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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 Richey Kay on May 23, 2014 at 6:20pm

Thanks Sam. The box is very shallow and the sides and back pretty thick so I never had any delusions of this being a good acoustic instrument :)

I'm currently using 48, 32, 22 tuned EBE, which is about 56lbs overall tension. Definitely a lot more than I've used for a cigar box.

I hooked up the mag pup last night and it's sounding pretty sweet. I'll hopefully post a video tonight.

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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on May 23, 2014 at 6:42pm

[UPDATE #2]

I fitted the new pickup I made last night, and its finally sounding pretty good. I'll see if I get chance to make a video after work today. Alnico 5 magnets, 9200 winds of 42awg copper wire. I've set it in the bridge position - I fancied having a more aggressive tone with this one. No tone control as yet.

I used a Dremel to cut a hole in the plate to fit the bottom of the bobbin (the pickup mounts from the top). I actually cut straight through one of the numbers on the plate, and the rest of the raised parts were hammered flat so the pickup could sit right.

I also lined the underside of the top of the bobbin with some cut up pieces of an old mouse mat, and secured with machine bolts with nuts which tighten under the plate, so as to minimise ratting on the plate.

I had a quick play through my Bugera V5 last night and I'm pretty pleased with the sound. I'm finding the lower tuning/thicker strings/higher tension a little difficult to get used to so I might get some new thinner strings and maybe try FCF rather than EBE.

Thanks for all of your help with this. You could say that I probably would have figured all of this out myself if I'd been a bit more patient with this build, but I think we've gathered some pretty good wisdom on license plate builds in general.

Thanks again,

Rick

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on May 24, 2014 at 12:39am

Glad it is finally coming together, Richey. It sure looks good. I've had builds that fought me all the way to getting them very right and builds that got parted out - and sometimes bashed first on the concrete floor of the shop. Feels best to have em work out.

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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on May 24, 2014 at 1:10am

Thanks John. I haven't had to completely give up on one yet but there's always a first time! I'll try to get a vid on tonight.

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on May 23, 2014 at 8:47pm

The Bolt looks too thick and may kill sounds but its along the right idea. Maybe pull it back a bit or raise it onto a smaller

platform and use a thinner bolt maybe directly onto a hard wood platform?. Looks like you have slight angle issues.. Play with that bridge and I recon it will all become good.

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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on May 23, 2014 at 9:04pm

Cheers Buggeh, but the bolt bridge seems to be fine now. No buzzing/muting, notes are ringing true and the sustain is good. The bottom of the bridge is actually resting on very small scraps of hardwood as the action wasn't quite high enough.

Obviously the angle is like that for intonation, which is fine. No issues with the bridge any more.