Category Archives: soundhole

Meet the Maker: Ken Parker

2023
AL#149 p.4               
Mike Doolin   Ken Parker                                                                                       

▪ Can you believe we have never “met” this guy? He’s a giant of the American Lutherie Boom, he was at the Guild’s 1979 Convention, and he has been a GAL member for over twenty years. The world knows him as the maker of the Fly solidbody guitar, but now he has returned to his first love: the archtop guitar. Mentions Larry Fishman, John D’Angelico, Jimmy D’Aquisto, Scott Chinery, Orville Gibson, Lloyd Loar, Raphael Ciani, Nick Lucas, Michael Greenfield, Sam Zygmuntowicz.

Using Soundhole Inserts to Vary the Lower Resonant Frequencies of an Acoustic Guitar

2023
AL#149 p.50               
Mark French   Eddy Efendy                                                                                       

▪ Putting a tube in the port of a loudspeaker box changes the lower resonances. Makers of classical guitars have known about that for a century and a half. They call that tube a tornavoz. French and Efendy give us the math on how it works.

Offset Soundholes and Sound Wedges

2017
AL#130 p.22               
David Freeman                                                                                           

▪ Freeman has made a number of guitars with varying combinations of off-center soundholes, graduated body depth, rolled-over edges, and adjustable side ports. He gives us his thoughts on how these design factors interact and how they advance his quest for a more erognomic steel string guitar.

Tales from the Soundhole: Guitar Repair Tips and Techniques

2016
AL#126 p.22               
Alex Glasser   Brian Michael                                                                                       

▪ Brian and Alex cover a number of interesting repair projects including crack repair and finish touchup on satin-finished guitars, cracked heel blocks, magnets, steamers, and even using a parked car as a neck heater. From their 2014 GAL Convention workshop.

A New Concept in Circle Cutting Jigs

2015
AL#123 p.62               
Greg Nelson                                                                                           

▪ Controlling the distance between the pin and the bit is the whole game when cutting circles with a router. Here’s a new way to do it that offers very fine control and no threads. Elegant!.

It Worked for Me: Add Binding to the Inside Edge of a Soundhole Utilizing PVC Pipe

2015
AL#121 p.65               
Clifford Wilkes                                                                                           

▪ Wilkes adds binding to the inside edge of a soundhole and avoids clamping damage by using a PVC pipe almost exactly the diameter of the soundhole.

Elliptical Legacy

2014
AL#117 p.52               
James Condino   John Monteleone                                                                                       

▪ A history of the ellipse soundhole cutter device in lutherie and it’s lineage from D’Angelico to D’Aquisto to John Monteleone.

A Reinterpretation Of Baroque Soundhole Rose

2010
AL#102 p.58               
Michael McCarten                                                                                           

▪ McCarten devises a style with characteristics of both the ‘paper rose’ and single layer soundhole rose, but with an aesthetic not typical of traditional work.

Blind Listening Evaluation of Classical Guitar Soundports

2008
AL#96 p.54      ALA3 p.25         
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ Do you believe that soundports on the side of a guitar make a difference to the sound perception of the guitarist? Do you believe they don’t? Either way, you should consider the facts presented in this article. It may change the way you build guitars, but it won’t give you more faith in the hearing of humans, even of professional musicians. With 1 photo and 3 charts.

The “Corker” Guitar: A Sideport Experiment

2008
AL#94 p.56               
Alan Carruth                                                                                           

▪ Carruth built a classical guitar with many ports cut in the side. By closing the ports with corks in various combinations he tested the usefulness of sideports and tried to establish the physics behind their use. Though this guitar did not make a believer out of him, he admits that his results are somewhat inconclusive. With one photo and a slew of charts and figures concerning the air modes of his guitar with various sideports open.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Geometric Design of the Stradivari Model G Violin, Part Two: f-holes

2008
AL#94 p.30               read this article
Robert J. Spear                                                                                           

▪ The second installment of how geometry might have been used to design the Cremonese violin. Part One was in AL#93. With 10 graphs and a photo.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

There’s a Hole in the Bucket

2007
AL#91 p.6               read this article
Cyndy Burton                                                                                           

▪ Burton’s micro history of sideports (holes in the sides, in addition to the front soundhole) in stringed instruments serves as an introduction to the next three articles. Luthiers she mentions include John Monteleone, Robert Ruck, Alain Bieber, Gennero Fabricatore, Kenny Hill, Alan Carruth, Roger Thurman, and Augustino LoPrinzi. With 9 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Sideways

