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Born again CBG

Posted by Taffy Evans on November 15, 2016 at 12:01am in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

The ashtray guitar pictured was not a successful project as the guitar had a less than pleasing sound due to the ash tray not being resonant enough. So I removed the ashtray and made the guitar a plain electric acoustic. Much better sound.

Cheers Taff

2-SAM_1063.JPG

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Replies

  • Taffy Evans November 17, 2016 at 10:19pm
    Thanks for the ideas guys, suspending the cone on postms would not make it resonate any better. I use posts in my full resonator spider bridge guitars, these support the top on which the cone sits and works in conjunction with.

    To give you all an idea of the problem the ashtray has the flexibility of a brake drum. You con tap a brake drum and it will ring nicely, but imagine the size of the strings needed to drive a tone out it. Ha, Ha.
    Cheers Taff
  • Taffy Evans November 16, 2016 at 5:41pm

    Hi JL, thanks for the ideas but it may be a bit small for the hub cap I have in mind.

    Taff

  • Taffy Evans November 15, 2016 at 3:25pm
    Hi Ron, yes I tried all that and more. In its past life it even had a wooden top covering that rim all round with the bridge on top. What is shown here is one of many bench test ideas.
    The tray is made out too good a quality stainless steel and all those contours and folds do not allow a big enough resonating area.
    It's like putting your fingers on a speaker while it's working, the sound just goes dull and muffled if you know what I men.
    Thanks for your input though.
    Cheers Taff
    • Ron "Oily" Sprague > Taffy Evans November 17, 2016 at 6:56pm
      Hmmm. How is the rim mounted? Just wondering how it would sound suspended on three wooden posts / dowels...
    • JL > Taffy Evans November 16, 2016 at 8:43am

      OOh! OOh! I have an idea, use it as the back for a hub-cap guitar, or the back of a banjo? it may not be  a good resonator, but it might make a good reflector....

  • Ron "Oily" Sprague November 15, 2016 at 9:18am
    The likely reason the ashtray had a sucky sound is that your bridge was attached to two points, with not much in between. The dog / cat bowl / paint can lid / license plate resos tend to sound better, because you are vibrating an entire solid surface. That raised rim in the ash tray concentrates the vibration in that rim.

    Try putting a clean tuna can upside down ( opening down) in the center of the ash tray next time.
  • JL November 15, 2016 at 8:30am

    Looks great!

    I am curious if there is a way to use that ashtray successfully, what if you used the other side of the ashtray? clamp some bits to the workbench for a test?

  • Timothy Hunter November 15, 2016 at 8:03am

    nice rescue Taffy..looks good.

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