Peter wrote: > > Such a thing has been partly done; a carbon fibre belly was used on a lute by > Charles Besnainou (reported on this list once or twice long ago). There's a bit of a > story and a photo at > http://www.msen.com/~violins/news/strad/apr99/space_age_strad.html
It's interesting that he made the belly out of carbon fiber rather than the body. This is just the opposite of what one would expect from attempting to use synthetics for a stringed instrument. The Ovation guitar, for example, was built with a spruce top on a fiberglass body. Terrible sound. Way too muted and thunky sounding for my tastes. I've never liked Ovations for that reason. I'm afraid that for me nothing but wood will suffice when it comes to lute or guitar. You just won't get the richness of tone out of synthetic materials. Craig
