Guitar Sound Hole Cover

You might know that I like to play the guitar and sing. I have recorded some of the songs I cover and posted them on my YouTube channel.

I play a Martin D-28 Acoustic Guitar that really belts out a tune. The D stands for Dreadnought which implies, and rightly so, a larger version of guitar than its predecessor. Originally the word was created to describe a type of battleship introduced in the early 20th century, larger and faster than its predecessors.

Ok, so why do I need a sound hole cover. As you might guess, it is to dampen the amount of sound coming out of this big-bodied guitar. No, it’s not to keep from waking up a baby or disturbing someone in the other room.

Let me explain. I have a little Sony recording device, called a HDR-MV1, that I use to record the songs with. I have it placed within a couple feet from my mouth and guitar. It does a great job of recording video and picking up the sound with its two angled microphones but, the guitar portion of the recording is too loud compared to my voice.

A friend of mine, who builds guitars, told me that I could get a sound hole cover to remedy that. I didn’t want to spend money on that right now so, I got this idea to make one myself out of a piece of cardboard.

I envisioned the design of this product in my head and then proceeded to draw the design straight onto a piece cardboard without first drawing up a set of plans. I chose a box with a stiff thin cardboard from a product that I had purchased. I

actually didn’t use the box cutter because the blade would have been too large for this rather delicate cutting.

I measured the sound hole exactly (a 32nd of an inch shy of 4 inches) and then drew that onto the cardboard adding four sets of tabs that would hold the cover in place. One tab in a set of two would be folded in and one would be left flat thereby holding the cover in place. Two more inner tabs were cut from the sides of the cardboard box that would fit inside the sound hole. These last two were probably not necessary.

I then slid the cover under the stings and positioned it and lowered it into place tucking one tab of each set into the sound hole. It fit quite well and dampened the sound just enough to amplify my voice in the recording sessions to the right mix. The cover can be easily slipped into and out of position.

For increased dampening of the guitar volume, a thicker piece of cardboard could be used or, perhaps, try lining the back of the cover with foam rubber or the like.