Offset Soundholes: Fad or the Future?

[David Hilyard]

Originally Posted by Elliott E Worby

That's just .... ummmmmmmm ...... WOW!! It's messing with my head like some sort of optical illusion. I see it has a bunch of sympathetic strings. I would love to just hear one of these guitars once.

Marc Dorsa lives in town and has two of Fred's Sympitars, at last count. Go to his CD Baby releases and sample the sound. Alex de Grassi also has one, as well as fellow forum member Jeff Titus.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/dorsa

http://cdbaby.com/cd/titusjeff

The first time I played a Sympitar was in 1994, at Fred's house. Really felt like I should have incense burning. Cool sitar-like sounds. You can dampen those strings if you want.

[Doubleneck]

Somehow on the CA GXI the offset looks right. I think its how it is positioned and also it is a futuristic model which does evoke the need for tradition. As much as I appreciate Mcphersons I am not sure I like the look of the soundhole.
Steve

[xanatos]

There are all very interesting questions.

Offset soundholes and soundports remind me there is still much room for innovation in guitars.

it's good to try new techniques... traditions are nice, but simply following tradition can cause out to miss on improvements.

[JamesN4]

Originally Posted by David Hilyard

Some think they are ugly. These people wouldn't own one.

I'm someone who thinks offset soundholes look ugly, but I would try to make myself get over my shallow prejudice if the guitar sounded good! I can see that the argument in favour of them make sense: that it makes more sense to have the big hole in the area of the top that isn't so 'active'.

I say shallow prejudice because any dislike I have of them is purely about aesthetics. I'm used to guitars having sound-holes in the middle, and when I see one off-centre my brain writes it off as novelty for novelty's sake. But a forum like this has led me to see that there are sound reasons.

I used to feel (pre-AGF) the same way about cutaways on acoustics: that they were purely for show, and I assumed that adding one to a guitar design would make it sound worse than if it had been without one. But as lots of luthiers and players on here have commented that it doesn't affect the sound, I've revised that assumption.

James

[BatsonGuitars]

After years and years of trying to create an improved (based on our own definition, of course) sound, it made sense to us that the prime real estate on the "tone-generating membrane" has been cut out and thrown in the can. So we started looking at ancient instruments, and other types, as ljguitar mentioned (archtop, violin, etc). It made sense to us to at least give it a try. Tom Bills, we thought, had the location in the optimal position and then we just decided to try to allow the top to move even more by getting the other hindrances off the top.
imho, the sound definitely "improved".

[Michael Watts]

Originally Posted by BatsonGuitars

After years and years of trying to create an improved (based on our own definition, of course) sound, it made sense to us that the prime real estate on the "tone-generating membrane" has been cut out and thrown in the can. So we started looking at ancient instruments, and other types, as ljguitar mentioned (archtop, violin, etc). It made sense to us to at least give it a try. Tom Bills, we thought, had the location in the optimal position and then we just decided to try to allow the top to move even more by getting the other hindrances off the top.
imho, the sound definitely "improved".

Absolutely. And it's worked a treat!

[blue-wily-fox]

Here's an interesting sound hole shift......would love to see the bracing on this one....

[martinedwards]

I like the idea of the sound hole free top and a nice big edge soundport.

I have a 50th instrument celebration build for myself coming up soon, and along with the fanned frets, I may just go with this......

or not!!

[Stephen W.]

All these "new" ideas came from an inquisitive Florida State University biophysicist named Michael Kasha.
Here is a brief outline of his journey into guitar making starting in 1964.
He commissioned luthier Richard Schneider to build classical guitars incorporating his ideas. Soon Schneider was adding his own ideas to the mix. Here is Schneider's very interesting resume dated Spring 1996.
According to Steve Klein, (from the book; Art That Sings) Kasha believed his and Schneider's designs were limited to nylon stringed guitars. Kasha theorized that the added tension of the steel strings required the more traditional designs and bracing. However, Klein disagreed and went forward incorporating, then improving on Kasha's designs specifically for steel stringed guitars.

My Andrew White guitars incorporate many of the Kasha/Schneider design concepts.

[Jeff M]

Fad or future?
I vote.....option.

[cu4life7]

I don't think that it will ever become the future of guitars, as the traditional sounds and look have been pretty consistent for quite some time now. But I think they will continue to be an option and a source of a different look and sound and a direction to experiment with what a guitar can do. I personally don't like the look at all (like cutaways) and couldn't see myself getting one.

[btdvox]

I dislike Offset soundholes quite a bit.

I do like sound ports though.

[patchmcg]

Originally Posted by mulausk

I just can't get used to the asymmetry. Lack of asymmetry is probably why I lean away from cutaways too, for that matter. But the cutaway is a little more widely accepted and produced (which is probably why I'm more used to it).

Ovation's been doing the off-set concept since the 70's, and I admit that I LOVE their symmetry!

My Ovation Elite 1537. (The wood-topped Adamas)

[RandyMolson]

Something interesting about the Tacoma wing series soundhole: My Tacoma rosewood chief has the same volume as my Martin 0 sitting across the room. But to the player, the Chief sounds much louder.

[1cubilindo]

Originally Posted by blue-wily-fox

Here's an interesting sound hole shift......would love to see the bracing on this one....

I saw one of these at the Dali Museum last week.