#1
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Why do some high-end guitars have holes in their sides?
It pains me to see a beautiful guitar mutilated. Is there a reason for it?
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2017 Taylor 714c |
#2
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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.
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#3
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Also known as 'Sound-Ports'.
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Brucebubs 1972 - Takamine D-70 2014 - Alvarez ABT60 Baritone 2015 - Kittis RBJ-195 Jumbo 2012 - Dan Dubowski#61 2018 - Rickenbacker 4003 Fireglo 2020 - Gibson Custom Shop Historic 1957 SJ-200 2021 - Epiphone 'IBG' Hummingbird |
#4
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Quote:
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 |
#5
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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 |
#6
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Quote:
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.
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Silly Moustache, Just an old Limey acoustic guitarist, Dobrolist, mandolier and singer. I'm here to try to help and advise and I offer one to one lessons/meetings/mentoring via Zoom! |
#7
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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.
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90s Martin D-28 (Algae guitar) 1979 Alvarez CY 115, #226 of 600 1977 Giannini Craviola 12 String 1997 Martin CEO-1R 1970s C.F. Mountain OOO-18 1968 Standel/Harptone E6-N 1969-70 Harptone Maple Lark L6-NC (Katrina guitar) Supreme A-12 Voyage-Air VAOM-06 Esteban Antonio Brown Model |
#8
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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
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2018 Buscarino Italia |
#9
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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.
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Taylor 814ce DLX Taylor GTe Urban Ash Taylor GS Mini-e Rosewood Ovation CS257 Celebrity Deluxe Epiphone PR-350 Kramer 450G Gretsch G2622 |
#10
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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.
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Barry My SoundCloud page Avalon L-320C, Guild D-120, Martin D-16GT, McIlroy A20, Pellerin SJ CW Cordobas - C5, Fusion 12 Orchestra, C12, Stage Traditional Alvarez AP66SB, Seagull Folk Aria {Johann Logy}: |
#11
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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.
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Breedlove, Landola, a couple of electrics, and a guitar-shaped-object |
#12
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Some high-end builders know something that you don't. Would you like to know what it is?
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Purfle Haze Recreational guitar player |
#13
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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
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"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' " Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring THE MUSICIAN'S ROOM (my website) |
#14
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Quote:
Here are some examples of "mutilations": |
#15
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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.
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Taylor 814ce DLX Taylor GTe Urban Ash Taylor GS Mini-e Rosewood Ovation CS257 Celebrity Deluxe Epiphone PR-350 Kramer 450G Gretsch G2622 |