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Cardboard vs. Wood

Posted by Mark Reaney on November 29, 2010 at 3:52pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion
I cut into a Don Thomas box to start a build and found the surfaces were made of Cardboard.  I was surprised as the box felt so solid.  So I switched to an Arturo Fuente box that I had handy, but I am now wondering about the acoustic properties of the cardboard.  Anybody out there use it?  What's it sound like? 

I suppose if I were to use a magnetic pickup it wouldn't make much difference.

Mark

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Replies

  • Jeffrey Christensen December 2, 2010 at 11:44pm


    Here's the inside of my version of Shane's Chugger. It shows the space between the neck and the sound board (bottom).
  • Jeffrey Christensen December 2, 2010 at 11:18pm
    Here are two of my most recent builds. I love them both.
  • Jeffrey Christensen December 2, 2010 at 11:11pm
    Just agreeing with what's been said. I've made CBG's from both types of boxes. I like the Macanudo boxes, because I like the look of Shane's, and I like to imagine I'll sound more like him if my CBG looks like his... Silly, I know. Anyway, the Macanudos I've been finding have the press board tops. They are definately not as bright as a wood box. I've played it side by side with a couple of other CBGs. I have one I made with an Arturo Fuente "Double Chateau Fuente" which has wood back and sides, but press board top. It sounds better than the Macanudo. Recently I made another Macanudo "Crystal Cafe", but made it the way Shane makes his Chugger by using the wood back for the sound board. I also used the technique others have mentioned by leaving a small amount of space between the neck and the sound board around the middle of the neck to allow it to resonate better. It sounds great and I'm really enjoying it.


    I'm in favor of building with what you've got. If you don't have a fancy wooden box, then build with the press board and play that until you come across a wooden one. As long as the width of the lid is the same size or greater, you can re-use the neck you have once you land that fancy-pants box you've been dying for.

    -Jeffrey

    On another note: I would really like to see more instructional videos that are plain and straight forward like Knotlenny's. (I wish Shane would slow down and give us a few more licks that he uses...) but anyway, I'm having fun and hope you all are too.

  • BT Cohosh December 2, 2010 at 11:20am
    A couple of years ago I made two identical guitars--same dimensions, same boxes (Romeo y Julieta), same neck materials, etc--with the single exception being that one of the boxes was made of cardboard, and the other plywood. The wood box put out *much* more volume and had a brighter sound overall. It took me forever to figure out what the difference was. That said, the cardboard box wasn't "bad", per se, but it definitely wasn't the same....
  • Eric Carter November 30, 2010 at 6:58pm
    I play a cbg made from one of them boxes and I think its got grate tone. I also use one for my stomp box it also sounds grate. You can check it out in the videos under the coco butter kids
  • Brendan deVallance November 30, 2010 at 1:16pm
    I used corrugated card board for the neck. I was trying to make it outta stuff that was just lying around. And I had the corrugation going both ways for strength. But it really doesnt like the tension or attaching tuners to it the way wood does.



    Wes "Blind Lemon Pledge" Yates said:
    Brendan,

    Dunno if this would work and I'm sure it wouldn't work past 3 strings, but if you took strips of .75" cardboard, glued them together to make a 1.5"x.75" neck so that the 'grain' was vertical, I wonder if that would add strength. Would need to be really tight cardboard to begin with, somewhat like a single ply paperboard like a cereal box and NOT this cheap crap cardboard from China.

    I could see this as similar to a bunch of tempered hardboard glued together.

    -WY


  • MichaelS Country Boy Guitars November 30, 2010 at 12:00pm
    Are we talking about cardboard here or the press board that is used in the lids, they are two very different things. I have a few cardbaord cigar boxs and they would be useless for a cbg, they are real cardboard and the string tension would just crush the lid, too bad because they ahve nice labels. The press board lid is very usable, usually thicker than the plywood tops and as the above have said can be a duller sound, but you never know I've made few that surprised me. They do seem to work well with a piezo (I've never tried a real pickup). If its press board build it.
  • Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates November 30, 2010 at 8:06am
    Brendan,

    Dunno if this would work and I'm sure it wouldn't work past 3 strings, but if you took strips of .75" cardboard, glued them together to make a 1.5"x.75" neck so that the 'grain' was vertical, I wonder if that would add strength. Would need to be really tight cardboard to begin with, somewhat like a single ply paperboard like a cereal box and NOT this cheap crap cardboard from China.

    I could see this as similar to a bunch of tempered hardboard glued together.

    -WY


    Brendan deVallance said:
    As long as the neck goes thru the box it doesnt matter too much what the box is made out of. Although it seems they all have different properties, which adds up to a different sound. I made a guitar all out of cardboard to see if it could be done. The neck is prone to warping though and I ended up only with a one-stringer.

  • Mungo Park November 29, 2010 at 11:21pm
    Yes I have 3 builds in Don Thomas boxes and the top is not wood, Oh well the bottom is wood though, maybe turn it over and viola wood. They don't sound all that bad and I will site the " their are not rules" and that is my story and I am sticking to it.
    Yah wood sounds better, deeper boxes sound better......and where will you end up Sitks spruce guitars sound better to.
    So if I could find more wood boxes I would use them but in between Don Thomas boxes fill the gaps, I like the yellow.
    You have brought up a good point though.
    Cheers Ron
  • Don Thompson November 29, 2010 at 10:08pm
    Opps, I just looked at the price on Amazon and I totally retract my statement, well worth the money. Sorry.
    Don


    Don Thompson said:
This reply was deleted.