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First I'll say I have no experience with carbon fiber bridge saddles.

But with that out of the way, I'll say I'm a retired engineer, and my college room mate and good friend is one of the world's leading experts on composite materials. He is responsible for the first carbon fiber control surfaces on aircraft like the Airbus, the Eurofighter and the big Boeings. He's the guy who convinced Ferrari to go to carbon fiber monocoque construction on his F1 cars, while the old man was still alive. If you have a carbon fiber tennis racket, carbon fiber skis, kevlar body armor, stuff like that, you have Tom to thank for them.

We worked together on composite and skinned honeycomb helicopter blades. Chopper blades are an interesting problem, since they transition from subsonic to supersonic flow along the length of the blade.

Saying something is made of "carbon fiber" is like saying something is "ceramic". A ceramic can be anything from simple low-fired clay pottery to high tech super hand stuff like synthetic sapphire. "Carbon fiber" is really some form of plastic reinforced with some form of carbon fiber. The plastic can be epoxy, vinyl, nylon...you name it. The carbon fiber can be simple strands of tow, like dental floss, it can be 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional weave, it can even be super strong carbon nanotubes, as in some baseball bats or golf clubs.

The acoustic properties of a "carbon fiber" bridge saddle could be dead as a doornail, or really hard and bright.

All this is a long winded way of saying, if you're interested, buy one and try it. Ask your buddies if your guitar sounds better.

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There's a great big wonderful world out there beyond flamenco, fellas.

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ORIGINAL: BarkellWH

What would be the advantage of carbon fibre braces? or is there any? And what would a double top do for the sound?

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ORIGINAL: Jeff Highland

A lot of BS IHMO

There is justification for using graphite nuts in tremelo equiped guitars, but Carbon fibre(preformed epoxy bound) is a different material it tends to be easily abraded. Can't see any advantage over bone

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Plus black saddles and nuts a so f'ing ugly. Forgive me but I don't like black tuner buttons or black rollers either. I guess I'm old fashioned.

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ORIGINAL: keith

the saddle need not be black as one could use gel coat in the fabrication and have a multitude of colors--say pink, metal flake, etc.

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Here I am....baby !!

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ORIGINAL: Alain Moisan

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ORIGINAL: BarkellWH

What would be the advantage of carbon fibre braces? or is there any? And what would a double top do for the sound?

In both cases, the point is to make a top that is lighter, thus vibrating more easily and producing a faster responding guitar with greater volume. I don't know much about carbon fibre braces, but I do know that double-tops are quite hype these days in the classical world (mostly with the new crowd -- students). That said, experienced players are not all that enthusiastic about it. It seems double-tops lacks the dynamics of a traditional top. In other words, there are many ways to snap a note, which will make it sound different. With a double-top, don't bother it always seem to sound the same. (That's exaggerated, by the way. But it's to make a point...).

For flamenco guitars it might sound good, but I would worry how the thin layer of wood over the honeycomb structure will appreciate golpes...

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ORIGINAL: Richard Jernigan

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ORIGINAL: Alain Moisan

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ORIGINAL: BarkellWH

What would be the advantage of carbon fibre braces? or is there any? And what would a double top do for the sound?

In both cases, the point is to make a top that is lighter, thus vibrating more easily and producing a faster responding guitar with greater volume. I don't know much about carbon fibre braces, but I do know that double-tops are quite hype these days in the classical world (mostly with the new crowd -- students). That said, experienced players are not all that enthusiastic about it. It seems double-tops lacks the dynamics of a traditional top. In other words, there are many ways to snap a note, which will make it sound different. With a double-top, don't bother it always seem to sound the same. (That's exaggerated, by the way. But it's to make a point...).

For flamenco guitars it might sound good, but I would worry how the thin layer of wood over the honeycomb structure will appreciate golpes...

A few weeks ago I heard the classical player Jason Vieaux on his double top Gernot Wagner in concert. He is one of the top classical players today. It was one of the best classical sounds I have ever heard. The tonal variety and dynamics were utterly awesome. I've heard just about everyone from Segovia on his Hauser on forward. I own and play the guitar Romanillos made just before Bream's famous #501.

RNJ