f-hole

Definitions

noun One of the openings in the upper plate of the body of the violin and similar instruments: so called from their resemblance to the Italic letter feminine See cut under violin.

noun music A hole, shaped like a lowercase f, through the top surface of a string instrument.

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Allen - Thanks, you put very clearly the differences you've found between f-hole and oval, and I'll keep that in mind the next time I get to play both side by side.

Mandolin Cafe News 2009
A decent analogy is to listen to the sound of carved-top, f-hole "jazz" guitars, as against the flat-top, round-hole "folk" or "bluegrass" instruments.

Mandolin Cafe News 2009
I got to the cadenza, closed my eyes, tilted my ear closer to the f-hole and visualized that I was in my own living room.

Violinist.com 2009
I then tried the f-hole MT2, as a control, and found it was almost identical-sounding to the oval.

Mandolin Cafe News 2009
But, once I've said that, I've found that, in general, the f-hole carved-top construction produces a more percussive sound, with a sharper initial attack and quicker decay, than either the oval-hole carved-top, or the oval-hole "flat" top types.

Mandolin Cafe News 2009
Work it around until you can get the end to come out an f-hole.

Mandolin Cafe News 2009
It's hard to find a Loar-style f-hole / scroll mando in anything BUT sunburst.

Mandolin Cafe News 2009
Doyle Lawson for example played a Randy Wood regraduated f-hole a-style mandolin of some sort, and Buzz Busby really made his a-style f-hole mandolin shine.

Mandolin Cafe News 2009
It's hard to find a Loar-style f-hole / scroll mando in anything BUT sunburst.

Mandolin Cafe News 2009
Makes sense to me to have both an oval hole and an f-hole.

Mandolin Cafe News 2009