Springs in a cigar box guitar

In my first build I added springs to the box but later for the fun of it cut out my neck to except (4 springs) thinking it would vibrate a little extra, don’t seem to sound different, but now iam thinking I should fire it up with a pickup, what you think, to much buzzing? Also, I like the idea of using my pipestone (canninite) for my nut and bridge area, I bought this stone in Pipe Stone Mn, for a few pipes I made and gave to friends. I think I found a new hobby I like to do. Keep on keeping on, …your cool..

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    Paul Craig

    I put a couple screen door springs inside of a acoustic build and it definitely added a reverb effect to the sound much like the tremolo springs on a Stratocaster does.

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      Taffy Evans

      Hi, interesting stuff. My experience with installing springs has always been disappointing. Maybe it's my ears but I could not hear any spring "reverb" effect from an acoustic box. Maybe I was expecting too much. Tried different springs, different numbers of springs, and different locations in the box for the springs, but no joy.

      I even put a damper system in the box to enable me to stop and start the vibration of the spring to enable before and after comparisons, but still no audible difference. Hmmm.

      If it works for others, why not me??

      One thought was that after seeing Paul's photo of a CBG with springs, I noticed that a heavy box was used, this may aid in the easier excitement of the springs, due to the box lacking an abundance natural resonance. Any ideas?

      I build my boxes very light so as to be more responsive to the vibrations of the strings, maybe there's a natural reverb in the box that overrides that of the springs. What do you all think?

      In the video, I could not hear any reverb effect either, although the person demonstrating it said they could.

      I was looking for an acoustic reverb that could be heard across the room by the listener, but I failed. If I use a pickup I might as well use the amp reverb, If I need headphones, it is probably my ears.
      Cheers Taff

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        BrianQ.

        If the springs are thick & taut, then you won’t get much reverberation? If you’ve ever seen the inside of a reverb tank, the spring wire is super thin, soft & has a small amount of slack, so the spring jiggles without much help? So if your springs are too rigid, the vibration will die out before it can bounce back across the spring, subduing the effect? 

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