Roy said: > BUT PLEASE, PLEASE, not in front of the kids. For some reason too many > are bored/annoyed when we discuss such fascinating, intriguing subjects > as HGs on the HG list. >
The heck with that. The listmaster (petit moi) says: it's a HG list, so let's discuss HG soundhole placement. Those uninterested in this topic may use their delete key, as per list policy as established by (once again) petit moi. > As previously mentioned. I am restoring my original Dewit trapeziodal > to playing condition, so I'll have something to play while I repair the > Siorat luteback. This is a crack in the (lute) back which will required > it to be unstrung for entirely too long. I know this because I have > fixed it before...it takes forever, but with the aid of an oudman I'm > trying (again) for a permanent fix this time. > Hmm - an "oudman". Took me a moment - oh, a person who works on/builds ouds! How cool! How did you find an oudman in Texas, or dare I ask? ;-) > I have run across tantilizing references to Optimum Sound hole > placement & size, but I keep running into dead-ends when I try to > follow up. > SO: If you know anything about where to put the soundholes or how > big,contact me personally: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> No doubt you've found references to relationship between the soundhole size, the soundboard thickness, and the body cavity volume. These are all factors in the Helmholtz resonance, which states that an air volume of a particular size with a port of a particular area and length will resonate at a particular frequency. How specific that frequency is is based on the length of the port - IIRC the specificity of the frequency drops as the port becomes shorter. On a stringed instrument, the port length is the thickness of the soundboard. What all this has to do with HG's is still clouded in mystery, AFAIK. For starters, we have the confounding factor of the wheel and braces effectively splitting the soundboard into three soundboards. Do we then calculate the resonances for the areas under those soundboards? How do we deal with the crosstalk between the volumes if we divide them that way? Bottom line, Roy, is that I think you should make some soundholes that look right to you based on your experience. There are presently no good models (well, any models really) for how a HG soundboard and body act as a unit, so short of getting your PhD in computational physics to figure it out, your best bet may be to let your gut instincts do the work. ;-) All our best, Alden
