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soundboard?

hi all, i am new to building cbg's, heck even to playing guitar all together. here in netherlands its kinda hard to find boxes so planning on making my own from scratch. found tons of info on here and i am confident enough to start the build.

i do have a nice box though but no lid. what i also do have is aluminum sheet varying from 0.8mm to 5mm thickness. now how good/bad would that sound if i used alu for the soundboard in same manner as a wooden lid is used?

if the aluminum is bad idea, i will just have to laminate a lid from veneer sheets, or is that bad idea too?

Pascal

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Marcus P. Clarke on June 2, 2012 at 5:11pm

not sure about the metal, I have heard of people making instruments from old lunch boxes. The best sound theoretically should come from a thin piece of wood. I think thats why many new builders come out ok even though their skills haven't been honed...Marcus. The best part is "no rules"

Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on June 2, 2012 at 5:32pm

You will never know unless you build it. I would make the cbg so you could swap the aluminum lid with the laminated wood and see which you like better. Laminating the top from veneer will be fine, Many acoustic guitars use laminated tops.

Permalink Reply by Marty O on June 2, 2012 at 5:32pm

The aluminum will give you a more metallic sound and the wood would be much warmer. I think that by using both materials you would end up with a great guitar either way. Make sure that the aluminum is not too thin as the wight of the bridge/strings could buckle it.

I have made my own boxes as well and I have just used 3 ply for the lid and back and I have also used a license plate...both sounded great so go and have some fun.

Permalink Reply by Pascal on June 3, 2012 at 2:06am