An improved hollow-bodied stringed instrument body having a substantially free edge in the lower bout which reduces the coupling of the resonances of the front plate, back plate, and enclosed volume of air. A selected number of holes of a selected shape create a substantially free edge in the lower bout of the front plate. This substantially free edge reduces the large-amplitude displacement of these plates that occurs due to low frequency resonance coupling. Placement of the free edge allows high frequency resonance of the front plate, which is not due to coupling, to contribute to the tone of the instrument. Reducing the large-amplitude displacement of the plates reduces bass-heavy tone and feedback.