Soundport experience

[jcarlos]

Whats your experiences with guitars with sound ports? Do you own a guitar with a soundport? Can you live without it after getting used to it? I recently got to play a guitar with a nice wide sound port and I couldn't put it down . I may eventually add one to one of my guitars. Also what is the difference if the sound port is on the upper and lower part of the body?

[billgennaro]

I'm sure there are those that sound fine, but every one that I've ever played sounded equivalent to putting my ear next to the top's sound hole. I didn't particularly enjoy it. That being said, its been a long time since I played one and I'm sure the technology has gotten better. Many people on this forum seem to think they're great. I can see where they would be useful in certain situations, but I personally don't have any reason for a sound port.

Bill

[bancika]

To me they are like stoma for guitars

[Rodger Knox]

Al Carruth has done some testing that seems to indicate that sound ports have minimal effect. I have no personal experience with sound ports.

[Earl49]

I don't have a guitar with a sound port - at least officially. However, several of mine do have the Fishman "barn door" electronics package. I have swung open the barn door and found little discernible difference in what I could hear as a player. Granted, that is not a formal test.... I do have friends with sound ports in their ukulele, and they claim that they can hear a difference. But it's hard to tell once the hole is there. I suppose a careful listening test with the port open and with a solid cover taped over it might work.

[justonwo]

I have one guitar with and the rest without (and have owned a Mustapick in the past that had a port). They sound different to me, but not necessarily better. I definitely hear more of a stereo effect with my ported guitar, and the highs and mids come across differently - it's not that they sound "better" or more present - just different. I really don't find myself missing the sound port on those guitars that don't have them. I have a port on my Baranik Meridian and no port on my Baranik PX - both guitars sound fantastic.

One thing I have learned about them from experience is that, depending on their location in the upper bout, they can be fairly directional. The sound port on my Baranik is located closer to the waist, and so most of the sound from the port is directed at my right ear.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by jcarlos

Whats your experiences with guitars with sound ports? Do you own a guitar with a soundport? Can you live without it after getting used to it? I recently got to play a guitar with a nice wide sound port and I couldn't put it down . I may eventually add one to one of my guitars. Also what is the difference if the sound port is on the upper and lower part of the body?

Hi jcarlos...

I have owned 3 guitar with side ports (still own one).

They make guitars which sound fine out front but do not project well to the player much more of a pleasure for the player since he/she can hear them better. And a well designed, properly positioned side port doesn't gush sound out, it just accents and augments what the guitar is putting out front and feeds that to the player.

I am a fingerstyler, and when a guitar has great projection but doesn't feedback well to me as the player, it's work to play instead of a joy.

My Kronbauer fell into that category. I took it to a luthier and had a side port installed and it made all the difference in the world to me. The audience doesn't know and they don't care, but for me it brought life to playing that instrument.

My Kronbauer…


The same was true of a Seagull S-6 and a Recording King 000-12 (ROS-626) which I added side ports to myself according to Tim McKnight's instructions. Tim always builds with side ports unless a customer requests guitars without them.

I've played over a dozen of his instruments, and they are a delight to play partially because of the dramatic feedback they bring to the player.

My gigging partner bought my old Recording King and loves the side port in it. He's a hybrid picker (plays with a flat pick and fingers 2-3 on his strumming hand).

I've heard one strummer say he only hears the difference when he's not strumming, but that has not been the experience of people who have played my instruments. They hear and like the difference the side port brings.

[PTC Bernie]

I played a McKnight with a sound port and you do hear the giuitar better with the sound port. It makes sense if you think about it, since you're hearing the sound doctor from the instrument rathe than reflectd off of nearby surfaces.

But, I can't say that I miss having one on the insurgents that I do have.

[pgilmor]

Aside from how great it sounds playing by myself, I've noticed that when playing in a group setting, unamplified, I can hear my guitar better so I don't find myself playing louder to know if I'm playing well with others.

[StillStephen]

I don't care for them. I have quite a bit of difference in hearing between my right and left ear. As my left ear is better, the soundport location on the upper bout accentuates this difference in hearing and causes more of an imbalance.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by jcarlos

Whats your experiences with guitars with sound ports? Do you own a guitar with a soundport? Can you live without it after getting used to it? I recently got to play a guitar with a nice wide sound port and I couldn't put it down . I may eventually add one to one of my guitars. Also what is the difference if the sound port is on the upper and lower part of the body?

Hi jcarlos...

You asked what difference it makes if the side port is on the upper or lower part of the body? I'm assuming if you mean does it feed the left or right ear.

The left ear feeding side port is additional to the sound from the main sound hole and lower bout of the guitar. My Kronbauer's side port is this way. I particularly like it when I'm playing in a quiet situation where I like the more intimate feel of it.

With my recording King (ROS-626) I placed the side port to feed the right ear and it is so natural you don't notice it's there till it is covered while you are playing, and then the difference is dramatic. Up to the point it's covered it sounds/feels perfectly natural, and all you have to do is drop a rag over it and the amount of volume to the player is reduced by about 20%.

…………………………………………………………………Right Ear Feed…………………………………………………………………………………Left Ear Feed………………………………………

[B Chas]

I have a Kronbauer small body that was built with a soundport. None of my others have a sound port. They all sound great (otherwise I'd sell them). I've experimented covering up the sound port and going back and forth using blue painter's tape. The guitar sounds great with the sound port covered, with it open it sounds a little more full if that's a description.

[fitness1]

All my instruments have them and always will from now on.

I've never experienced anything negative (not even close) out of an instrument that came with one, or I installed after the fact.

Always has increased the volume and "roundness" of tone to me, and almost always worked like a breather hole on a gas can slightly increasing the output out front too.

On a few instruments (mostly classicals) that were a bit boomy out front and hard to mic, I found another interesting benefit......it smoothed out the bass response and made them easier to place a mic and record.

[ljguitar]

Hi jcarlos...

I'm not sure if we have said it specifically, but side ports are to enhance the sound of the guitar for the player, and they don't affect what the audience hears.

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi jcarlos...

they don't affect what the audience hears.

As I said above, certainly not been my experience in all cases.