Romanillos’ catalogue provides the soundhole diameters for 81 instruments. The soundhole diameter is also provided for Torres’ pear-shaped guitar, FE 2, but this has been excluded from the analysis as it is an atypical plantilla. The vast majority of soundhole diameters are between 82 mm and 86 mm as seen in Figure 13.
Figure 13: Soundhole Diameter Frequency
Included in the group of instruments with smaller soundhole diameters in the range of 79 mm to 81 mm are four of the small guitars from the second epoch (SE 77, SE 92, SE 117, and SE 151A), FE 6 with a 625 mm scale length Romanillos says is “attributed” to Torres, and the atypical FE 18. The three guitars with soundhole diameters in the range of 88 mm to 90 mm do not seem unusual in other respects. The three are grouped near the center of Figure 14 which depicts soundhole diameter by construction sequence.
Figure 14: Soundhole Diameter by Construction Sequence
Figure 14 seems to support the conclusion that Torres preferred a soundhole diameter in the range of 82 mm to 86 mm and that this was consistent throughout his career. This is further supported by Figure 15 which depicts soundhole diameter vs. upper bout width. Over a range of upper bout widths from 217 to 275 mm, only nine of eighty one instruments had soundhole diameters outside the range of 82 mm to 86 mm.
Figure 15: Soundhole Diameter vs. Upper Bout Width
Modern Practice:
For the classical guitars in Urlik’s collection (excluding Torres and flamenco), the average soundhold diameter is 86 mm. This is not much different than the Torres guitars catalogued by Romanillos where the average soundhole diameter is just less than 84 mm. The maximum and minimum soundhole diameters are also very similar. However, as seen in the figure below, the size of the soundhole is shifted to a slightly larger diameter in the guitars since Torres.
While this difference is very small, it does seem to show a modern preference for slightly larger soundholes.