Scooter - although there will be exceptions, with archtop mandolins your choices are generally either a pair of F holes or a single oval soundhole; it’s with flattop mandolins like the ones shown in the second post that you’ll find a round soundhole. (The F holes on one of the flattop mandolins shown are extremely uncommon.)
To my ears what you get with an oval soundhole on an archtop mandolin is more low end response and more sustain. They also tend to have what I consider to be a sweeter, more musical-sounding tone. The practical problem with playing one in an ensemble, however, is that they don’t project and cut through a mix of other instruments nearly as well as an F-5 style mandolin with F holes.
That’s why it’s rare to ever see an oval soundhole A model mandolin in a bluegrass band: it’s hard for it to cut through when there’s a banjo clanging away at the same time.
The extra mass created by the solid wooden scroll of an F-5 style mandolin also seems to add to the instrument’s projective qualities. For years I thought that most mandolin players in bluegrass bands own F-5 style instruments because they were simply imitating Bill Monroe, the guy who invented bluegrass music as we know it, but having played some F-5’s in a bluegrass setting I realized that those scrolls that looked so gaudy and unnecessary to my eyes actually do play a role in how well the mandolin cuts through the mix. A style mandolins with F holes don’t cut through quite so well.
So if you’re mainly interested in playing bluegrass, that’s something to consider. But if you’re more interested in playing all sorts of different musical styles on mandolin, look at the symmetrical A model mandolins, because you’ll get more mandolin for your money that way.
Hope that makes sense.
Wade Hampton Miller
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