Laminated Wood Soundboard

[Footballer]

I'm not sure it's possible, but has anybody tried making a laminated wood soundboard? I think a laminated soundboard would look really neat in glass/crystal calls. I also wonder if you did two different woods whether the sound would be different on each wood.

[| Justin |]

I haven't tried one yet, but it's definitely possible.  I'll give this a try on one of my next calls and will post here when I have something to show.

[WillowRidgeCalls]

Have never tried it? As far as looks go it would look great as long as you could get a good tight fit when gluing it together. As far as sound goes, I think it would damper the sound quite a bit, just my guess? It would effect it like having a crack in the rail of a box call. Your sound/vibration travels through the woods grain, and if there is a crack in it, it stops, which means it would only vibrate up to the glue joint. Depending on what glue you used to glue it together, would either give it a real high pitch or a dull flat sounding call? It would be like putting a CA glue finish on your soundboard, no vibration or tone at all. 

[mastevt]

It would definately be differant, but I doubt you would get 2 differant sounds out of it.  Even if the two sides produced two differant sounds separately, the sound you would hear would be a blend of them, because they would share the same chamber.

[| Justin |]

Have never tried it? As far as looks go it would look great as long as you could get a good tight fit when gluing it together.

When I try this, I plan to laminate 1" boards, resaw, then send them through the planer to get them to 1/8".  Yellow glue is stronger than wood when fully dried, so I wouldn't worry about the bond. 

I am curious about the way the vibrations will travel through the glue, but I would think it would be a completely different scenario than a crack, since there is no void between the two woods like there would be with a crack.

Obviously just speculation above, I have no hard data to back this up with. 

I'm finishing up a few orders for other calls this week, and will give this a shot when they're completed.

[WillowRidgeCalls]

True, an unrepaired crack wouldn't sound to good, but a glued crack still has a bit of a different sound, because of the glue. I'm curious to see which glue might work better, the yellow glue or like a CA glue? I'll be interesting, it should look great either way.

[| Justin |]

I'm finally caught up enough that I'm working on one of these now.  Finished the soundboard, but haven't made the call blank yet. 

Wenge / maple / padauk

[Footballer]

I'm finally caught up enough that I'm working on one of these now.  Finished the soundboard, but haven't made the call blank yet. 

Wenge / maple / padauk

That looks great! How does it sound?

[mastevt]

Bet that will look awesome under glass with a matching pot!

[| Justin |]

I'm finally caught up enough that I'm working on one of these now.  Finished the soundboard, but haven't made the call blank yet. 

Wenge / maple / padauk

That looks great! How does it sound?

I got really busy last spring building calls for people toward the end of the season and actually never got a chance to try this out.  It's still sitting on one of my workbenches.  I'll have to set some time aside and put it in a call.  I'll be sure to post a sound file here after I get it put together.

[Footballer]

I'm finally caught up enough that I'm working on one of these now.  Finished the soundboard, but haven't made the call blank yet. 

Wenge / maple / padauk

That looks great! How does it sound?

I got really busy last spring building calls for people toward the end of the season and actually never got a chance to try this out.  It's still sitting on one of my workbenches.  I'll have to set some time aside and put it in a call.  I'll be sure to post a sound file here after I get it put together.

Any luck?