Hey, I've been collecting components and gearing up for my first build here. I had a neck build going a while back that went south on me and hadn't found the time to get back at it. Things are calming down a bit free time wise and I'm going to get back at it soon here.
During that time, I've had a chance to gather up a slug of cigar boxes and was wondering if there were any in this mess that have proven to make for nice sounding CBG's in peoples experience. I'm hoping that there may be a couple of proven favorites in there somewhere.
I'm going to build amps (only) to be used with an outboard speaker into those cube Perdomo boxes. I already build a passive preamp circuit for audio into one of them. It turned out very nice.
[IMG]http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l220/dou1/DSC00162.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l220/dou1/DSC00160.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l220/dou1/DSC00165.jpg[/IMG]
Thanks,
RC
Replies
I have 2 cigar shops that I get boxes from and I usually go through the boxes and give em' my tap test. I take each box and tap my finger on the lid and around the box and just listen, after a while you'll get to where you know which boxes sound right and which ones don't. It's kinda hard to discribe the sound a good box makes when tapped on but try it and build a few and you'll get to where you can tell which is which. I have built homes and worked with wood my whole life and different woods and shapes make different sounds. Box size, lid thickness, wood type, paper covered or bare wood........ A good box will resonate when tapped on, when you go through a couple hundred at a time you can really get a feel for the boxes that will make a good git.
I will say that the other cigar patrons look at me and wonder why that big man in the corner of the shop is tapping all the cigar boxes with his finger, a few people ask and some are afraid to ask:-)
Good Luck! Now get to tappin'
I've been a tappin' like crazy now (thanks Maddog) and can sure hear the inherent resonant differences between them. Using one of my favorite sounding CBG's as my own personal gold standard, I think I have a good feeling now as to which would make for nice acoustics and which would probably want to be plugged in to get the best out of them.
Now, I need to get to building a few and do my best not to suck the life out of them with my rookie building skills ;)
My first build was to say the least not very pretty, but it played nice and I still have it to this day (I don't believe anyone would buy it, not sure if I could give it away). I dig it out and plug it in on occasion and it is still fun to slide around on. To me it's my humble beginings and I have a long way to go to get up to speed with some of the fine git builders that belong to this site. I will say it's been a great ride so far and it gets better with every build. The best part is when someone buys one of my builds and says good things about it and maybe what led them to pick that particular git out of a lineup, feels pretty cool. Now I have interupted your tapping session long enough. Let's see that git when you get done.
First pic, all of them will work if the lids are not too thick, I think the Fuente box in the front has a very thick lid if its like mine, it would be great fro an electric though.
Second pic, They all look good to me, again use the ones with the thin lids, I have had some good sound come from thick lidded masonite tops though.
Third pic. The bottom 2 fuente box's have always worked well for me, even the masonite toped ones.
Best advise would be pic the one that inspires you today and build it, then build the rest.
I've sorted out plans for few already. Some are pretty heavy boxes, sides anyway, so I'll just have to see how it goes.