Why do some high-end guitars have holes in their sides?

[LikeASir_]

It pains me to see a beautiful guitar mutilated. Is there a reason for it?

[Steadfastly]

Not mutilated. Some guitars are built with them. Others modify them that way. Supposedly it's so the player can hear the true tone of their guitar which you can't when the sound is all coming out the front and going away from you. With holes in the side (usually the upper bout), the sound is coming at the player.

[Brucebubs]

Also known as 'Sound-Ports'.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by LikeASir_

It pains me to see a beautiful guitar mutilated. Is there a reason for it?

As Bruce pointed out, those holes are called soundports, and they’re done to help the player hear him- or herself better. They act like monitor speakers pointed right at the player’s ear.

If you play with a pick and have a strong right hand attack, then soundports don’t bring much to the party. But if you play lightly or fingerpick, they’re really a help.

Soundports are obviously not a traditional feature of acoustic guitars, but for the past ten or fifteen years they’ve become increasingly more common, especially on hand built custom instruments at the high end of the market.

At some point you should seek out some guitars with soundports and try playing a few tunes on them, so you can judge them for yourself. I have found that soundports don’t particularly suit my playing, but they’re wonderful feature for a lot of musicians.

Far from being “mutilations,” soundports are carefully engineered features that are a great help to those guitarists who play quieter styles that benefit from them.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[raysachs]

Never would have occurred to me how useful these could be until I bought an Emerald with an offset soundhole that directs sound both out in front of the guitar AND up at the player’s ear. Playing an older X7 (with just a front facing sound hole) and a newer one, with the offset soundhole, the difference was astounding. Even playing with a pick. Even strumming. The guitars sound quite similar sitting 5-10 feet in front of it as a listener. But PLAYING them, the difference was night and day. And since most of my playing these days is at home, with only myself as an intended audience (and my wife hearing quite a bit of it, but not really listening most of the time), how it sounds to me, as the player, is a huge part of the equation.

-Ray

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by LikeASir_

It pains me to see a beautiful guitar mutilated. Is there a reason for it?

As already explained, they are sound ports, and intended for those who play more for themselves than for their audience, but I'm sure they help the player hear the projected sound and I doubt that they compromise the forward projections much.

I love the designs of guitars from before 1934, so I also consider them a mutilation, as I do cutaways on flat tops.
It like the luthiery version of tattoos and piercings.

However - each to his own.

[Dreadfulnaught]

For those of you who play with a pick, those are pick retrieval ports, or PRPs. When you drop a pick through the soundhole they provide an easy way to get it out. Another benefit is that for every 20 guitars built, enough wood is saved to make another complete back and sides set.

[Cincy2]

I used to own a very, very good Classical guitar made by Joshia deJonge that had a sound port. It also had a cover for it made out of the same wood and held in place by a magnet. It was easy to compare the sound with it open and closed. With it open, I found the volume (to my ears, not to the listener) increased and there was the impression of more harmonic content and more "air". The luthier did it very artistically. I felt it was a great evolutionary change to the guitar design and would do it again if I wanted another nylon string guitar. With steel string, and it's much higher string tension and volume, I'm not sure the effect would be as noticeable.

Cincy

[srbell]

I can't get past the look of a hole in the side. To me they look like someone removed a preamp and left the hole there. I don't doubt they help project sound to the player, but the look sure puts me off from buying a guitar with one.

[TBman]

I put soundports in three of my laminate guitars and it really helped their volume, especially the Seagull.

The ones I've seen online done by pros are really nice looking.

[perttime]

I don't mind the look.
I've only briefly played a guitar with a port. It was a small bodied guitar at a guitar show. That port actually let me hear myself play. And I could tell the sound was good.

They work. Does it matter? That's up to each individual.

[Purfle Haze]

Originally Posted by LikeASir_

It pains me to see a beautiful guitar mutilated. Is there a reason for it?

Some high-end builders know something that you don't. Would you like to know what it is?

[Bob Womack]

It's an entry point so mice can crawl in and out without pooping on the top of the guitar.

It's a handy spot to keep your hot sauce.

Yours didn't come with the micro-spittoon in the hole? Call the manufacturer.

It gives you a place to mount your GoPro for that all-important up-the-nostril shot.

Bob

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by LikeASir_

It pains me to see a beautiful guitar mutilated. Is there a reason for it?

I find it hard to believe you don't know what the reason its. Just sounds like an excuse to show your displeasure with sound ports.

Here are some examples of "mutilations":

[srbell]

Originally Posted by paulzoom

I find it hard to believe you don't know what the reason its. Just sounds like an excuse to show your displeasure with sound ports.



Here are some examples of "mutilations":

Now those are very nice looking, something I could see having. Most I've seen don't look anywhere near that nice. Thanks for sharing the pics.