Tai Fu wrote:
Hesh wrote:
Celluloid as we all know breaks down over time and like nitrocellulose lacquer it has a life. We see vintage instruments with celluloid parts that are deteriorating at a noticeable rate and when they do they outgas and often corrode other parts of the instruments such as the frets, etc.
As such unlike the wood we use celluloid is a weak link in a musical instruments chances of surviving to be a vintage or heirloom instrument. Knowing this it's not a bad material to phase out of use entirely in my view. A well made guitar should be able to do 100 years of adult use seems a shame to use any material knowingly that can't do that too.
There is also the issue of flammability and that gets into things such as limited shipping requirements because it's flammable. So it now costs more, it can burst into flames and it won't last as long as some plastics or wood. Not exactly a compelling value proposition for anyone creating anything new.
We have to use it for vintage restoration but I would not build a new guitar with it these days.
As such unlike the wood we use celluloid is a weak link in a musical instruments chances of surviving to be a vintage or heirloom instrument. Knowing this it's not a bad material to phase out of use entirely in my view. A well made guitar should be able to do 100 years of adult use seems a shame to use any material knowingly that can't do that too.
There is also the issue of flammability and that gets into things such as limited shipping requirements because it's flammable. So it now costs more, it can burst into flames and it won't last as long as some plastics or wood. Not exactly a compelling value proposition for anyone creating anything new.
We have to use it for vintage restoration but I would not build a new guitar with it these days.
Well all the more expensive instruments use them... Collings, Martin, Gibson, etc.
Perhaps it's not really "better" just like nitrocellulose lacquer isn't really better (checks, deteriorates, takes forever to cure, etc.) but expensive instruments use them because subjectively, customers who pay 5000 dollars expect them to be used because they somehow associate vintage instruments with quality.
Why can't they make pearloid, ivoroid, etc. out of acrylic or ABS plastic? They have none of the problem with celluloid.
But if some company in Italy makes expensive pens out of celluloid, people will continue to associate them with quality. I mean celluloid is one reason why old films have to be stored in controlled environment... they are literally one spark from being lost forever!
I mean now I use wood binding or ABS if I feel like using plastic, 2K poly (use the HS type, it's worth it), and they are objectively better. 2K poly doesn't shrink, doesn't check, but people associate them with lesser quality...
Correction makers of vintage instrument use it and that's because they are seeking to be period correct. A maker of a contemporary instrument can do whatever they like. I'll tell you too with all the money that Martin has to pay us and hundreds of other repair centers to reattach shrunken binding I'll bet they wish that they had some of today's plastics way back when and never used it.
So I'm not swayed at all by what others use because I understand why they are using it to be period correct for vintage appeal.
Personally I never used any plastic on mine except for some pick guards at times that were requested. All my bindings were wood. I think that plastic and even celluloid looks cheesy on a guitar that is billed to be from an individual Luthier.
If you're the maker use whatever you like and maybe it will catch on which is better than catching on fire.
