

(calm guitar strumming)

We decided to launch a workshop here about how to build

a carbon fiber acoustic guitar, and the challenge was

to come down here in a specified period of time

and build a guitar, and at the end of it

perform with that guitar in a show.

Generally, it's a very straightforward process,

and we try to streamline it in our workshop

so that people would get there faster.

So the first step in this is basically

we had to find some sort of dimensions

for what a basic guitar would be,

and then we put them into this program, 123D Design,

and we're able to build in the program

a 3-D model of this guitar.

I really thought everyone would stick with a basic design,

but everyone wanted to change it.

So this is a bass guitar, and really the main difference

is just it's a little bigger body,

so the tone is a little deeper.

[Voiceover] This part on my guitar is actually wider

than the standard guitar most people are making.

My hope is to make an acoustic bass

that acts like a speaker.

[Voiceover] This is a little different

than the standard mold, because it has a cutaway.

[Voiceover] I decided to go ahead and cut out

the carbon in the back, and install a wood back.

A couple people are actually gonna try

to do a carbon fiber front, which I think is gonna be

a very different sound, and we're really not sure

what it's going to sound like yet.

The soundboard here, I cut on the laser printer,

and I designed everything in Adobe Illustrator,

and just cut out the lines.

It was a lot easier to design

than I thought it was going to be,

but getting everything fit together just right,

the devil is in the details on that.

I've been surprised by lots of things.

I didn't think you could build a guitar in just a few weeks.

The carbon fiber process is new to me,

and there were just lots of intricacies

in the guitar process.

I've taken very precise measurements of everything,

and try to use as much technology as I can,

so it's as precise as possible.

And so it's very nice to have the resources here,

because I wouldn't probably

have ventured to do this on my own.