I bought a "Chillin Moose" box on E-bay. Supposed to be all wood.  Important graphics are on top; slide; fiber board. Sound killer. Will a rod piazo under the bridge save this expensive purchase? Obviously Im newby; this is my first build, and failing before the first cut.

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I agree with most of what you say Mark,i've include a pic of 1 of my very 1st builds,almost 1/2 in thick Macanudo box,i spent some time and thinned the top and bottom to less than a 1/4',as it was early days,there are many things wrong with this guitar,but accoustic tone and volume is very,very good,i'm in the process of re doing neck,nut and bridge now

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I've never worked with one of the nice wood Macanudo boxes - only the paper labels with the pressboard top. I've seen some pretty thick lids, but haven't used any yet. So far all of the boxes I've built with have been in the 1/4" thick or less range. I've heard of folks having to thin down lids, but I haven't had to yet - knock on wood. Still, I think it's all about experimenting, having fun, and building for the fun of building. I guess I'm saying that a lot of what we do is pretty subjective. I mean, what one person thinks sounds great, another person can find lots of what they consider to be faults in. Without knowing what something sounds like, you just don't know if you'll like it or not. I had lots of people tell me that paper label boxes would sound dead. That just hasn't been my experience. They sound pretty durned good - to me. What others think may be totally different - I just don't know.

When you start adding pickups, be they piezo or mag pup, a lot of what folks think about a thick lid, pressboard, plywood, or some exotic tonewood goes right out the window anyway. I've always thought that was funny. I've seen folks worry about how thick a lid is when they're going to put in a mini humbucker, glue down sound hole covers/grommets/screens, drill a hole to add a volume knob, drill another hole to add a jack, screw the lid shut, then add a hardtail bridge. Hmmmm... not much lid left free to vibrate, is there? Oh well - 99.99% of them sound fantastic plugged in, so no big deal. I just don't think it worth working yourself up over - at least not to the point that you don't build it. 

Nice build, BTW, Darryl. I need to keep an eye out for one of those boxes. Cheers!

I concur. I use a heat gun too, but a blow dryer works just as well, just a little more slowly. I use naphtha to clean up any residue left behind, and there's almost always a little bit. Naphtha is the active ingredient in Goo Gone, and doesn't "oil" the box when you use it, since it doesn't have all of the other oils and additives that Goo Gone has in it. A cheap source of naphtha is regular old Zippo or Ronson lighter fluid, or you can get it in quarts or gallons at your local hardware/paint/home improvement store. Just take the normal safety precautions due to its flammability, and you're fine.

You're welcome. Do know that there are a couple of different products that go by the name Naphtha. There's Naphtha and there is VM&P Naphtha (VM&P stands for Varnish Makers & Painter's.) Both cost about the same, both are petroleum distillates, and both work just fine for label and adhesive removal. So, in other words, it doesn't matter which you get for this purpose - they both work great.

What a cool box! And you have great ideas for it.... I understand your concern, but if I were you, I would go ahead as planned and see what you get. If you don't like the sound, or the piezo, you could always drop in an inexpensive mag pickup and not sweat the fiberboard,

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