D-hole vs Oval hole

noodlenot · July 2011

Hi there! First of all, i´ve never played a D-Hole. this is my disclaimer.

Many useful info already in the thread. As it has been stated, the D-hole was not a design feature of the guitar (or at least an acoustical one), in the sense that it was devised to render the collocation and removal of the resonator practical.
Django, as it has also been stated, when getting his contract with selmer first played the D-hole / grand bouche model - the one available at the time - and was only later that he was offered the oval model, as it made sense for Selmer to publicize the actual model they were selling at that particular time - my supposition, but think of some celebrity endorsing iPhone version 1 in 2011.

As for acoustics, and a from theoretical point of view, for the same size of the "box" and all other things being equal, a smaller sound hole should mean a more prominent bass content (conversely, if you raise the size of the body and keep the sounhole the same size, it´s gonna become more bass-heavy as well) - if you are tech savy, google "guitar air mode" / "guitar monopole". If the soundhole gets too big in relation to the soundboard area, the overall output will tend to go down, though.
The other thing of interest here is sound projection: with a larger soundhole, sound will tend to be more dispersed than - for lack of a better word - focused, as it would happen with an oval hole; this phenomenon is more prominent with higher frequencies than lower ones (oversimplifying: lower freqs disperse from their origin in a circular way - like the waves that form when you throw a stone to the centre of the pond - while higher freqs are absorbed easier and tend to propagate as an arch of a circumference). Incidentally, higher freqs are the ones our brain uses to decode the spatial position of an object from the origin of the sound it produces. this is, then, related with (but by no means exhausts) the ability of "cutting through" that gypsy-jazzers so thoroughly search for: the ability to locate the origin of a particular sound amongst a multitude of others.

going back to the d-hole: it should (theoretically at least) have a slightly lower output, less bottom end and a less directional sound (but more sound coming. to the player himself) when compared with a similar ova hole model. can someone who actually plays one confirm this?

sorry for this lengthy stream-of-thought, slightly off-topic and self-centred mambo-jambo, but as i write this i am trying to put my one-month old baby to sleep, and it kind of helps to pass the time.
as for guitars in that price range, you could do worse than check out (or ask here opinions for) both the geronimo mateos guitars and the dupont nomade.

cheers, miguel.

Seventh · July 2011

Thanks for the help! Maybe I ought to send this one to Mythbusters! - Myth Busted 8)

But I think I'll go for the Dg 370. It got some awesome reviews and it's an affordable price (for me at least). Besides the guitar looks real nice. I've tried to find some Dupont in the same price range but didn't find anything. I am still open for suggestion of some oval hole guitars at this price though.

noodlenot · July 2011

in case you haven´t noticed, amongst my (mostly) oblique reply, there was reference to this:

dupont nomade: http://shoppingcart.djangobooks.com/gui ... 011-4.html (this one is on hold, but Michael usually has the nomade available). it usually sells (IIRC) around 1300 USD. it has a bolt on neck that some find a deal breaker while others don´t seem to care about it. you should check this one out. (more info here: http://www.acoustic-guitars.com/guitare ... selmer.php)

mateos: http://shoppingcart.djangobooks.com/ger ... itars.html (sold, but maybe you can find another one) original site: http://geronimomateos.com/guitarras/gui ... -de-india/. i really enjoyed their rosewood model. good bang for the buck, also.

is this one too expensive: http://shoppingcart.djangobooks.com/gui ... ges-8.html ?

also, if at all possible - and this is a truism, albeit a very valid and pertinent one - always try the guitar for a while before you buy it. and don´t bother too much with sound on your first guitar. neck shape and size, proper setup, good relief and nice straight-grained neck are probably more important. just an opinion.

cheers,
miguel.

javier · July 2011

Seventh wrote:

Thanks for the help! Maybe I ought to send this one to Mythbusters! - Myth Busted

Yeah... Thanks. Helpful for a noob like me. Just getting into this, helpful find!

TimmyHawken · July 2011

klaatu wrote:

TimmyHawken wrote:

Oval hole style scale lengths are comparable to Fender Strat lengths!

Actually, Timmy, according to Fender, the Strat scale length is 64.8 cm, putting it just slightly longer than the short scale Selmer at 64cm.

Klaatu, is the 64cm length including that little extension of the fret board that hangs over the D-hole? Though I haven't played a higher quality short scale D hole--just Chinese brands--I haven't yet seen one where you can get a decent sound playing that high up the scale. Looks cool though.

klaatu · July 2011

TimmyHawken wrote:

klaatu wrote:

TimmyHawken wrote:

Oval hole style scale lengths are comparable to Fender Strat lengths!

Actually, Timmy, according to Fender, the Strat scale length is 64.8 cm, putting it just slightly longer than the short scale Selmer at 64cm.

Klaatu, is the 64cm length including that little extension of the fret board that hangs over the D-hole? Though I haven't played a higher quality short scale D hole--just Chinese brands--I haven't yet seen one where you can get a decent sound playing that high up the scale. Looks cool though.

Actually the scale length is irrespective of the fretboard length or shape. Scale is simply the sounding length of the string, in this case the distance from the zero fret to the bridge. Since the bridge is compensated, you don't actually measure it that way, you measure from the zero fret to the 12th fret and double that.

TimmyHawken · July 2011

Good stuff! thanks.

Tele295 · July 2011

Seventh wrote:

Hey! I'm a bit new to Gypsy Jazz and all of the gypsy guitars that I've played were Oval holes. I am now ready to buy my own gypsy guitar, but I cannot decide between Gitane DG-330 John Jorgenson Model (Oval Hole) or DG-350 Jan Akkerman Model (D-Hole).

I heard the top is thicker on the Akkerman than on the Jorgenson