Forums

pickup advice for my first license plate guitar

Posted by Brian Tubb on December 27, 2013 at 10:49am in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

I've made just a couple of CBGs with Piezo pickups, but attempting my first license plate 4 string.  I have a saved personalized plate I've been saving.  No room on the top to put a pickup as it would block the numbers / letters.  Can I put a magnetic pickup on the under side of the plate?  I would think the basic single coil on CB Gitty site... part number 54-005-01 should work?  Should it not touch the plate?  Also, should the plate be clear from the neck running under it?  Oh.. one more...  if the plate is 'floating', I would assume the bridge would have to be supported from the bottom.. Yes? 

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Email me when people reply –
Follow

Replies

  • The Phrygian Kid December 29, 2013 at 8:45pm
    Just epoxy a clipping off a guitar string on there over the pickup ;)
    (On the inside, obviously)

    Works on hide tops, wood tops, can't see why alum be any different

    No matter what you do, it'll sound like what it is. Why does a dobro with a p90 in is still sound like a dobro?
    Cos the instrument imparts qualities onto the movement of the strings, and the pickup 'picks that up' just as your ears do :)
    • jawbone > The Phrygian Kid December 30, 2013 at 8:55am

      Hi Kid - could you elaborate - glue the string under the plate but over the pick up??? under the bridge??? What does the string do - pick up on the vibes???

      • The Phrygian Kid > jawbone December 30, 2013 at 8:03pm
        Yeah man it just moves along with te top.... Creating a wee magnetic field of musical goodness for the pickup don't feels left out of the game.
        • jawbone > The Phrygian Kid December 30, 2013 at 8:42pm

          Well, I'll be darned... I gotta try that.

  • Randy S. Bretz December 28, 2013 at 2:24pm

    This lap slider build I used a steel sign for the top and attached a 6 pole mag to the neck through.   Radaition Combo build

  • Randy S. Bretz December 28, 2013 at 7:45am

    I just mounted a cheapy mag pickup under the metal on my washboard build. I just used screws with felt washers so the mag sets about an 1/8" down from the metal.      The Amish Harp..final pic`s

  • Dan Sleep December 28, 2013 at 7:30am

    https://www.cbgitty.com/cubecart/cigar-box-guitar-bridge-with-embed...

    • Greg Potts > Dan Sleep December 30, 2013 at 1:18am

      I have built my license plate resonators using a bowl inside the box, bolted through the plate to the bottom of the bridge, I sandwich a piezo rod between the plate and the bowl and it picks up the sound perfectly.

      But... I am keen to try fitting a regular humbucking pickup under a steel plate. It works fine on my stomp boxes, no real reason why it shouldn't work just as well on a resonator guitar.

    • Brian Tubb > Dan Sleep December 28, 2013 at 11:11am

      Some pretty good ideas here... but brings up the question:  will a rod piezo in the bridge - or anything above the plate pointing to the strings - still sound like a resonator guitar or just a regular cigar box guitar?

      • Scott aka Farmer Ted > Brian Tubb December 28, 2013 at 12:04pm

        Never really know til it's done, but it is likely that the sound vibrations traveling thru the plate and back to the bridge would be as close to a reso sound as possible. Consider that on acoustic guitars, it is the top, or soundboard, and its bracing, that will create the acoustic sound...and each variety of wood and style of bracing will create a specific result. So with that considered, if the top of yours is a license plate, the unique vibrations that it makes should be "reso-influenced" and the rod piezo will translate that to the sound you expect.

This reply was deleted.