Comment

Comment by Jim Morris on January 14, 2016 at 9:51am

Acoustic instruments present a whole different challenge from amplified. It's fun to experiment with all the variables!

Comment by Moritz Voegeli on January 14, 2016 at 5:17am

Thanks Jim for the link about acoustic of sound holes, I played violin in my youth and I could never believe that the sound comes out of the f-holes as you feel that the whole body vibrates. My brother did some big acoustic archtops for music in the streets and ended up with a half round sound hole, which is now proved to be slightly better than a round one. Thanks!

Comment by Jim Morris on January 14, 2016 at 1:35am

Cool Dave. Look forward to seeing it.

Comment by Dave Lynas on January 13, 2016 at 5:10pm

Hey Jim, I've got a Rebob (sp?) started using a tambourine. I,ve added a fingerboard to the neck dowel. We'll see if it holds together tomorrow and I!ll post photos. It looks rather cute, I must say. It's a two string.

Comment by Jim Morris on January 13, 2016 at 10:54am

Thanks for that info Moritz. I've also made several acoustic instruments with no sound hole that sound quite good. Fairly quiet but with a nice tone like this one.

Comment by Moritz Voegeli on January 13, 2016 at 8:51am

There exist some traditional instruments with the sound hole on the side, some russian balalaikas (triangle) and turkish baglama (round), both with the sound hole near the neck, probably to give the player the opportunity to close the sound hole pressing the instruments against itself, to change the tonality. From a luthier I learned that a smaller sound hole accentuates the basses, a bigger one the mids an heights, but I didn't test this yet on a cbg.

Comment by Dave Lynas on January 13, 2016 at 8:20am

Thanks Jim. I have new respect for the f hole. It's position (so close to the bridge) and fussy shape has always made me shy of them. I'm fixing an old German violin for a friend. It has practicly no kerfing inside. Just the thinnest strips no thicker than the thin walls. The neck and tail block are tiny things. It was falling apart so the top came off easily. I've reset the neck but i'll add some more brace work befor closing it up. It weighs nothing. Bet it sounded good befor it fell apart. Thanks again for the research.

Comment by Jim Morris on January 13, 2016 at 7:54am

http://taflab.berkeley.edu/acoustics-of-sound-holes-in-musical-inst...

Hey Dave, here's one of the articles. Only a true sound hole nerd will find this interesting. I know I did!

Comment by Jim Morris on January 13, 2016 at 7:46am

Verrry interesting points Dave. I read a scholarly article about how f holes came about on instruments 400 years ago. I'll see if  I can locate it since I think you'd appreciate.

Comment by Dave Lynas on January 13, 2016 at 5:13am

I put sound holes often on the sides. The one on the left side is the monitor hole. For the player to hear. One on the right side to be a sound hole and an access hole to get at the soundpost or peizo pickup. Sometimes I have holes on top and both sides. The larger the holes, the louder the instrument. To many and too big will weaken the instrument. So one must find the biggest and strongest size. Location is important too. To close to the bridge will weaken the top and get rid of part of the soundboard so I stay away from the bridge and tail block with the sound holes. Shape of the holes is very important. I think f holes are rather weak for the soundboard. I think round or oval to be best for strength and can be the biggest.

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