Question:
After experimenting with singing into the soundhole of my guitar, I have decided to start a poll. When I sing a "G" note into the soundhole of my guitar, the whole guitar resonates like a violin. Does your guitar do this? If so, what note? Is this also a dead note on the fingerboard?

Please indicate the age, model and materials of your guitar.

John

Choices:
Yes, there is noticeable resonance. Please indicate the note or notes where this occurs.
No, there is no noticeable resonance.
Yes, there is resonance and it causes dead spots. Please indicate where.
Yes, there is resonance, but it does not cause dead spots.
What the heck are you talking about!!? This poll is terrible, never post one again!

 

I have not sung into my guitars. It might be interesting, though.

John, this may be a dumb question to some but not to me. How do you know what note you are singing?

Frank.

Not a dumb question at all, I don't think. I sing into the soundhole gradually raising and lowering pitch until I notice resonance in the body (it is unmistakeable) and then I fret notes on the guitar intil I find the same tone.

This is similar to how I learned to tune large tympani drums while I was in the highschool band. You use a pitch pipe to get the reference note you want to tune the drum to, and then you hum that note into the head of the drum, adjusting the tuning pedal until the drum resonates.

Ideally, I would have to bend the string on the guitar in order to find the same resonance on a plucked note, but in this case the resonance falls on the whole tone "G."

[This message was edited by eggradio on November 14, 2003 at 10:18 PM.]

John:

I do notice that the middle G note, that is, the 3rd string, resonates more than the others do. I can hit that note all the way up the A string, for example, and the entire guitar vibrates, much more so than the other notes. I mean, I can actually feel the wood hit my stomach. And it will not do this with other notes. This happens as well on an old Taylor 912 that I have.

I do not know if this is correct, but I am guessing that the top is "tuned", whatever that means, to the mid-range frequencies. That is a Collings's characteristic, balanced sound.

Be glad for it.

that is really cool, how you did the vote/tally thing... a mystery to me...

I did sing into my OM2H and YES it resonated big time on the G note. But, I found no such "dead spots" as you refer to. It is remarkable that you noticed something like this on your guitar. I do not see it as a problem on my guitar or with what I play. You might try tuning to open G just to see how your guitar sounds in that tuning.

I would ask Collings about this and please report back your findings.

Interesting thread...

My OM-1A resonates by the ol’ 'hum into the soundhole' method somewhere just sharp of G and just flat of G sharp. The open G string – and, to a lesser extent, the G on the D string, 5th fret - is very slightly louder and has slightly more 'kick' than other notes. No dead spots anywhere at all. To me it's part of the character of the sound...

My volume of air inside my (non-Collings) dread resonates around G, but funnily enough the worst feedback point when amped-up is F sharp – the frequency of the soundboard. It's easily knocked out with a notch filter. G is only a problem when the volume is right up high.

Rick