Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Anthony Waszkiewicz on September 30, 2016 at 3:10pm

Thanks, very useful advice...gives me more to chew on now.......cheers

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Permalink Reply by JL on September 30, 2016 at 3:43am

no, no, yes, kinda, as many as will fit, lots

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Waszkiewicz on September 30, 2016 at 3:15pm

Agree......my idgara......attitude, thought this a silly question, but  it seems important, I am getting more interested these days, ways to improve....as they say, there are no rules, but....knowledge passed on helps so much....cheers.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Waszkiewicz on October 1, 2016 at 2:12am

Cheers

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Waszkiewicz on September 30, 2016 at 3:11pm

Thanks...cheers

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Permalink Reply by Kigar on October 1, 2016 at 4:18am

I have done round holes, fancy holes and no hole at all. There is some good theories out there, but even if you made two identical cbg's with the same hole, they likely would sound different. Do whatever suits ya!

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Permalink Reply by Titch the Clown on October 1, 2016 at 12:18pm

Just to put things in a scientificatorial frame, a box on a cigar box guitar is a neckless helmholtz resonator. There are formulas that will tell you how big a hole will create the muchest volume from the size box you have though in general if you look at a few boxes you will see the popular sizes that look about right are close enough.

Fancy book learning can make your head hurt so a couple of small holes about an inch or so in diameter either side of the neck, or one slightly bigger one.

Fancy f holes also free up the top to vibrate more.

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Permalink Reply by Grandpa on October 2, 2016 at 9:42am

I will add my $.02 of experience - All of the info. in this discussion is useful, and demonstrates that varied experience vs. theory is all relevant. You try, learn, and discern what trips your trigger. I've built similar, even identical gits, and they all sound different. String selection, bridge material, nut or zero fret, sound hole size and placement (or none at all) create the sweet surprise of "how will this one sound?". I recently built four 4-string license plate gits, using old oak table leaves for bodies. All acoustic, no sound holes. One mahogany neck, one poplar neck, two red oak necks. Sound similar, but a little different. Again, tried different string sizes and tunings.....now one sounds banjo-y, one is kinda Uke-y, the others are more reso-git sounding. All very cool, and different. My fallback position on lpg's is that I can retro a sound hole through the top side of the body if I think it needs more music to escape. Works for me so far.

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Permalink Reply by JL on October 3, 2016 at 3:09am

So, the basics are that sound holes are another of the many compromises that make this consarnit conundrums work.

A soundhole takes away from the size of the soundboard (face) that the bridge vibrates so you have less surface transmitting that vibration to the air, BUT it lets the internal vibration out. (tradeoff #1)

A round soundhole minimizes how much of the soundboard's strength & surface is compromised by the hole, but long narrow slit(s) of the same surface area actually accelerate the air motion through them increasing the volume, the same way a fan-spray nozzle on your garden hose works. (tradeoff #2). That's why violins/violas/cellos/doublebass have Fholes and bracing and a soundpost, to maximize the volume.

When you asked "How many can go on a box" I imagined the ultimate Swiss-Cheese scenario and grinned.  It would look awesome but would likely need a mag-pickup, lol

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Permalink Reply by Kigar on October 3, 2016 at 12:35pm

How about 3) a sound hole weakens the top, and then it can move more. Even more so with f holes and slot shapes.

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Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on October 3, 2016 at 12:57pm

OK let's be scientific..
It's a box. A hole let's you hear what's inside. It's something that looks cool.

Just half joking.
If I'm totally honest I don't really know much about it. I do know you don't need one if it's electric, you might even cut back on feedback if there's no hole. If the hole is too big it doesn't work well, similarly if it's too small.

I have a ukulele with no hole and it sounds fine without it. Clean design. I tried it again and it sounded muffled. Say what?

That's about it from me.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on October 5, 2016 at 2:27pm

"I'm sure there's scientific calculations for placement and size of sound holes,"

Yes there are. No I wont. LOL!

I built a CBG once and decided to string it up and test it out before punching any holes in the box. It still has invisible holes.

Throw something together and play it till the thing has sound holes worn into it. That's the right way to do it.

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