Geneva Lux Festival

We had a great opportunity to be present at the Geneva Lux Festival and showcase our work together with light artist Felix Michel and alongside 17 other cool installations. The Festival runs until the 2nd of February. The structure is a deployable bamboo pavilion in the same family as our other BAMX like builds. Check out bamx.epfl.ch and genevalux.ch for more information. I've added an edited video to showcase the installation but it is something better experienced on the spot, some "blister eggs" from our design files and VR check as well. We're grateful for the many EPFL minions that helped fabricate the structure, on the lab side it's Filip Goc, Seiichi Suzuki, Mark Pauly and me. 

Infusing the carbon neck blank

The neck stock is ready, this time I infused transversely and as expected it infused faster, much less distance for the epoxy to travel. I was a bit concerned about the resin travel 90 degrees to the UD but it was a non issue. Will be making two headless necks from this carbon plank. About 14000gsm infused to about 14mm thick, approx 52% carbon fiber content on a rough estimate. Next job is milling the stock flat, then it's ready for shaping and bonding to the carbon backplate.

Infusing a thick carbon stack

I'm making some carbon stock for my next guitar(s). Too fiddly to make small parts so making stock for 2 guitars at a time. This is basically a very very high strength wood, kinda, it's about 67% UD along 0, and some UD covering -45/+45 and 90. The stack is about 17000gsm and it infused to about 17-18mm thickness. Seem I achieved around 50-53% fiber content based on my estimates but haven't weighed the part with precision. Will mill it flat and rectangular and will know then. But considering the loads in this part, even with a lower F/R ratio and some voids, it is way overkill for it's function. It will have some pockets milled in so I'll have a chance to see if there are voids, on the outside it seems well wetted through even at the bottom. This was actually my first infusion job and quite a chunky stack, the resin gelled and stopped traveling through after about 2.5hrs so I had some emergency inlets made. Post cured to approx 60deg for 4 hrs, but I doubt that made much of a difference, and quite unnecessary for this particular part anyway. Next infusion job is a 13mm stack for the necks. I'd like to have a very stiff neck to improve sustain and note stability, been modelling various configurations and materials in Fusion360 and the carbon necks should be a mile stiffer than any wood neck, but that's just theory for now. One guitar will be a bridge pickup only, for chugging, the other one don't know yet. Overall happy with the infusion but next time I infuse something so thick I'll know how to plan better.

Crossing the lake under Lunar Eclipse and Full Moon

I've been planning a night time lake crossing for a while. Originally timed for the August Full Moon, I had to postpone for some time due an injury. Fortunatelly things fell into place nicely with a unique Full Lunar Eclipse happening hours before the Full Moon on September 7. Recruited troops and we ferried across the lake to Evian. We did Evian-Ouchy (Vidy, Plage du Pelican) since there would be no way to get back by ferry at 00:30 from Evian. Some of our usual suspects are too good for us mere humans and paddled from Vidy to Evian, and then back with us, that's a total 28km, because you know, the ferry is a hassle. As we set off from Evian, the moon appeared over the mountains, around 75% of it in the penumbra. Quite a pretty sight. Weather was on our side, fairly warm night, both air and water, most of the way with clear skies. A light breeze bothered us for a bit, drifting us Eastward, then coming back in the last 3-4km a bit more head-on. The Eclipse vanished quickly and the full moon flooded our curious souls and surroundings, the lake was calm and silent, all to ourselves to enjoy. We had a nice snack break half way, and howled at the moon, as one should. Seems it did something to us. We had to split up before the North Shore as we had different landing spots to avoid the missing public transport. Pretty epic, hope to get more paddlers to join next year.

Weee... first guitar build finished !

I started this project in 2018, first laminations in 2019 and then working on and off it. Been distracted with many other projects meanwhile. I was a long learning process and extremely rewarding at the very end, but not free of frustration. I'll add some detailed posts about it but for the moment I'm simply very excited to show it off and to play it (or try to learn and play guitar). Yes, this is a very odd little electric guitar, but there is not much point and making something others have already made, right ?