I have a sound port on my Kinnard Tenor and love how it brings the sound to me as I play. I assume the same would be true of a concert, but want to make sure I am not missing something.
I am so glad you guys take the time to set them up so well. Andrew picked that one out for me, says it has something special . I listened to tons of sound samples and the gloss mango baritone was just fantastic.
Back on subject....
Never played a concert with a sound port either, hence the question.
Kinnard is about to have a price increase, so I got on the list. Looking at the options.
My Donaldson concert pineapple of fiddleback Myrtle has a side port and a banana shaped front port on the lower front corner. It projects both directions. The absence of a center hole allows the entire top to vibrate like a back does. The Eddy Finn shark fin shaped hole works well. Willy Nelson's Trigger certainly seems to defy sound hole theory...then again maybe it's amplified..........
I've built concerts with side side ports. In my experience, like with tenors, it offers the player a certain degree of response while not sacrificing forward projection. I wouldn't call it huge but it is certainly noticeable. I started adding SSPs about 7 years ago and now all of my ukes have SSPs unless otherwise requested.
