New ideas for GJ guitar designs

Bob Holo

Buco wrote: »

Looks like Bob H agrees with your statement.
Maybe no sound port on my guitar then.

That really surprised me a couple of years ago at DiJ when I played Michael's Selmer in a jam and was thinking to myself "wow it's really quiet" and then passed the guitar to someone else and realized it was positively the guitar with the most projection in the room.

First guitar I ever built had a soundport in the rims. I'm not sure if it was a great guitar but Tchavolo and Pierre Gorsky got a kick out of it because it was loud a h***, and the excitement of that, was part of what started me down the path. But I gigged that guitar for several months and reached the conclusion that I'd never make another, because I'd come home with my right ear ringing. It's a cool concept though. I suppose if a guy could plug it when he gigs and unplug it when he's practicing, it might be very useful. It opens the sound a little - kind of like a Dhole but pointed right at you - but in so doing, it raises the chamber resonance and so it diminishes bass a little - or more accurately, it raises the port frequency so that instead of helping out near low G, it rises to A or as high as C depending on how big the side port is and whether the port has length to it. Some classical builders put a port on the rims near the neck. Maybe that would give more feedback without the ear-ache. Or a sliding port might be nice - maybe double as a battery-door for a pickup. I'm not into that sort of thing, but many good luthiers are.

Aside of port size and placement, some guitars have an enveloping sound, some have a projecting sound and some do both, and you can do it with top and back tuning without a port. Those mid-series Selmers are amazing. They aren't brutally loud, but they project well and give just enough back to the player to make for a rewarding experience. Rome session tone on a guitar that gives you some lovely ambience and gives the audience a clear satiny tone with amazing note-to-note separation and great projection to the back of the room... What's not to like? ;-)