Letter: Side Soundhole Guitar

by Marc Connelly

Originally published in American Lutherie #93, 2008

Dear GAL Family,

Thank you Cyndy Burton for the exploration of side-ported instruments. It was a terrific affirmation for this most interesting fenestration option. Like Mr. Montelone, at some point I laid my head on the side of my old Martin, strummed, and wondered how to get more of that big wood and bronze sound into my face. I started experimenting with a “side hole” variant, and it changed the way I think about what I am doing — not because it was “better,” but because it was clearly different in a thought-provoking way. In fact, this exercise has finally purged the word “better” from my lutherie vocabulary, and that’s a good thing.

My side-hole instruments (which I call “Atlas”) are from the same plantilla as my front-hole models, so I can make some general comparisons. At first, the Atlas models seemed a bit too percussive and weighted toward the bass. So I made some small modifications in the way I tune the box and tamed the bass. The percussive nature of these guitars is simply a component of getting a more direct blast of wavy air into the player’s face. I have come to like this. Several Atlas owners have agreed it has an appeal and have readily adapted to it.

But a truly freakazoid experience is to stick your left ear in the hole and play! There isn’t a prewar D-45 on the planet that sounds like that! Until I read Montelone’s article, I never even considered the possibility of weakening the side. What was I (not) thinking! None have folded up, but future Atlas models will have some consideration for this possibility.

Fusion jazz player Don Mock owns an Atlas and loves it. Don enjoys having people ask “What’s that?!” Of the folks who play my guitars with some interest in commissioning one, the Atlas is always the first off the rack. But guitar players are an amazingly conservative lot, I find. Selling a side-hole guitar is like selling a blonde guitar. You are either open to them or you are not. It is personally rewarding to watch the tug of war between the conventional and the unconventional. ◆