2007
AL#91 p.8               read this article
John Monteleone                                                                                           

▪ Ace archtop builder Monteleone is an advocate of side soundports (holes in the sides, in addition to the front soundhole) and has employed them for over a decade. His article includes personal background, developmental work on his sideported instruments, and construction techniques. With 3 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Herr Helmholtz’ Tube

2007
AL#91 p.11               read this article
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ The author found that a sideport (hole in the side, in addition to the front soundhole) in his guitar changed its voice in an undesirable way. Adding a bass reflex tube to the hole returned the guitar to a tonal range he liked. He remains luke warm to the benefits of side ports. With 5 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Three Holes are Better than One

2007
AL#91 p.12               read this article
Robert Ruck                                                                                           

▪ Ruck has been adding sideports (holes in the sides, in addition to the front soundhole) to his classical and flamenco guitars for many years and is a strong advocate of their advantages. The incidents that led him to incorporate ports are very interesting. He mentions Roger Thurman and Augustino LoPrinzi. With 1 photo.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Arched Plate Carving, Part Two, Graduating the Top Plate and Cutting the f-Holes

2006
AL#85 p.30               
Chris Burt                                                                                           

▪ Burt’s in-depth examination of plate carving continues. His techniques are old-school, relying on tap tones to define plate stiffness and definite tonal relationships between the top and back plates. With 9 photos and a drawing.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

19th-Century Rosette Marquetry for 21st-Century Guitars

2005
AL#84 p.6   BRB7 p.392            
Greg Byers                                                                                           

▪ With tools you’ve probably already got in your shop you can make mosaic rosettes that look modern and yet somehow traditional. The techniques differ from the bricks and tiles made of old and are more akin to the processes of making fancy purflings. Cooler than anything, but not for the impatient among us. With 31 photos and a pair of diagrams.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

The Helmholtz Resonance

2005
AL#82 p.38   BRB7 p.344            
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ It’s not necessary to understand the physics of sound to be a great instrument maker, but it can’t hurt. Many of us would like to believe that we succeed using experience and strong intuition and don’t need science. Maybe an analytical mind just gets in the way, no? Or maybe the science guys are just smarter than the rest of us and we need an excuse not to stand in the same light that they do. Who knows? Anyhow, the Helmholtz resonance is the lowest vibratory mode of an instrument, though not necessarily the lowest note that instrument is capable of. All the rest of sound physics is built on top of the Helmholtz resonance, and Mottola devolves the science enough for the rest of us to understand. It’s fun but in the end it’s not clear that it really matters. For the few among us with operational math brains all the formulas are presented in a sidebar.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

The Dan and Frank Show: Through the Soundhole Repair Techniques

2004
AL#78 p.4   BRB7 p.174            
Dan Erlewine   Frank Ford                                                                                       

▪ A ton of guitar repairs can only be accomplished by reaching through the soundhole. Here, two masters of the genre describe some of their methods a working in the cramped darkness, some of the tools they’ve used and/or created, and the attitude you have to acquire when getting stumped and handing back an unrepaired guitar is not an option. With 32 photos.

Fiber Optic Inspection Scope

2004
AL#78 p.54   BRB7 p.204            
Robert A. Edelstein   Ben Edelstein                                                                                       

▪ How would you like an inspection tool that slides into any soundhole and gives you an electronic picture of what it sees? It’s here, it’s very cool, but it’s still pretty expensive. With 7 photos.

Classical Cremonese Violin Soundhole Placement

2003
AL#76 p.38   BRB7 p.126            
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ Certainly no instrument maker has been as studied and thought about as Stradivari. Not only would modern makers like to be as successful as he was, but his methods were poorly recorded and have to be rediscovered by examining his instruments. It’s a puzzle, and luthiers are by nature patient puzzle solvers. So, was there a Cremonese formula for laying out f-holes? Darnton thinks so, and believes he may be onto the answer. With a photo and one drawing.

Constructing the Spanish Rosette, Part 2

2003
AL#73 p.14   BRB6 p.368            
Eugene Clark   Jonathon Peterson                                                                                       

▪ Clark is one of the old American masters of lutherie. Building an original rosette in the Spanish tradition is way more complicated than routing a channel and poking in some abalone, as steel stringers are apt to do, but with Clark’s instruction you can do it. Includes 22 photos. Part 1 appeared in AL #71.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.

