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Permalink Reply by Doc Oakroot on May 11, 2009 at 4:59am

That probably won't vibrate very well, so it would be sound box cover rather than a sound board... but that still works in a stick through design - the bridge vibrates the carry-through and the space in the box provides resonance. That's how my pizza box guitars work.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Carnright on May 11, 2009 at 6:55am

The cool thing is that we can mess about with such things :-D

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Permalink Reply by Doc Oakroot on May 11, 2009 at 1:41pm

Thanks for posting the camping banjo link Bob. I was wanting to find that page again.

Bob E. III said:

Corrugated plastic yard signs sound... better than cardboard. I was planning on using some to build something out of this particleboard bowl I've got, since I don't know what the heck anyone would want to put in it.
I think the best soundboard alternative that I've found was while looking for an alternative banjo head. I found this web site;
http://www.datatransform.demon.co.uk/CampingBanjo.htm
This guy uses a large pop bottle cut open and epoxyed in place. Then shrunk tight with some heat. I'm not sure about the epoxy I tacked mine into place, and I didn't have any problem with buzzing as mentioned on the site. I only tried it on an open backed wooden hoop, but I think it would be more at home on top of a sound box. Also 2 liter bottles here in the U.S. seem to be a little shorter than the bottle he uses.
This website has a ukulele made from a large Tupperware bowl.
http://www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurban/uke/uke.html
The server is down right now but if I remember right it seems like they used some kind of thick poster board for a soundboard. The neck was attached to the top of the soundboard like a mountain dulcimer. The sound file on the site was impressive...

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on May 11, 2009 at 2:24pm

Right now because I'm having some problem getting enough boxes I'm now taking the thicker boxes and cutting them in half .Then using door skin wood for the bottom.It transfers sound just fine and is easy to make look right with little fuss.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Carnright on May 12, 2009 at 2:11am

Very cool responses! Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on June 19, 2009 at 5:53pm

A couple times I've used "masonite"... works pretty good...

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Permalink Reply by Will Carter on June 19, 2009 at 9:15pm

Hi, I have just had this issue myself in trying to construct a saladbowl CBG. I finally gave up on using any kind of ply and found a piece of inch thick wood I worked down to a thickness of 5mm. Realising that is too thick to resonate properly and not having the tools to thickness it correctly - I drilled a honey comb in to the base of the lid to thin it to perhaps 1.5 to 2mm. The singular pice of wood now resonates well and I will post pics later on. Happy days.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Carnright on June 22, 2009 at 3:55am

That strongly reminds me of the "Drill Press Safety Planer"
http://www.woodcraft.com/product.aspx?ProductID=03Q41&FamilyID=...

Will Carter said:

Hi, I have just had this issue myself in trying to construct a saladbowl CBG. I finally gave up on using any kind of ply and found a piece of inch thick wood I worked down to a thickness of 5mm. Realising that is too thick to resonate properly and not having the tools to thickness it correctly - I drilled a honey comb in to the base of the lid to thin it to perhaps 1.5 to 2mm. The singular pice of wood now resonates well and I will post pics later on. Happy days.

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