BRISTOL — A Bristol company helped build the instruments played during the “We Are One” concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on the frigid Sunday of Jan. 18 for the inaugural of President Barack Obama. The 44-member Joint Service Orchestra string section played carbon-fiber cellos, violas and double basses that had their beginnings as “shells” at Clear Carbon and Components, located at 47 Gooding Ave.

“It was very exciting — and validating, because we spent so much time helping our customer, Luis and Clark Carbon Fiber Instruments, develop their product years ago,” said owner Matt Dunham. “I believe it’s the first time in history the instruments have been used in a concert of this magnitude — and this is as big as they get.

"We're a local fabricator providing the components for the cello and other stringed instruments for the entire orchestra."

The instruments were played during the performance because carbon fiber is not affected by climate changes like extreme temperatures and humidity, and the sound quality compares with traditional wood-constructed instruments.

“They have a really good resonance,” said Mr. Dunham. “Luis and Clark compares their instruments to really high-end antiques — they have a lot of ‘voice.’”

Clear Carbon provides the company with “assembled shells” that get shipped to Boston where they become finished instruments. Luis Leguia, a renowned cellist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 44 years, is the inventor and designer of the instruments who happened across the idea while listening to waves vibrate through the fiberglass hull of a boat he was sailing. Mr. Dunham worked with Steve Clark, who was employed by Vanguard Boats, on building the instruments’ shells based on Mr. Leguia’s prototype and fine-tuning the production process in the late 1990s.

“Matt is super,” said Mr. Leguia, who first built a fiberglass version of a cello in his basement in 1990 before moving onto carbon fiber. “We’re making great instruments and he does a super job for us.”

More than 600 instruments are in use today and the cellos, which take a week apiece to produce the shells for, cost over $7,000 when completed. There are several famous musicians that play the carbon-fiber instruments, including world-class celebrity cellist Yo Yo Ma, who owns one of them.

“I really love this instrument. We can play music that is traditional, but actually we are using technology to make it better,” he said in a testimonial on Luis and Clark’s website.

The shells are made out of the same fiber as Clear Carbon’s other products for European cars, speed boats and military components.

The company was the focus of the Discovery Channel’s show, “How It’s Made,” when they came to film the production of the instruments.

“They more or less took over the shop for a day, but it was worth it,” said Mr. Dunham. “We got a lot of good exposure out of it.”

He said an additional benefit of using carbon fiber is it’s environmental friendly.

“Traditional instruments are made out of exotic woods. We’ve taken all the ebony wood — which is an endangered species — out of the process, so there’s none used in these instruments.”

Another Bristol company, All Paint Inc., located on Poppasquash Road and owned by Chuck Kelley, supplies all the clear-coat paint for the instruments.

Cutting edge in carbon-fiber applications

Clear Carbon has been in Bristol for four years after spending 12 years in North Dartmouth.

“We moved to Bristol because of the people,” said Mr. Dunham. “There’s infrastructure here. It’s symbiotic — it’s a technology hub for composite work.

“I’m a boat builder by trade, but the marine industry is less than 10 percent of our business,” said Mr. Dunham, who built America’s Cup boats in Newport during the early 1980s. “We concentrate on moving the boat-building technology into other industries.”

He said they would like to get into the aero-space field but mostly do a lot of military work for Lockheed Martin such as submarine parts like antenna enclosures, buoys and other components he wasn’t at liberty to discuss.

“We produce small, high-end, intricate ‘things,’” he said.

Clear Carbon has also recently developed cost-effective technology for bent carbon-fiber tubing which is “rare,” to be used on off-shore speed boats. Anything that can be built out of metal tubing, can now be made out of carbon fiber.

“We have a small number of very good, loyal, repeat customers that we make parts for — we supply them with parts, that’s our niche business,” said Mr. Dunham, a Portsmouth resident.

All the innovations and technology has made Clear Carbon and Components a bright spot in an otherwise bleak economy.“We anticipate expanding our workforce,” said Mr. Dunham.