Does anyone have an opinion on what boxes sound the best? A couple of people have asked me to make them guitars and I'd like for them to sound as good as they can.
Should I be looking for a box with the most volume (cubic in)?
I have a few boxes on hand. A Jamie Garcia, a Flor de las Antillas and a Cohiba. Would any of these sound better than the other two? I can always go out and look for other boxes as well.
Thanks
Replies
I like em all !!!! I try to make it as accurate as possible ,,, as u cannot predict the tonal quality ,,, each and every box u use is gonna sound different !!!! I made a beautiful 4 stringer ,, it sounded like crap ,,, ok ,, make it into a 3 stringer and it lit up like a Christmas tree!!! Just keep working and learning ,, and u's soon see what boxes u seem to like best and those will b the ones u use the most . It is a serious adventure !!!!!!
I'm the noob to this game, with 4 builds under my belt. My only add is that I found that the "Punch" boxes have a pressboard lid. I really like the all-wood boxes, and to me, they sound better than the paper-over wood boxes . . . but that is with my limited experience.
John
There are some inconsistencies in many of the manufacturers' box construction. Some of the paper-covered Punch boxes have hardboard lids, but many DO have wooden lids. Same with some of the Macanudos & some of the Fuente Chateaus. You gotta check. I prefer the wood lids for acoustic or piezo/rod builds, but the hardboard/paper covered ones are fine if you are installing a mag pickup. Another box I have had success with is the Ashton VSG, Torpedo size. They always seem to sound great acoustically. Plus, pretty box.
Padron...is my vote...
I haven't made nearly the amount of instruments as most on this board (two dozen at the very most), but I can tell you this-I am constantly surprised by what works and what doesn't. The boxes I think will sound the best will be as tonally dead as presswood soaked in water, while the ones I wouldn't expect to work rang like church bells. Often, two identical boxes from the same manufacturer prove completely unalike in quality of sound-go figure..
In fact, the best sounding guitar i've made to date consists of pressed fiber boxes (fancy dense cardboard) laid edge to edge and glued together to make a single chamber, and 6mm birch plywood soundboard glued in place. Needless to say, I varnished every inch of that instrument inside and out for proper waterproofing!
To date, i've tried lunchboxes, metal cookie tins, thin plastic cigar boxes, paper, thin cedar, thick cedar over 10mm,cardboard, masonite, one very confused campfire coffee pot and several tin cans epoxied together with JB chemweld-so far, so good.
I recommend the 'tap test' for everything you use.And if you have the courage, you can do what I do and, er, well...sing to them. I know, I know, you get the strangest looks-but I can sing or hum quietly at a prospective soundboard, and the feedback from my fingers on the other side of the box will tell you exactly how responsive to low, mid and high tones that box will be.I obviously can't administer any of these tests if I purchase online...
Good hunting!
I love it! Sing to the box and feel the vibrations in the soundboard; what a great idea! Hard to do over the Internet though.
I've had better luck with the tonal qualities from deeper boxes... 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches. And the bigger, the better (within reason). I put a 6- or 7-inch resonator cone in the few cbgs I've made, so the tonal quality of the wood is a bit overwhelmed by the twangy quality of the resonator. The box matters, but I think the quality of the build matters more.
Las Cabrillas
All I can say is over the last year I have built 68 CBG's , obviously they all have a different sound and tone. Even the same brands will sound different. I have had my favorites but ultimately wind up selling them eventually. The Punch boxes sound good and there is a Punch that has no paper on it that really sounds good . The Brick House boxes always give me a rich deep tone. I found a Arganese box once that really sounded great, but my daugter liked it and took it from me :-)). The loudest box I found came from a craft store. It was the same size as a Cigar box but was not a cigar box. My daughter had my logo lazer etched on it and it sounds awesome. However I still prefer a real cigar box. I tell people all the time. My favporite part of the build is stringing it up. It is like Christmas mornig to me, You never know how they will sound until that moment. Keep building nd experimenting :-)
I concur with Oily. I have built 2 or three guitars with all three of these boxes. The Cohiba is probably going to sound the best and be the easiest to build with, since it has a normal lid and the others are of the clamshell type. I really like the jaime Garcias and the Antillas, but in the larger "Toro Gordos" size. I tend to hoard the Cohiba boxes for special builds, as they are harder to come by. The Flor de las Antillas was the top-selling cigar for 2012, so there are a gazillion of those boxes out there, which is nice if you are prone to the occasional mis-cut or other mistake.
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