Measure the frequency response of an acoustic guitar body?

[bluefuzz]

I think the next frontier in this kind of study is the different patterns of sound hole that @bluefuzz has to choose from for my new oud One or three? Oval or round?

LOL. I wouldn't dare pronounce on the relative merits of the number of oud/lute soundholes. All else being equal I would imagine it is the total surface area that matters most. But no doubt relative size and placement has an effect. Traditionally, lute rosettes were carved directly into the top plate which means one slip of the knife and the whole top is blown. It seems more common to see ouds without rosettes but that's cheating! Three soundholes means three times the risk and three times the price ... ;-)

 

[Multicore]

LOL. I wouldn't dare pronounce on the relative merits of the number of oud/lute soundholes. All else being equal I would imagine it is the total surface area that matters most. But no doubt relative size and placement has an effect. Traditionally, lute rosettes were carved directly into the top plate which means one slip of the knife and the whole top is blown. It seems more common to see ouds without rosettes but that's cheating! Three soundholes means three times the risk and three times the price ... ;-)

It's one thing to pronounce and another to study, which is the verb I used. But I think it's going to take a lot of top plates before you've got the data to settle this question.