Consequences of a larger soundhole?

[sorengyllstrom]

Hello,

Im in the proces of building an 000-ish kit, and - long story short - there has been an issue with the soundhole placement (drawn on too low from the supplier) plus a newbie rosette mistake. Just for fun I thought that Id try and enlarge the soundhole and ADD a very thin circle around it instead of a rosette. It meets the fingerboard nicely, but to be honest it is fairly huge. Should I get some new would and discard this unusual top - or keep it and see what happens? What is the consequence on a larger soundhole?

Cheers from Denmark
Søren

[tippie53]

it depend on how bit you need to make it. Can you post a pic?
It should be ok Look at the Tony rice guitar.
jh

[MaineGeezer]

I think a large soundhole is supposed to negatively affect the bass response, but I may be making that up. The only way to tell is to build it. It may be fine. As John says, look at Tony Rice's guitar.

Far a fix, are you talking about what would amount to binding the sound hole? I did that on my first three guitars, just as an added touch. The binding ring is only about 1/16" wide though, the same as the binding around the edges of the box. I cut the sound hole 1/8" large, and the binding then reduced it to spec.

It sounds as though you are looking at doing more than that. You could certainly do it, I don't see why not. A 1/4" wide ring would probably not look too weird, and it would reduce the diameter by 1/2". And depending on how you designed the ring, it might look really good. Uncharted territory! So, you can 1) leave the hole large and see what it sounds like, or 2) exercise your artistic talent and see what you can do with a wide soundhole binding to get the diameter down to what it's supposed to be.

I suppose you could, in theory, do 1) and if you didn't like the sound try 2), but you'd want to put some kind of reinforcing behind a wide soundhole binding, which might be difficult with an assembled guitar.

[Diane Kauffmds]

If you don't like the sound, you could add a decorative piece of wood behind your soundhole, cut with a reduced size soundhole.

Just take a piece of decorative wood (rosette square) and use a compass to draw 2 circles, one the size of your existing sound hole, the other, the size of your new soundhole. Cut out the new soundhole. Glue the reduced soundhole to the back of your soundhole, lining up your soundhole with the compass line that you drew. Glue into place.

You can make it look really nice and unique. It'll be inset behind the soundhole. Tell everyone it's by design. No one is the wiser, and you have a very cool looking guitar!

[sorengyllstrom]

Thanks for the inputs. I'm especially intrigued by your idea Diane! Are you suggesting that I should glue it on the inside of the soundhole or flush with the top?

As it happens I already cut out the sound hole and placed it on the sides just to see how huge the hole is. It is big but could be saved using your idea. I'm just not sure how it should be executed (English is not my first language so some - often important - details can get lost along the way although you've given a detailed description

[Diane Kauffmds]

Thanks for the inputs. I'm especially intrigued by your idea Diane! Are you suggesting that I should glue it on the inside of the soundhole or flush with the top?

As it happens I already cut out the sound hole and placed it on the sides just to see how huge the hole is. It is big but could be saved using your idea. I'm just not sure how it should be executed (English is not my first language so some - often important - details can get lost along the way although you've given a detailed description ;)

I'm a pretty experimentally creative person. If I were in your shoes, and I didn't like the sound of the large soundhole, I would choose a really beautiful rosette square, and do as I posted above. I would glue it behind the soundboard soundhole, on the inside, creating a new soundhole that's not only a beautiful wood, but has visual interest, because it'll be below the original soundhole. It would step down from the outside of your original soundhole.

I don't know what kind, or how close your soundhole bracing is to the hole, so I don't know how much of a glue area you'll have. For it to look good, you need to make sure that it's well glued around the edge, with no gaps.

It would be difficult (not impossible, but very difficult) to get a circle of wood to really sit flush inside of the hole with the edge, so I would just put it under by design, so it looks like you meant to do it that way. Choose a wood that compliments some element of your guitar. You can match your sides/back, or if that wouldn't look right, use a wood that had multiple tones, including something you've used on your guitar.
That way it'll tie in well with what you've already done.

I made a picture, as if you are looking at your top from the side, with the soundhole cut in half. I hope it shows you what I mean.

Notes_191108_050546_5e3_1.jpg

Notes_191108_051625_3bc_1.jpg

[sorengyllstrom]

Thanks a alot - that is a really great help! Ill post what I’ve come up with later :)

[Diane Kauffmds]

Thanks a alot - that is a really great help! Ill post what I’ve come up with later :)

I'm looking forward to seeing what you make. You're welcome.

[Talladam]

What if you did as Diane suggested, and then glued a solid circle of spruce in the space created by the current soundhole? You would have a solid top with a weird circular joint where your current soundhole was. Then you could rout a rosette rebate that covers over both sides of the joint. Finally you could cut out a properly sized soundhole smaller than the rosette. I bet no-one would know you'd fixed it unless they looked in through the hole.

[MaineGeezer]

I like Talladam's idea.
Assuming the position of the joint is convenient to do so, a purfling groove could be cut along the joint between the filler piece and the top and filled with a strip of whatever suits your rosette design. I think that would work quite well.

What is the diameter of the large sound hole ?