lexan or plexiglass for soundboards?

[Ron Nossaman]

Hi Gang,
I don't see any reason that a light weight synthetic material with a high
strength/weight ratio, and a high elastic rebound rate wouldn't work in
soundboards if it were set up right. Lexan is a miserable candidate for at
least a couple of reasons. First, the strength/weight ratio is far too low
(it's heavy and flexes easily). Next, the elastic rebound rate is too slow.
There is a lot of internal friction in the stuff when it's bent, which tends
to disperse, absorb, and damp the energy. The chemists worked hard to make
it this way so it would be impact resistant. I'm not surprised it makes a
poor soundboard. It would make a poor rim too because of the lack of
stiffness and good damping qualities. Plexiglass is stiffer, and has a
better rebound rate, but it's still not suitable for soundboards.  

If you want to experiment, knock yourself out. Revolutions have to start
somewhere, and they sure aren't coming out of the "R&D" (marketing)
departments of current manufacturers. There are plenty of laminated wood
panels out there that work well enough to sell to the public, and a few that
work fairly well, so there's apparently room for experimentation. BTW, if
you start, you had just as well forget about a 5 day, 40 hour work week, if
you haven't already.

Ron


>Hello,
>
>A guy in Holland has in coorporation with a glass/epoxy business produced a
>number of soundboards made with plexiglass, or something like that, called
>"Chrystal soundboard".
>The result?
>An interesting but poor tone which needs an electrical amplifier.
>First it hit the newspaper, then a factory or two were at his door. Now,
>nobody is interested anymore. The project has died out.
>
>Friendly greetings,
>
>Andr» Oorebeek
>
>
>>Hi
>>I have wondered about this for several years, I wonder if a synthetic material
>>be used to replace spruce soundboards and has anyone in the group experimented
>>with soundboards?
>>
>>Lexan(I am not sure if I spelled that correctly) is used in high power speaker
>>boxes. It looks sort of like Plexiglas. It seems to be very responsive as far
>>as amplification and vibration goes.
>>Andy Taylor
>>

 Ron