Which UK luthiers are able to add a sound port to an acoustic guitar?

ToneControl · August 2019

preferably in North west England

basically you drill a hole in the side of the guitar, and probably add a little finish to the new edge

Image: https://i.pinimg.com/474x/c2/d1/f1/c2d1f173aff370e677a28cb66f07efdc--acoustic-guitars-port.jpg

FelineGuitars · August 2019

You just want to see where your pick went, don't you?

zepp76 · August 2019

What are the benefits of doing this? Genuinely interested as I've seen a few guitars with this on here and have wondered exactly what it does?

ToneControl · August 2019

you get a bit of the sound that the audience normally gets, straight to your ears, makes the guitar sound to the player like it does to the audience - louder and more mids and treble

ToneControl · August 2019

very noticeable in anything larger than a small room

ToneControl · August 2019

I bought a classical with it from new, and just had an Avalon altered (by Avalon), sounds much better now, but posting guitars to NI seems expensive and riskier than finding a local luthier

zepp76 · August 2019

ToneControl said:

you get a bit of the sound that the audience normally gets, straight to your ears, makes the guitar sound to the player like it does to the audience - louder and more mids and treble

Very interesting, thank you.

VimFuego · August 2019

s'funny, they've been around for ages, as far as I know there are no downsides, but still most makers don't seem to do them.

ToneControl · August 2019

VimFuego said:

s'funny, they've been around for ages, as far as I know there are no downsides, but still most makers don't seem to do them.

only downside I know is that if the hole is too big, the sound you hear can get too mid-heavy

fields5069 · August 2019

Now where did I put my trepanning kit?

Andy79 · August 2019

Mainly low frequencies come from sound ports and it really doesn’t matter where they are positioned. Do a search for tuned speaker sound ports to check the technical
Side ports seem to be in vogue right now. I prefer mine at the front

thomasross20 · August 2019

FelineGuitars said:

You just want to see where your pick went, don't you?

That's handy, actually!
What about outdoor gigs and rain getting in guitar?

I really want to try one. Though on my recent L2-230 purchase .... The guitar is already deafeningly loud!

VimFuego · August 2019

if it's raining, no way I'm playing my acoustic outdoors, sound port or no.

GTC · August 2019

Brook were able to incorporate one into my current Taw build half way through.

ToneControl · August 2019

Andy79 said:

Mainly low frequencies come from sound ports and it really doesn’t matter where they are positioned. Do a search for tuned speaker sound ports to check the technical
Side ports seem to be in vogue right now. I prefer mine at the front

do you mean you prefer the normal one at the front?

tuned speaker sound ports are use long pipes to reinforce low bass frequencies between around 70Hz-100Hz
Just cutting a hole in a soundbox does not produce a tuned port.
You can actually buy tuned ports to add to the normal sound hole, I have one in a drawer, I've seen a makeshift one done on a contrabass guitar with plastic sheeting cut and rolled into a tube, to lower the bass handling of the contrabass

http://www.calculatoredge.com/new/ventlength.htm
having a crack with this calculator, I assume a guitar body is about 18 litres but I am not sure what numbers to put in for the rest

In use, I can hear the same frequencies from the port as the front soundhole, but when I play a normal guitar, I tend to hear the treble and bass more than the mids, so using the port brings the mids back in to play for my ears

www · August 2019

Fylde Guitars, if you want the best
https://www.fyldeguitars.com

ICBM · August 2019

Just buy an electro-acoustic and take the preamp box out

.

I'd take a bet that's how this concept was discovered in the first place...

For what it's worth, I would be extremely wary about doing that to a solid-sides guitar without reinforcing the inside around the hole, otherwise splitting and/or the wood trying to return to its un-bent shape around the edges is quite likely.

ToneControl · August 2019

ICBM said:

Just buy an electro-acoustic and take the preamp box out .

I'd take a bet that's how this concept was discovered in the first place...

For what it's worth, I would be extremely wary about doing that to a solid-sides guitar without reinforcing the inside around the hole, otherwise splitting and/or the wood trying to return to its un-bent shape around the edges is quite likely.

