In the DIY spirit I was wondering what soundboard/sounding board alternatives people have come up with and what results. I was brainstorming what cheap material I could use. My first thought (this shows my mental state) was to take posterboard and put a thin coat of polyurethane on each side.
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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.
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.
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.
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...
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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Will Carter said:
Bob E. III said: