Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm looking for sound port ideas - so how 'bout showing them here.

I'm trying to figure out the best location and would also love to see some of your creative ideas.

I already have a maple veneer and ebony piece bent to reinforce my area. Just need to glue it in once I figure out where I want to position it. (Just need to cut off some of the excess.)


Thanks

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

Hey Paul,

I've only built one gutiar with a sound port, it's oval shaped



check out some more pictures here

Location starts at the start of the upper bout curve. The oval is 4" long x 2" wide

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Paul,

Here's a couple I did recently.

Pat

Maple


Ebony, before finish

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Wow Pat - nice job on binding your sound ports.

Did you actually bend that - or is it a cut-out ring?

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

Heres' a couple:

I think this one should have been a little larger:

This one is bound with cocobolo and maple:

And finally

Have fun, be imaginative!
Mikey

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The Biggest Little City, Nevada
www.hammondguitars.com
I love building guitars!

Thanks.

They're bent. I broke a lot of ebony, even with SuperSoft.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Wow Pat - You got skills man.

I can hardly bend an ebony sound hole ring.

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

Hey Paul, here's my first although I'm working on #2 tonight.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I usually do an oval shaped hole with a rounded over edge, but sometimes I try new things too.

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Wow Chris,

The one with multiple holes is pretty mazing.

How's the sound from it?

Are you using a standard sound hole on the front?

And to others - how much compensation did you do to your primary sound hole to account for the sound port?

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

I cheated. It was laminated.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Sound ports eh.

Well me got a hole in one once.

SEE...



Didn't do nuthin for me score.



Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Evan McCartney

Thanks Paul. I like the sound from that padauk guitar. That one is interesting because it has a tailpiece and a cantilevered fingerboard. But yes, it does have a standard sound hole in the top. All of those things made for a very loud guitar with extremely long sustain. Overall, that one is pretty balanced from string to string as well.

Whenever I put soundports in, I don't adjust my sound hole at all. I leave it the way I normally do it. That seems to work for me.

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

It seems that ovals and circles are the "go to" shape.



I do adjust the main sound hole for some of the additional square inches the port provides but not all. However, since the reports about adding the ports improving the sound of supposedly already properly sized instruments I am beginning to wonder if I should.

Greg N

I did not compensate the tops sound hole at all for the sound port.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

I've done a few...

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Not quite finished this guitar yet, it's in need of a coat of jam but it's my first with a soundport.

Veneered with birdseye maple and a black purfling & a curly maple "core" which doubled as an inside patch.

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Nick Oliver

http://www.oliver-guitars.com

Here are several designs that we use:

http://mcknightguitars.com/soundports.html

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Lots of great shapes... the "guitar pick" one is inspired Tim.
Here's the only one I've done.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Here's mine. I put it in pretty much every guitar because I REALLY enjoy what it does for the tone I can hear as I play.
It is reinforced with a piece (or three or four if it won't bend) of side material running the grain perpendicular to the side. Then cut the port with a dremel. Then sand/file so that the reinforcement material can not be seen from the outside.



Dave

Greetings.

Q from a non-luthier here. What does the presence of sound ports do to the overall tone, especially what is projected from the front sound hole? Somehow, I always imagine sound ports as having a detrimental effect on the overall voice, but again, not a luthier.

Insanely curious, tho.

Kind regards,
-0.9

-0.9,
play a guitar with a port in it sometime.
It's amazing this hasn't caught on long ago.
Some say the tone is enhanced out front.
Some say it is diminished.
I say I really don't care because the guitar sounds so dang good to me.

Plus I'm finally not at the mercy of the sound man to keep my acoustic loud enough that I can hear it above the drums, bass and piano.

Dave

Wow! Great post. I've got to try a sound port.

Ed

Here a quick fuzzy and dirty shot of one I have in WIP. Better photos to come in the near future in a new thread.

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!