Johnny Dollar wrote:
Finkdaddy wrote:
Johnny Dollar wrote:
wicked awesome!
does the offset hole affect the sound, or is it just stylistic?
Thanks J$!
I don't really know. There are a lot of conflicting theories on that. My experience is that, no, not really. At least not that my ears detect.
Some say that a larger sound hole promotes the bass frequency, while a smaller one promotes treble.
Perhaps I don't notice a difference yet because I have yet to standardize how I'm building, so it's hard for me to compare one uke to the other.
There are some builders that make some very, very nice sounding ukes that don't even have a sound hole on the front of the instrument; just the little side port on the top like some of mine have.
So, who knows?
I guess to answer your question: For me it's stylistic.
i asked pablus about it, and he said that yes the two differently placed holes were functional - the top one acts as a monitor amp and shoots the sound back to the player, and the other one projects out to the audience. i thought that was cool.
Thanks J$.
But the original question, as I took it, was asking if the sound hole on the front would effect the sound if it is placed off-center rather than in the middle. No?
I like to think of the vibrating soundboard as a trampoline. The wave length of the vibration is much greater in the center than it would be on the edges, just like on a trampoline. So, the center of the soundboard should be creating the loudest volume. I figured that if you took the loudest part of the instrument and cut a big hole in it, then at the very least you are cutting volume and possibly tone as well. It seems to make sense to move it to an edge where there is less vibration going on.
However, like most things, I think there is a big difference between theory and practice. I've made ukes both ways now and, to tell the truth, I can't hear any big difference in the two that would be caused by moving the sound hole to the edge. The type and thickness of wood, the type and thickness of bracing and tonebars, and so many other factors effect the tone that I think the placement of the hole is fairly inconsiquential.
Moving it to the edge may or may not change volume or tone, but I'm not worried about it. I just liked the way it looked.
As to your other point about the side port, yes, the side port projects the sound directly at the musician playing the uke and acts like a monitor speaker. Unless someone asks me not to, I am going to be putting these on all my ukes because I just love playing with one. I don't know why it's not done more. Once you own a uke that has one, you won't want to play any other.
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