Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Robert Killen on January 20, 2016 at 8:09am

Love  it!

From an article in Science News ( www.sciencenews.org/article/how-violin’s-f-holes-influence-its-sound ) I found this as well: "Based on calculations of airflow and experiments, the team found that an instrument with f-shaped holes should have twice the acoustic power of one with circular holes."

I've been interested in f-holes because - unlike violins and guitars - cigar boxes have very strong fundamental resonances. I would think, due to the odd shape of an f-hole that it might lessen the fundamental bump. I'm going to have to make more gits to test that out though. :-)

Permalink Reply by Busyhands Slim on January 20, 2016 at 9:58am

Yeah, this makes me want to drop my other projects and build a CBG just to test out F-holes.

Hmmm. If I made my own box, I could experiment with different tops, using different F-hole sizes. On the to-do list now.

Permalink Reply by Thomas "Duck" Petry on January 20, 2016 at 8:26am

So obviously the length of the F-hole is determined by the diameter of the Clementine.  That said, would the volume of the instrument be affected by adding a radius to the inner edge of the F-hole allowing a smother flow to the sound waves exiting the body.  The shape of the body and curve of the back and soundboard would probably change the volume as well.

Permalink Reply by Busyhands Slim on January 20, 2016 at 9:53am

I don't think the size of the clementine is important here -- it's the shape of the hole, describing the ratio of a sphere to its surface, that makes it work.

Permalink Reply by Thomas "Duck" Petry on January 20, 2016 at 10:09am

Assuming that to be the case, "ratio of the sphere", then what would happen if you used a grapefruit?  Thinking that the size of the fruit needs to be relevant to the size of the box fo it to work properly.

Permalink Reply by Busyhands Slim on January 20, 2016 at 12:39pm

Yep, definitely.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 3, 2016 at 11:33am

Maybe this has something to do with the size of the instrument. Large body acoustic guitars have more volume with a round hole than the F-holes. Then again, most F-hole instruments have arched tops and most round sound holed instruments have flat tops. So it could be related to the shape of the sound chamber which is something the article didn't mention. Then there's the round back Ovation guitars that usually had several round holes of different sizes in the upper bout.

Interesting and confusing at the same time. Try it out and tell us your findings.

Permalink Reply by Sean Laffey on February 10, 2016 at 11:09am

There are very practical reasons why the F  hole developed in fiddles. The family of instruments need a sound post, connecting the top to the back. To fit it properly you have to put it inside the instrument after the back and belly have been glued up. The F hole allows for the sound post tool to  be used to put in the dowel of wood that is the sound post,