Hello all.
What is the thickest material you all have ever seen/used for a custom box.
I understand thinner is better sounding (to a point. You don't want a veneer box...:) ), and thinner is obviously lighter.
But would, say, a 1/2" thick box work?
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Thinner will generally be an advantage accoustically, but there are many intangibles, i have a very thick,[ around 12 mm] Macanudo cigar box from one of my very 1st builds, made of MDF, which i thinned the top down by about 1/2, it has very small sound holes, but is quite loud, but a deep tone, at that time i was adding piezo discs, and i think the extra thickness countered some of the handling noise, and made it a great sounding electric guitar
3/4 inch for the back and sides. The top is 1/8 ply. I never put sound holes in it. The idea was to make the body as light as I could but strong enough for a six string neck. Ended up added an extra bit of 3/4 ply on the back to secure the neck.
I'm not sure where you would find this thin ply. We have costumers who use it for patters. I get this and 1/4 ply patterns for where I work. I either take em home or they get tossed.
Hobby stores usually carry thin ply.
Hi Shawn, I have posted about this a few times, here are a few pointers.
My tops are maximum 1/8" laminated or solid, along with appropriate [minimal] bracing. Backs the same.
The sides do not play a role in the sound production other than supporting the back and top to do their job, so thickness of sides is no sot much an issue. You don't want them robbing vibrations from the back or top. You really want them to be very responsive to the energy generated from the strings. A Soundhole is important.
When I put a magnetic pickup in an acoustic top it is not fitted to the top, but suspended below and protruding above.
When working on a full size guitar top I am more interested in strength and response so I pay more attention to those two things, and the thickness is what it is. It could be different for different guitars. But with CBG's I don't fuss so much and I can say " all around 1/8".
Hope this helps Taff
The natural acoustics of our box guitars is not really very good, thus the common use of a pickup. Once a pickup is installed, the box acoustics don't really play into it much. That beings said, the answer to your question is any thickness you want to use would be fine. Remember a Les Paul is about two inches of solid wood and it sounds fantastic.
1/2” would work for the body ,1/4”for the back ,1/8” for the top , I have used 3/4” pine for the body on my Teapot build gave me a nice bright sound , also used same thickness on my Parlour build turned out great now in saying that it depends also on type of wood you are intending of using all have there own sound & tone . All you can do is build it and find out for yourself .... keep us posted .
I used some Cedar fence plank that was 3/8" thick for a build. I routed the center of the top and back down to 3/16" leaving 3/8" strip around the outer edge. 1/4" would be the thickest I've used for top/back material.
Thickness won't be much of an issue if using a pickup.