Soundports" To Have or Not to Have?

Timcito · May 2023

I've spied a handsome-looking used Gibson G-45 for sale online, but ... it has a bloody great hole on the left side upper bout, aka a 'soundport.'

I've never had one of these before, and I have to say I'm skeptical. Seems rather indecent, to be quite honest, like looking up the guitar's dress or something! Seriously, though, what's it like to have the sound hitting you full in the face as you play? Is it too loud or brash-sounding, or does it sound good?

sev112 · May 2023

Apparently, that’s exactly the point - you get to hear your guitar as well as the listener opposite

Timcito · May 2023

Well, yes, but the listener isn't sitting right in front of the soundhole - they're at least some yards away. That's why I was wondering if the volume coming straight at the player through a soundport might not be a bit too loud.

thomasross20 · May 2023

I'd love to try but otherwise not overly bothered

LukePalmer · May 2023

I bought one from Coda music for £785. I absolutely love it, the sound is clear and full and really present. IPlay finger style and I can see my fingers doing that thing from the other side of the sound hole, it's freaky but entertaining. I want to pick up a G00 as well.

Timcito · May 2023

LukePalmer said:

I bought one from Coda music for £785. I absolutely love it, the sound is clear and full and really present. IPlay finger style and I can see my fingers doing that thing from the other side of the sound hole, it's freaky but entertaining. I want to pick up a G00 as well.

The ones I've heard on youtube sounded really good. I'm not typically a fan of Gibson's J series - they sound dull to me - but these G models seem different. They seem brighter, with more shimmer. I play fingerstyle, too, and when I don't use fingerpicks, dark-sounding guitars do not sound good in my hands.

Tannin · May 2023

Soundports work very well. They don't change the overall sound of the guitar enough to notice, except to the person playing it. Don't buy a particular guitar just because it has a soundport though. Any good luthier can retrofit one to an existing guitar if you wish.

I haven't got one. (Well, the Thunderhawk's offset sound hole in the upper bout functions like one, but apart from that.) I usually just sit in front of a plate glass window and let the reflected sound blast back at me.

thomasross20 · May 2023

Does it make things louder? I have slight tinnitus in one ear and wouldn't want to upset that. Interested now in trying one. I'm at the shops today so will look out

sev112 · May 2023

Sounds good

Maybe I could remove the pre-amp in mine and voila , a sound hole

LukePalmer · May 2023

You can also buy a Gibson generation player port cover. I've got mine from gear4music. It cost 10 quid and converts the guitar into one with just a sound hole. I haven't used it much because I really like the sound of the player port.

guitarjack66 · May 2023

Sounds like something from Star Trek.

BillDL · May 2023

sev112 said:

Sounds good Maybe I could remove the pre-amp in mine and voila , a sound hole

I did that with a 12-string electro acoustic and it sounded crap. To be honest though, it already sounded crap, and the port just made it sound more crap because it was coming straight at me. It was better for being able to hear what I was playing without having to deliberately choose a position where I could hear the reflected sound much better.

Seriously though, I think that for a sound port to work effectively there has to be some experimentation (and possibly scientific calculations using air volume of the sound box and eisting sound hole) to get the right diameter, shape and position, just like there needs to be to design an effective bass port in a speaker cab. When you think about it, the soundhole of a guitar is already a "port" in that it takes the rearwards movements of the soundboard's vibration and projects them through the soundhole to support sound waves being created by the forwards movements of the soundboard. It's like an enclosed speaker cab in some ways ways, but obviously employing much less air pressure than is created by the front and rear excursion of a speaker cone in a box. I would assume that a guitar's sound changes a fair amount if you make the soundhole smaller or larger, just as it does when you reduce the size of the body and area of the soundboard. I would tend to think, albeit without any scientific basis, that if you drilled 3 or 4" diameter holes all around the sides of your acoustic guitarit would change the sound considerably.

Jez6345789 · May 2023

Soundports can work well if we executed and give the player a better experience of the actual sound but its a bit like marmite some people love them others dont.

I pondered a G45 for a short while as a cheaper acoustic and then watched this teardown and got a Taylor GP

BigPaulie · May 2023

Jez6345789 said:

Soundports can work well if we executed and give the player a better experience of the actual sound but its a bit like marmite some people love them others dont.

I pondered a G45 for a short while as a cheaper acoustic and then watched this teardown and got a Taylor GP

Yep. I was gonna post this video too.

With the Gibson G45 it's not the siund port that puts me off.

ToneControl · May 2023

thomasross20 said:

Does it make things louder? I have slight tinnitus in one ear and wouldn't want to upset that. Interested now in trying one. I'm at the shops today so will look out

Not louder in a way that would affect you negatively. If you play on a chair facing away from a wall, then turn the chair around and play facing the wall, so you get the reflections, you hear more of the guitar's sound. The port aims to replicate that effect

Done properly, it supplies to the player's ears some of the missing frequencies that the audience can hear, i.e. restoring the balance of what the guitar should sound like. Done wrong (e.g. with too large a hole), it can make the sound unbalanced (e,g too much mids)

Soupman · May 2023

Interesting video.
The interior section showing the bracing not even touching the sides was shocking. Talk about trading on a name! You would hope Gibson would up their game here after this exposure, but I bet they don't.

Funnily enough I played one of these a month or so ago in GG. I sometimes browse but rarely try one out. I had about 10 mins with it and didn't compare it with anything else (I wasn't buying).
I will say it played well and sounded quite decent - let's say it was interesting. I thought the finish wasn't great. My tuppence worth.
I don't suffer from GAS any more, I reckon I have enough trouble playing what I've got!

Tannin · May 2023

BillDL said:

I would assume that a guitar's sound changes a fair amount if you make the soundhole smaller or larger, just as it does when you reduce the size of the body and area of the soundboard.

It does indeed. Sound hole diameter is a key ingredient in the sound. Counter-intuitively, a smaller hole tends to produce a more bassy sound.

Timcito · May 2023

Well, the G-45 got sold before I had time to make up my mind. I always hate that. Why can't people leave the guitars I'm interested in alone!?

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Soundports" To Have or Not to Have?

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