Cellulose Microcrystals

[Annoying Twit]

Stronger than carbon fibre and 1/10 the cost of carbon fibre and kevlar.

Could this be a material for making bass parts in the future?

http://www.gizmag.com/cellulose-nanocrystals-stronger-carbon-fiber-kevlar/23959/

[alyctes]

Good when dry... not so much when wet. It would need careful sealing. You would not, for instance, want to sweat on it.

[PlungerModerno]

This could be the future - but for cost and simplicity - I'd imagine other composite materials will remain the primary ingredient in bassmaking. After metals of course. And good old wood. Or good dry wood. Or at least OK wood that's good enough for a solidbody instrument.

[Annoying Twit]

Good point about the moisture sensitivity. And I agree that other composite materials may be the future. I've been curious about carbon fibre instruments, but it is very expensive. I'm not sure if there's a chance that carbon fibre may become cheaper in the future. I found the article about carbon nanocrystals (not carbon 'micro crystals' - my bad) when I google searched "when will carbon fibre be cheaper than wood" or something similar.

I'm curious about the basses that have been made using 3D printers (picture below). They sometimes have an open lattice of plastic and are mainly air. I wonder how they avoid significant neck dive as the bodies must weigh a lot less than standard wood. Since then, I've seen the bass made from layers of plexiglass (I presume) that KodiakBlair posted in the ebay forum thread on acrylic guitars. All of those got me thinking about alternative materials for basses.

Edited May 28, 2015 by Annoying Twit

[PlungerModerno]

Well as long as the construction is suitably strong - similar air pockets (or other weight saving construction) should allow a similarly light neck.

Good design should be able to find a way - as long as the centre of mass is positioned to the advantage of the player - the bass should be very playable.