z6 -> RE: Soundport AFTER guitar made? (Aug. 25 2012 18:23:13)
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Mr. Eliasson, I found/find the thread full of fun. I have not seen the other 99 times where the subject was discussed on this forum. I have read many new ideas on it. (New to me, of course, but that's no sin.) Nobody, on either side, bullied anyone. I don't even know how that could occur on a forum I see no prejudices outside of people who want extra holes and people who don't. (And all the people who don't don't care whether the people do do and the people who do don't care about the people who don't.) I would suggest that arguments about the number of holes in a piece of wood could not achieve such a lofty status as a 'prejudice'. I have not detected any self-promotion (but I am a bit thick and might have missed that) outside of Mr. Blackshear's reference to his fine tuning but I find his comments too fascinating and gracious to worry about whether he's planting subliminal desires in my unconscious that will drive me to him, strings in hand. I can't remember anyone claiming the guitars will lose value, but maybe they did. I postulated that that was a risk. Remember the original poster had made up his mind and wanted to hear from others who did the same... as an after-sale customization. The fact that there exists even one single person who does not like them suggests a downwards weighting in the market place. Ergo: One can always punch a hole, but unpunching is trickier. Deniz suggested that unpunching the hole was no problem. He's being disingenuous, of course. But still, no problem. If people want to argue black is white, it makes no difference. It's all just fun on a forum, no? I butted in and put my three cents worth after Mr. Blackshear's remark for two reasons: 1. The internet is a place where people look for information. The sound-port love-in may have given a passer-by the impression that such a customization was an unreserved good thing. (Reread Deniz and Florian's views to confirm this, if you wish.) I didn't think there was enough balance in the the thread. Deniz and Florian and others are entitled to think and do what they want with their guitars, and I'm entitled to recognize self-delusion, (an ailment that plagues me also) and to worry that some kid might have a guitar, read the claims and then deface a perfectly functioning instrument. It all sounded like religion, or snake oil to me. So I wanted to have a little fun with it. I thought I came up with bonzer designs to compete with it but alas, impressed nobody but myself. 2. The positive claims were not suggesting a 'difference', it was all about gains/improvements. To me this was a clear postulation to the effect that all and any/every guitar would 'improve'. Nobody, when I entered the thread, was talking about differences; at least from the 'yes' camp. I can stuff a chicken in my guitar and it will sound different. (And dammit, maybe I will.) This is, to me, interesting, and important as, if this were in science, for example, the inventor would be in line for a nobel prize for a fundamental discovery. 'All and any guitars can be improved with the extra hole.' This would indeed be a huge leap for luthiers. (And you would all be leaping together.) You ask 'How many guitars with soundports have lost value?' When the more rational question is 'How many guitars without a soundport have lost value by not having one.' (Remember how easy it is to make the hole and difficult to unmake... I know there could be repairs but you'd be a magician to punch a hole in the beautiful Brazilian rosewood sides of mine then fix it so that I couldn't detect it. The merest nailmark can hurt value (relative to the same guitar without the mark). And bear in mind that it was pointed out (by me, incidentally) that makers who regularly built guitars with soundports would not necessarily see any loss in value, for obvious reasons.) Your question, like Deniz's comments, is disingenuous. For me, a guitar with a soundport has likely lost all of its value. While the guitar without a port still has value to me AND the people who like soundports. Extrapolate that to a general population of people in the market for a nylon-string guitar and even with a tendency toward soundport acceptance, the price risk is on the downside for ported guitars (unless built by luthiers specializing in.... blah... blah) You get the drift here? You are correct. It's not serious. And accusing everyone who does not agree with you of bullying, babbling and promoting fixed ideas is not polite. But I do hope that I get the chance to try one of your guitars one day, ported or not.
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