Well, tonight, I was making the hole for my pickup in my new box, and I was carving some of the hole away, I hit a weak spot and cracked the wholel lid all the way through (after I almost fainted) I glued it back together, and I hope it will last. Needless to say, I am thinking this new build is going to be a license plate guitar. The box is not very deep, and mot much room to strengthing the inside, and so I am thinking that if I add a license plate to the front, it will not only look cool, but had some structure to things. This got me thinking, is there a big difference to license plate guitars, in how they are built? I know that there is a sound difference, but pics would help out as well...thanks!

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  • Do they really have to have a cone? I just finshed my recent build, and it was not going to be a license plate guitar. The lid cracked, and I just added a plate to the lid for cool looks and better structure. I can still here a little bit of a "banjo" effect when I play it. And there is not much of a sound hole in the lid....just a hole big enough for my pickup. It is a kinda rough around the edges build. If I get a chance I will post pics soon.
  • I think there's a couple of ways to go with this sort of build. If you build a soundwell and use a cone and biscuit bridge, you'll get a pretty punchy tone, but this of course makes for a more complex build. Maybe Big Daddy can sound off on the specifics.

    I have a couple of boxes just perfect for license plates.
  • well... never mind on barefoot cajun... I just went through all his pics and didn't see any progress shots of his license plate build.
  • The license plate builds I have seen use the plate as a sounding board in place of the wooden top: the whole top becomes a "resonator". The sound should be "brighter" / "thinner" than the wooden top on the same box.
  • Look up a guy in here called barefoot cajun. He has some great pics of his license plate builds.
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