Bakelite - Did Rickenbacker stumble on to success?

Lap steels, resonators, multi-neck consoles and acoustic steel guitars

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J. Wilson
Posts: 442
Joined: 11 May 2010 12:30 pm
Location: Manitoba, Canada

Post by J. Wilson »

John, that is amazing! Very cool!!

Are you saying you used those cones in a dobro or am I misunderstanding? If so, how did they sound?

Where does one get paperstone? I would love to try to use this stuff...
If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On. -Shakespeare
___________________________________________
1941 Ric B6 / 1948 National Dynamic / 1951 Bronson Supro / Custom teak wood Allen Melbert / Tut Taylor Dobro / Gold Tone Dojo / Martin D15S / Eastman P10
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chris ivey
Posts: 12703
Joined: 8 Nov 1998 1:01 am
Location: california (deceased)

Post by chris ivey »

as alan said...don't breathe it.

i'd heard that asbestos was used in the manufacturing process.
John Morton
Posts: 42
Joined: 7 Mar 2011 8:38 am
Location: Washington, USA

Post by John Morton »

As you can see, these cones are for biscuit bridge and tricone instruments. They sound great, and the odd diameters are nice for body sizes other than the usual National/Dobro guitar or ukulele bodies.

Paperstone: http://paperstoneproducts.com/

There's no asbestos in this material. If you read up on Bakelite you'll see that the various formulas differ mainly in the reinforcing material and use the same phenolic binder. Asbestos was used in the 1920's, but later it was other things: canvas, linen, Nylon, paper.

One reference says that "Bakelite is made of phenolic resin and wood flour". I think that describes an unreinforced variety which is probably good for molding but has low tensile strength.
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