I did worry about the structure

Avalon were going to strengthen the one in mine, but decided not to. It's an oval shape, about 45mm x 25mm
As you say, it's similar to a preamp hole really

My Yulong Guo classical was made with a much large port, and also has no extra support

ToneControl · August 2019

www said:

Fylde Guitars, if you want the best
https://www.fyldeguitars.com

Great idea, but a 2 hour drive each way twice!

I am thinking more somewhere round Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Crewe, Warrington, Macclesfield

MichaelWatts · August 2019

Soundports are a fascinating part of modern luthiery and when they work it can be very beautiful. In this episode of Luthier Stories Matthew and Matthias from Casimi Guitars (Cape Town, South Africa) talk about the process of retro-fitting a soundport to an existing guitar. I hope you enjoy it, the soundport chat starts at around 23:31

I would personally warn against having a soundport cut into a guitar by a luthier who doesn't already incorporate them into their work

DiscoStu · August 2019

Breedlove put sound ports in some of their acoustics. The one I tried in PMT was very engaging.

Fuengi · August 2019

Holy crap, if I did that I'd start booing myself!

Branshen · August 2019

VimFuego said:

s'funny, they've been around for ages, as far as I know there are no downsides, but still most makers don't seem to do them.

the downside is you have to punch a big gaping hole in the guitar.

www · August 2019

ToneControl said:

www said:

Fylde Guitars, if you want the best
https://www.fyldeguitars.com

Great idea, but a 2 hour drive each way twice!

I am thinking more somewhere round Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Crewe, Warrington, Macclesfield

If only you'd been more specific first time

Try Mike Gough at MG Guitars in Frodsham

GTC · August 2019

VimFuego said:

s'funny, they've been around for ages, as far as I know there are no downsides, but still most makers don't seem to do them.

I think one of the reasons could be they are normally installed around the position where some maker and retrofitted electronics systems are situated.

ToneControl · August 2019

www said:

ToneControl said:

www said:

Fylde Guitars, if you want the best
https://www.fyldeguitars.com

Great idea, but a 2 hour drive each way twice!

I am thinking more somewhere round Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Crewe, Warrington, Macclesfield

If only you'd been more specific first time

Try Mike Gough at MG Guitars in Frodsham

does he do acoustics?

jmcustomguitars · August 2019

sound port is a great thing , the classical guitar world is doing this for many years already, now some luthiers are offering with a soyndport but with a chance to close it, because sometimes the soyndport is not so helpful.
You dont see many luthiers making this because the client don't ask for it, wen I build a commission I offer always that but wen I just build to sell after I never do that.
There are other features for modern guitars like double soundboard that is a thing that I love to do

ToneControl · August 2019

jmcustomguitars said:

sound port is a great thing , the classical guitar world is doing this for many years already, now some luthiers are offering with a soyndport but with a chance to close it, because sometimes the soyndport is not so helpful.
You dont see many luthiers making this because the client don't ask for it, wen I build a commission I offer always that but wen I just build to sell after I never do that.
There are other features for modern guitars like double soundboard that is a thing that I love to do

is your double soundboard the nomex sandwich?

TimmyO · August 2019

I'd love a guitar with a soundport but I think I'd want it done by someone who had experience of the feature, for both structural and sonic reasons

www · August 2019

ToneControl said:

www said:

ToneControl said:

www said:

Fylde Guitars, if you want the best
https://www.fyldeguitars.com

Great idea, but a 2 hour drive each way twice!

I am thinking more somewhere round Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Crewe, Warrington, Macclesfield

If only you'd been more specific first time

Try Mike Gough at MG Guitars in Frodsham

does he do acoustics?

Not sure tbh but if he doesn't he'll know who to go to.

Just had another thought... KGB in Birkenhead. They will definitely be able to sort you out

p90fool · August 2019

ICBM said:

Just buy an electro-acoustic and take the preamp box out .

That's exactly what I did on Sunday, should've binned the thing years ago, and would've if I'd known it had a neat surround...

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Which UK luthiers are able to add a sound port to an acoustic guitar?

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