There are so many variations of the guitar in the modern musical world. There are so many that it can be challenging to keep up. Acoustic guitars are among the most versatile instruments in the world, and they usually have a soundhole to amplify their sound, but why do some acoustic guitars not have a soundhole?
Some acoustic guitars do not have holes to make the audio from the guitar more manageable for recording or live performances. These guitars have an internal pickup for primary sound output. These guitars can sound great and are not limited, but they are quieter than regular guitars.
Acoustic guitars usually have a soundhole, but there seem to be a few guitar makers that produce them without one. Are there benefits to this design? Are acoustic guitars without a soundhole even audible? Let’s explore the answers to these good questions as we learn why some acoustic guitars do not have soundholes.
Why Do Some Acoustic Guitars Not Have A Soundhole?
Almost every acoustic guitar is designed with a soundhole to amplify the instrument’s sound and project the sound outwards, making the guitar sound louder and more full and giving the acoustic guitar the qualities that we all know and love.
However, in recent years some guitar builders have produced guitars without soundholes, and some have made them with very small soundholes in alternative locations.
Why are these guitars built in this way? Do they not just mute the instrument’s sound and make it sound bad? The truth is that acoustic guitars built without a soundhole are usually built for a specific reason, and the fact that they do not have a hole makes them ideal for their intended purposes.
Some acoustic guitars are made without a soundhole to make the instrument quieter. The lack of a front-facing soundhole means that the guitar’s sound is less likely to interfere with a microphone signal, allowing a musician to play the guitar and sing into a microphone simultaneously, providing better separation between the guitar and vocal audio.
These guitars always have a built-in pickup system, as this is the only way the sound can leave the instrument. When the guitar is plugged in, it can be amplified easily, and the guitar’s signal is very easily controlled and mixed either live or in recordings.
Removing the soundhole of an acoustic guitar makes the instrument’s sound much easier to manage and makes recording and live performances easier. The lack of a soundhole causes less interference and makes the audio signal from the guitar very easy to control.
What Are The Benefits Of No Soundhole?
When an acoustic guitar is played, the soundhole allows the sound to travel from the guitar in the hole’s direction. This can often be very loud, and it can interfere with other audio signals simultaneously in use.
This is particularly true for live performances where a guitarist is singing and for studio performances when a guitar and other instruments or vocals are recorded simultaneously.
By removing the soundhole, the audio from the guitar is supplied only by the internal pickup and not by the soundhole. The guitar is still audible without a soundhole. Still, it is significantly quieter, making it easier to mix and causing less bleed-through into other audio channels while recording or performing.
The guitars are also excellent practice guitars, as they produce less sound and are less disturbing to neighbors and housemates.
Why Do Some Guitars Have Alternative Soundholes?
Some guitars do not have soundholes, but they are equipped with smaller holes that are not situated in the standard center location. Why do these guitars use this type of soundhole?
This soundhole is called a ‘sound port’ and serves functions other than amplifying the instrument’s sound.
Most sound ports are there for aesthetics, and they are designed to make the guitar look better. This is because acoustic guitars without a soundhole tend to look quite odd, and some sound ports can make them easier on the eyes.
Some acoustic guitars have sound ports on the top side of the guitar, directing the instrument’s sound up towards the player. This feature allows the guitarist to hear what their instrument sounds like, to play more accurately and with more feel when performing or recording.
Other guitars have sound ports to allow for some ambient sound of the instrument to come through in a recording or live performance but in a controlled way. This helps the guitar sound more natural than digital by only hearing it through the internal pickup.
These alternatives to the traditional soundhole make acoustic guitars sound unique. Many famous acoustic guitarists have signature guitars built with these features to give them a unique yet manageable sound.
What Do Guitars Sound Like Without A Soundhole?
Acoustic guitars that do not have soundholes are made with a specific tone in mind. They are geared more towards using the internal pickup to output the sound of the instrument rather than acoustic amplification. With that in mind, what do these instruments sound like acoustically and through an output system?
You may be surprised to find out that acoustic guitars without soundholes sound very much like regular acoustic guitars, but they sound much quieter. If the guitar has no soundhole and no sound ports, the instrument sounds very quiet and controlled, but it is still audible acoustically.
Check out this video below of a guitar player playing an acoustic guitar with no sound hole!
Guitars with sound ports will sound louder than otherwise and can still sound very good in an acoustic situation, albeit quieter than a regular guitar.
The sound from the pickups within these guitars generally sounds very good. These instruments are designed to sound good when plugged in because they have no soundhole, so much time and effort is applied to making this aspect of the instrument sound as good as possible.
Conclusion
Acoustic guitars are sometimes made without a soundhole to make the instrument’s acoustic sound more manageable for recording and live performances. These guitars sound unique and somewhat quieter than normal guitars, but they are very useable and sound great when plugged in.
Acoustic guitars are very versatile, and removing the soundhole from the instrument is less of a limitation than you might imagine. Take some time to listen to recordings done with guitars without a soundhole to find out what they sound like, and you may find that you prefer the sound of these instruments over regular guitars.
References
https://guitaristnextdoor.com/acoustic-guitars-without-soundhole/