Had this conversation with two Physics teachers and the late Frank Harlow. I was the structural Engineer in the room keeping my mouth shut. Frank repaired and modified a Regal Black Lightning for me to use as a travel guitar. We travel by RV several months a year. Did not want to take an expensive guitar in the RV. I was picking it up and the teachers came along.

Sound transfer etc.

They sort of though a single piece of relatively hard wood. Two pieces glued together was not though to be the best. The glue seam and two different hardness of woods etc. Frank's guitars were fairly loud.

You cannot drive nails thru really hard wood without pre drilling holes. Tends to split. Oak was used in kitchen cabinets at one time.

Might have the story a bit off but, as I remember Frank had experimented with this a bit. He had been at Bill Monroes helping to tear down an old chicken coop. He took several pieces of 150 year old hard maple which is what he used.

It would only take hours to make one to try of carbon fiber. You never know.

and what about aluminum?

A carbon fiber biscuit bridge may or may not be a good idea, but  how many could a manufacturer sell? After the design you have to "tool up" and having been around bicycle industry people for a lot of years where carbon fiber has become a huge deal, I understand it gets expensive real quick.

Many years ago, Brad Harper, the founder of the no longer Reso-Nation forum that preceded the hangout by about three years was fooling around with the idea of a carbon fiber spider bridge. Brad had been a pro dobro player for awhile then became a dobro luthier and built about 25 reso guitars. 

I don't recall the details, but the carbon fiber spider bridge never made it into production. 

Dave Ross might be able to fill us in on the story.

Bridge inserts: Different woods, different combos of wood laminates, carbon fiber inserts, boron composites, aluminum …..these would make an interesting study for an engineering student with an interest in music. I’ll bet there’s a composite that works well.

I band practiced last night with a guy, local guitar & music instructor, who plays a Rain Song carbon fiber acoustic guitar. We were all astounded at how good it sounded…..and we’re all sort of vintage wood snobs.

Tim Scheerhorn made a carbon fiber spider. It seemed like a great idea, low mass, great sound transfer….In theory! In reality it sounded terrible. This was a not a biscuit bridge so the jury is still out I suppose.

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Originally posted by MarkinSonoma

A carbon fiber biscuit bridge may or may not be a good idea, but  how many could a manufacturer sell? After the design you have to "tool up" and having been around bicycle industry people for a lot of years where carbon fiber has become a huge deal, I understand it gets expensive real quick.

Many years ago, Brad Harper, the founder of the no longer Reso-Nation forum that preceded the hangout by about three years was fooling around with the idea of a carbon fiber spider bridge. Brad had been a pro dobro player for awhile then became a dobro luthier and built about 25 reso guitars. 

I don't recall the details, but the carbon fiber spider bridge never made it into production. 

Dave Ross might be able to fill us in on the story.

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The details as best I remembered:  Brad Harper had an idea to make a spider out of carbon fiber.  IIRC, not only was the material changed, but the typical eight leg configuration was changed to 3 (or 5?) wider, curved legs, almost flying saucer vibes.

It didn't work.  No further iterations were reported.  But the 3D images were certainly cool.

There was quite a bit of serendipity with the Dopyera's spider design.  Materials, dimensions, weight all work together for the "optimum" sound.  Softer, harder, heavier, lighter, different shapes, all variations seem to move away from what I'd call ideal.  In fact, for import reso upgrades, I feel it's just as important to swap the soft/thin or beefy/heavy import spider with a #14 or equivalent, as it is to replace the import cone with a high grade one.  But, keep trying; who knows?