Sound Board for Stringed Instrument (Ovation Guitar Composite Top)
3,880,040
1975
Charles H. Kaman
US
Composite multi-ply sound board construction using graphite fiber and wood laminate for stringed instruments
6 drawings
This patent describes a multiple-ply sound board for the top of a hollow-body guitar, featuring inner and outer plies of oriented graphite fiber material embedded in a resin matrix, sandwiching one or more medial plies of wood. The high stiffness-to-weight ratio of the graphite fiber plies allows the overall sound board thickness to be reduced compared to conventional all-wood sound boards, improving tonal brilliance and harmonic response. The invention was developed by Charles Kaman of Farmington, Connecticut, associated with Ovation Instruments.