Did Fender ever make a Carbon Fiber Stratocaster?
Just curious.

Good question, but I don't know the answer. I've seen other brands of carbon fiber guitars and I've seen carbon fiber Fenders (automotive), but can't recall ever hearing or seeing a carbon fiber Stratocaster or fretboard.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

There are all kinds of carbon fiber products nowadays I think there was a corvette a few years back that used carbon fiber and balsa composite structure for a frame, I understand CF is also being considered for aircraft construction - I remember reading up on CF bicycles which have become quite popular for bike racers these days and is standard equipment for teams who ride professionally in races like the tour de france. Formula 1 race cars use the technology as well.

Whereas carbon fiber is used in racing/aerospace applications to reduce weight go faster etc, I thought that for pro musicians who stand up on stage for several hours might benefit from a lightweight body.

What I learned about bicycle racing CF bikes is that while CF rivals aluminum and titanium in terms of weight, it is also somewhat fragile.
A crash can cause a scratch that can lead to compromising structural integrity thus structural failure an obvios safety issue.
(side note: CF bikes fully equipped can weigh as little as 12-13 lbs! and
a strat body should weigh something to the tune of sub 1 lb)
But a strat or tele (or any guitar for that matter), would not be concerned
about safety as much as tone. I've heard it said that they don't sound too bad as an accoustic as someone made one recently (forget who)

I imagine that such a carbon strat body would incorporate a lightweight wood or foam core for structural reinforcement.
barring all other considerations, the only thing about a CF body would be expense. It might take twice as long to make opposed to traditional wood cut/shaped/routed bodies.

I also imagine that considering it's cost, it would probably add $1000 (maybe more) to a typical American Strat. Which is why I would think that if such a body were tonally and structurally successful, it would still be somewhat exclusive due to production costs. And..... if what I read about
the future of CF, it wouldn't necessarily drop in price any time soon due to scarcity of the material on the market as building an airplane of CF requires a lot of CF and that is before labor time considerations which I understand means that each body is hand made and cannot (yet) be made by automated machinery.

It would be interesting to see one built and try it out for comparison's sake
if nothing else. I think it would have some "Cool" factor going for it but would it catch on? That I am unsure of.

Anyone know anything about the Aluminum Strat of the mid 90s?

The Harley Davidson strats???

If you mean those, you'll pay a small fortune for one, if you can find one for sale.

Scratch that, this guys got one for sale.

Harley strat

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No no and no

I don't believe Fender ever made a carbon Stratocaster. They did make a Lucite (looks like clear plastic) Stratocater.


http://www.strat-central.com/external/L ... at.asp.htm

Paris
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I wonder what these Copper Casters sound like :

http://www.alumisonic.com/vintage-copper.html

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Now that is cool

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(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

18lbs? Heavy? I got more weight than that in my pot belly!
Slash could play that strat easy with his trademark leanback stance.
I tried it myself playing Air Slash Sweet Child o Mine complete with
Air Top Hat and Air mirror shades.
The belly was out there, let me tell ya!
But I was knockin' 'em dead and punchin' em out with my rugged good looks. The Air Audience was floored!

Plexiglass and Lucite were common modeling materials in industry back then. Today a lot of that stuff is done on computer using 3D graphics and
occasionally such old school materials will still be used when so desired
as a means to fabricate a part that either cannot be virtually modeled or
when a physical presentation model requires it's use.

Anyway, again, intentionally or not, Leo Fender (and Co.) was well ahead of their time.

I remember seeing a plexiglass strat but I didn't know it was this same one.

To my knowledge Carbon Fiber is currently the latest technology being incorporated into products once made with other materials.

hmmmm.... Graphite...
It's used in golf clubs and fishing rods.
Graphite guitar strings????

Ok, Carbon Fiber Body, Maple Neck, Graphite Strings.
Titanium Bridge Block, Stainless frets and hardware, Aluminum ........... as the King of Siam would say, etceterahhhh, etceterahhhhh, etceterahhhh.

My dad has a carbon fibre violin bow. And these types of materials have been used in the Parker Fly guitar since the '90s (a moulded carbon-glass-epoxy reinforced fingerboard, for example).

However, given that Fender players have been agonising about polyester and urethane finishes on their guitars for 40 years and the company has had to spend five mil building new facilities at Corona to spray the vastly out-moded nitrocellulose due to customer demand - I think there'd be a bloody revolution if Fender thought about using modern materials in the actual structure of the instrument.

Us guitar players are an amazingly backward looking lot...

Cheers - C