Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by gary herget on April 23, 2015 at 3:28pm

I've used alot of fibre boxes and they sound good. Don't pass up a nice box just because it's not all wood. Sometimes you never know till your done.

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Permalink Reply by ce24 on April 23, 2015 at 5:01pm

Thanks Gary....that's the info I wanted....

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Permalink Reply by ce24 on April 23, 2015 at 5:00pm

OK thanks Gary!

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Permalink Reply by Bama Hound on April 24, 2015 at 3:27am

I am working on 6 at this minute and one is a Partegas and the fiberboard is dense. I picked the box out of a cigar shop locally and picked it on the basis of looks and the wood bottom. My box was completely covered in paper inside and out, masking the fiberboard. When you start drilling and working the stuff you will realize the board they have used is probably harder than some of the plywood used in some boxes.If in doubt give it the fingernail test. It ain't science, but it works.Use your best fingernail that isn't busted off and press straight into the fiberboard and do the same to the plywood bottom with the grain running lengthwise on the plywood. Compare the indentation with same force used. You can use this method to separate the cardboard from the MDF. I do spray the boxes with polyurethane to protect the MDF and the labels, in case you knock your beer over on it. Happy Building

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Permalink Reply by Mark Lindsay on April 24, 2015 at 5:40am

I had a discussion similar to this on Facebook a while back, and came up with this video to let folks make up their own minds about the subject. 

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Permalink Reply by Thomas "Duck" Petry on April 24, 2015 at 6:16am

Personal experience with a Partagas box says they work fine. I built this one (a Partagas Gigante box) as my Junkyard Dog, throw it in the back seat and take it along on trips, fun beater and love it dearly. Have a dual piezo pup built in the bridge and the box has great acoustic volume and tone. Build the box and you may be pleasantly surprised with the results.

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Permalink Reply by Michael J. Charland on April 24, 2015 at 1:12pm

One of my favourite builds was with a Partagas cigar box!

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Permalink Reply by Mike on April 24, 2015 at 2:55pm

Like others said, try it you might be surprised. I have not built a ton but have done paper covered pressboard, paper covered plywood, plywood no paper and wood. All have different sounds and all have had nice sounds. I have done four 3 stringers and 17 diddley bows (majority of those working with my daughter's brownie troop). I find the pressboard boxes to sound fine. The only thing to note is that it is much more nasty to work with. MDF creates a ton of dust and not the type you want to breathe in, wear a mask when drilling holes. The partagas box I used, like most go the other boxes that I had that were not real wood were MDF and again, sounds good just really gross dust when drilling. Macanudo boxes, at least the ones I used had a softer pressboard material, it is lighter in color and it may sound odd but when drilling holes the material is almost fluffy rather than dusty. I found it easier to tear out when drilling than MDF so that is one I probably would not use again even though as shown in the video that was posted by Mark that it can sound great. I just found it was harder to work with due to not being as dense as MDF. Just my 3 cents...

Mike

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Permalink Reply by 14 buck bass (aka antonio) on April 24, 2015 at 7:46pm

I love the partagas boxes and the arturo fuente boxes. aint nothing wrong with em.  im my humble opinion. if you dont want that partagas box send it my way : )

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