Cigar Box Guitar Building: We dispell the myth of plywood Vs MDF

[Cigar Box Nation]

Can you make a guitar out of a non-wooden cigar box? 

Does it make a difference in the tone?

How can you tell these boxes apart?

We posed these questions to Ben, Glenn and Nick up at C. B. Gitty and the filmed this great live video.  You'll hear two guitars made with different box materials and more...

[Paul Craig]

Tone is suggestive to the person hearing it. The Plywood and MDF boxes sound a bit dull and dark toned to me, but a bright sounding Piezo or Lipstick Tube or mini-bucker can make them sound great to me. The solid wood boxes tend to have a bright tone to my ears and I think they sound best with a double coil Humbucker, P90 or a Strat single coil.

All of what I said can be different to others. We are both right, none of us are wrong.

That being said, I could hear a very small difference between the Plywood and the MDF. It really wasn't enough to be a big deal. Like what you like and let others like what they like.

[JL]

I don't want to side rail this thread on a discussion about the difference between tone and timber, lol

[darryl kernaghan]

Don't get too anti MDF,one of my best C B G''s is a Macanudo box with a near 1/2 " thick lid,i thinned it down to about 1/4,it is a big box,and a big sound to go with it,a little deeper tone than most,but i've given plenty away and kept this one

[Paul Craig]

There's a great video on You tube of a guy making a guitar out of MDF with Lipstick Tube pups that sounds great.

[Paul Craig]

Oh why not? Hahahaha

[Mark Lindsay]

I posted a video on this very subject last year...