Constructing the Spanish Rosette, Part 1

2002
AL#71 p.8   BRB6 p.368            
Eugene Clark   Jonathon Peterson                                                                                       

▪ How deeply do you want to dive into the matter of making rosettes? Here Clark will submerge you until you gasp for air or make a fine rosette, whichever comes first. Designing the rosette and dying the sticks receive deepest treatment, though no words are spared when describing the cutting and sizing of the materials. Everything is here. With 33 photos. Part Two will appear in a future issue of AL.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.

It Worked for Me: Cheap Spanish Guitar

2002
AL#71 p.65   BRB6 p.464            
Jonathon Peterson                                                                                           

▪ Small adjustable-width angle gauges for a through-the-soundhole approach to repair a fractured top on a Spanish guitar.

It Worked for Me: Classical Bridge Gluing

2000
AL#62 p.58               
Peter Giolitto                                                                                           

▪ A method utilizing a go-bar deck as alternative to gluing on a classical bridge using clamps through the soundhole.

It Worked for Me: Neapolitan Mandolin

1995
AL#43 p.57   BRB4 p.495            
Jonathon Peterson                                                                                           

▪ Using an inspection light and mirror to locate the position of the old brace from leftover glue through the sound hole on a damaged American made Neapolitan mandolin.

Making Oval Mandolin Rosettes

1995
AL#41 p.34   BRB4 p.140            
Jonathon Peterson                                                                                           

▪ Seven luthiers explain how they cut that oval slot.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Heed Herr Helmholtz (or How I Built My First Guitar Twice)

1994
AL#38 p.44   BRB4 p.48            
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ Anyone willing to dismantle their first guitar deserves a lot of credit, especially if it came out cosmetically pristine the first time. Doolin replaced the top of his first guitar to bring the bass response up to spec. With 9 photos and a lot to think about.

Violin Q & A: Removing Fingerboards/Sound Hole Size

1991
AL#27 p.56   BRB3 p.446            
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ Darnton explains how to disassemble a fiddle, and the effects of soundhole size on violin performance.

Questions: Parchment Roses

1990
AL#23 p.60   BRB2 p.485            
Christopher Allworth   C.F. Casey                                                                                       

▪ The Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, England) has available working drawings of a 1641 guitar by Rene Voboam, including details of construction of the parchment rose.

Practicum Three: Making the Belly

1989
AL#20 p.40   HLC p.94            
Robert Lundberg                                                                                           

▪ Lundberg makes a complete lute top including carving the rose and bracing the soundboard. Contains 57 photos and 6 diagrams with detailed captions. This series ran for 19 installments in American Lutherie and has been collected into our hardback book Historical Lute Construction.

The Erlangen Lectures Day Three: The Belly

1988
AL#14 p.22   HLC p.30            
Robert Lundberg                                                                                           

▪ This portion of the series deals with the soundboard, or belly, of the lute, including the braces and rosette. Many drawings illustrate the shape and thickness of historical lute tops. Beautiful drawings accompany the photos of astonishing rosettes (the drawings are not patterns of the photos). Where did those old guys find the patience? This is the third of 19 installments.

Basics of Air Resonance

1985
AL#1 p.16   BRB1 p.8            read this article
W.D. Allen                                                                                           

▪ Allen attempts to introduce the nonphysicist to useful concepts of resonance including standing waves, captured air mass, and soundhole size. Illustrated with the author’s own sometimes-whimsical drawings, the article aims at preparing luthiers to understand heavier fare on the physics of musical instruments.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Drill Press Rosette Grooves

1980
DS#140   LW p.80            
Larry Stevens                                                                                           

▪ A drill press only wants to make holes, but you can train it to do a lot of tricks. For instance, why not use it to mill the slots for rosette rings to snuggle into? Groovy! With diagrams of the cutting bits.

Making Pointy Rosettes

1978
DS#88   LW p.78            
Tim Olsen                                                                                           

▪ Are you tired of rosettes that are just rings around the soundhole? Here’s a jumping off point if you want to take the plunge. The next step is to get rid of the round soundhole. With 3 diagrams.

Routing Rosette Slots

1978
DS#69   LT p.61            
John Spence                                                                                           

▪ Spence uses sub-bases for his router to make rosette cavities. The sub-bases are drilled with holes that fit over a pin mounted in the center of what will be the soundhole.