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[SOLVED] First license plate guitar, sounds horrible. Tips?

I started throwing together a LP build yesterday, and have got this far:

So... I've made a pretty sturdy box (3/4" thick pine) with a plywood base, and have the plate attached with 8 screws on the original mounting points and one at each corner. I haven't added the frets or indeed set up a nut (currently just a bone nut blank). I'm not expecting it to be loud but I'm planning to fit dual piezos in there eventually.

This is my first try at a bolt bridge, which looks cool for this style of guitar but seems to buzz pretty horribly all the way up the neck (but curiously not when played open...) - is there any special preparation that needs to be done to use of of these?

Break angle behind the bridge seems fine, certainly no less than I've successfully used in the past.

Also, I've tried with a wooden/bone bridge as I normally use too, and it seems to have the same problem. It sounds slightly less hideous with a slide. Think it'll sound better once the frets are in?

Any thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by Primitive Acoustics on May 19, 2014 at 2:46pm

You may need to apply more downward pressure on the plate (bolt) than you have with previous wood tops. Can't tell from the photo how much break angle you have. Also sloting your nut may help. Do you have sound ports on the side?

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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on May 19, 2014 at 8:49pm

Well, I've tried (unscientifically) to hold down the string past the bridge to artificially increase the break angle, and tried a higher bridge, same problem at this point.

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Permalink Reply by t-belly johnson on May 19, 2014 at 4:14pm

Richey, I had a similar problem with 2 of my biscuit tin guitars. I realised there was just far too much vibration and even adding extra screws to hold the lid down did little to improve the sound.

Believe it or not the solution was a line of bathroom sealant just under the lid which I screwed down again and it worked fine!

As for the use of mag pups, a couple of holes with a 10mm drill and then a small pair of snips to cut the excess will do the job.

So, use the mag pups and get rid of as much lid vibration as possible.I guess you could just screw the plate straight onto a thick(ish) wooden lid.

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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on May 19, 2014 at 8:52pm

Good ideas there TB. I've fitted the frets now. Today I'm going to get them dressed and make a nut. I'll give it another try after that. I'm thinking that I'll need to keep some spring in the plate for the piezos to work, and if they sound bad I'll wind a mag pup. If all else fails, it'll still look cool hanging on a wall somewhere!

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Permalink Reply by jabes on May 19, 2014 at 11:10pm

Richey, i sandwich piezos between two pieces of 1mm craft foam to cut down vibration with good results ,you don't need too much spring...

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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on May 19, 2014 at 11:40pm

Yeah me too Jabes. Well I use bits from an old mouse mat (remember them?)

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Permalink Reply by jabes on May 20, 2014 at 5:28am

i'm using one now !!

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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on May 20, 2014 at 5:41am

You lie!

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Permalink Reply by jabes on May 21, 2014 at 12:28am

naaaa, I can't get on with the 'pad...so I use a mouse, been using one since the amiga 500 days. and as for those tablets....

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Permalink Reply by c# merle on May 20, 2014 at 1:11am

i'd perhaps try and remove the screws from the corners - but it sounds like the plate is the cause of the rattling.

also a high bridge with a little neck angle will push the bolt more into the plate and get the whole thing resonating. as for the mag pickup i drilled 2 holes and used a junior hacksaw blade then filed clean.

got a few pics of the build process here: http://handmademusicclubhouse.com/profiles/blogs/utah-plate-build

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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on May 20, 2014 at 3:06am

Thanks Merle. I wouldn't say it's a rattling, per se. More that the notes are not ringing true. The neck has a decent back angle.

I remember looking at those pics ages ago! Chiselling out the neck looked like hard work :)

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Permalink Reply by Marcus Darwell on May 20, 2014 at 1:29am

First off, I don't like bolt bridges...they often cause issues but can sometimes be tweaked by changing the angle a little...I dont bother much with them anymore - especially if they're going on to a metal plate. 2nd, how did you file the grooves in the nut? A set of acetylene nozzle files will be helpful to get a nice curved groove if you can't be bothered (like me) to buy expensive needle files - fixes many a buzz....hope that's helpful......