Recently, I have made some guitars with the so-called "soundports" that were developed by American guitar builder Robert Ruck. Their effect is fairly subtle. It is not like plugging your guitar into an amp. My recent guitars have not had them as I am interested in lowering the pitch or "box resonance" of my guitars, sometimes called the Hemholz resonance. The ports raise the pitch of the box between 1/2 a 1 whole step. Players are debating the merits of soundports, but the rise in pitch of the guitar's resonance with the ports is not in dispute. It is a tight rope walk to get the box resonance low and avoid having a flabby treble or uneven response. It is possible to go too far and have a mushy, boomy sound. My present thinking is that the ports introduce a variable that is not entirely in synch with my design goal of lowering the pitch of my guitars.

If a player feels strongly about their efficacy, I have no problem cutting them upon request. For all intents and purposes however, my "standard" guitar will not have the ports cut. If, at a future date, the soundports' benefit is proven beyond a doubt, it will be a simple matter to drill a couple of holes in the rims. I am building all my guitars with double sides these days and the holes do not weaken the rims in any way.