I hate to be a party pooper but I used my wife's ears for an experiment:
I've a big double manual French harpsichord in my living room (next to the
organ, under clavichord 1 which is under clavichord 2, the Flemish muselaar,
the Italian virginal and the Italian harpsichord not to mention the regal,
the harp, the renaissance lute, the modern guitar, the two alt violins and a
small assortment of folk instruments and a bunch of recorders ranging from
medieval to late baroque). 

 

To cut it short, what I did was playing the same chords over and over
without my wife seeing what I was doing. I played with the soundhole open
and closed using a small piece of wood which covered nicely the soundhole.
Every time when the soundhole was open she described the sound as more
open/brilliant. FYI: she couldn't see what I was doing so she had no clue
whether the hole was open or closed.

 

Maybe it's all between our 2 ears but currently the favors are in having a
soundhole. If you have time/wife/husband/friend and you could repeat my
little experiment, I would be most interested to hear about your findings.

 

Have a nice weekend,

 

Chris.


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