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I admit I haven't read all the posts. For those of you that use sound ports do you adjust the size of the sound hole any?

Nope - but I don't use a scientific approach I just make the port in the design I want.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Without addressing the question that revived this thread...

Isn't it interesting that torrified tops appears to be the latest trend in marketing guitars... Is the soundport next?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

If you want to keep the 'main air' mode pitch the same you need to reduce the size of the main sound hole when using a port. Just how much to reduce it depends on a lot of things, so it's hard to give any rules.

Well I always lay my ear on the upper bout to listen to every acoustic guitar I own. It's a sound all its own. Also while playing my solid body Jazzmaster I learned that if you touched a doorframe with the headstock it would amplify the sound somewhat but, a sound really hard to re-create. With any amp.


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I am always slightly bemused that reference is invariably made to the "Manzer wedge" but nobody ever refers to the "Laskin soundport".
Nor the "Laskin arm bevel" neither, for that matter.

I think it's like many things, once the technique comes into common use the name of the person who developed or popularized that technique is usually dropped - the term "Laskin arm bevel" was common for a while but now it's just an arm bevel. I haven't heard anyone refer to a "Manzer wedge" for a while either but usually just "wedge shape". Fame is fleeting

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I have built 1 so far . Taking that into account , you can do with this comment as you wish .. LOL I figured the upper bout sound port area and reduced the Top port accordingly ... why ? cause I could.. It projects very nicely clear and loud. I have had several people play it who have never played a guitar with one and to a man they have all said they really like the difference . Scientific ? Nahh , Just ole redneck boy messin around makin sawdust

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The 'Manzer Wedge' usage came about because of a priority dispute. Linda invented the thing as part of the 'Pikasso' guitar design, and told Cumpiano about it. He forgot she had, and 're-invented' it himself a few years later, claiming priority. Linda set him straight, and asked that folks use the 'Manzer Wedge' designation to keep things clear.

Several years ago one of my students did a patent search, and came up with one for a wedge shaped guitar that had been filed years before ('69, iirc) by Smith. Linda and I have discussed this. She had never heard of Smith's patent, and so does deserve some credit as an independent inventor, but obviously can't make a patent claim.

I suspect that almost any fairly simple modification has been tried on the guitar at one time or another. Most of them didn't work out, and were forgotten. Of course, 'not working out' has to be taken in the context of the time: the innovation may have produced a guitar that we would find desirable, but if it wasn't what the players of the day were looking for, it would not have caught on. An interesting parallel is the history of the flush toilet. Variations of the design go back to 1600 or so, but, in one reported case, Good Queen Bess didn't like it, so it didn't catch on.

Anyway, I strongly suspect that most 'inventions' that don't rely on a new material, such as Nomex or carbon fiber, have been tried in the past, and found wanting. They may be just what modern players are looking for, of course, and so could catch on now, but I take all claims of originality with a grain of salt.

I can't help but point out how much engineering happened at Larrivee to prevent the 'Manzering' of frames.

I often see soundports that are cosmetic designs, in a static, fixed format. Which means that the main air resonance is left as a random, when in fact, if you're putting in a soundport, it is something that can be tuned and dominated, just as the main top and back monopoles can be dominated.

must be the only time in history a royal flush wasn't a winner ...

Well played sir, well played. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

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