Soundhole

A soundhole is an opening in the upper sounding board of a guitar or other stringed musical instrument, whose purpose is to help project the sound of the instrument more efficiently.

There are a range of options for sound holes: in terms of shape, quantity and location on the soundboard. Flat-top acoustic guitars tend to have a single round sound hole which is centered under the strings. Archtop guitars, mandolins and some resonator guitars have "f-hole" sound holes which are usually made in pairs placed symmetrically on both sides of the strings.

Round centered soundhole

Symmetrical f-hole soundholes

Ovation guitars are well known for featuring unique soundhole designs with multiple smaller soundholes that, being combined with a composite roundback guitar body are said to produce a clear and bright sound.

Ovation 5-piece soundholes

Ovation bass side soundholes

Ovation Waveport soundholes

Though the purpose of sound holes is to help acoustic instruments project their sound more efficiently, the sound does not emanate solely (nor even mostly) from the location of the sound hole. The majority of sound emanates from the surface area of both sounding boards, with sound holes playing a part by allowing the sounding boards to vibrate more freely, and by allowing some of the vibrations which have been set in motion inside the instrument to travel outside the instrument.