Acoustics For Violin and Guitar Makers

Dept of Speech, Music and Hearing
ACOUSTICS FOR
VIOLIN AND GUITAR
MAKERS
Erik Jansson
Fourth edition2002
http://www.speech.kth.se/music/acviguit4/part1.pdf
Index of chapters
Preface/Chapter I
Sound and hearing
Chapter II
Resonance and resonators
Chapter III
Sound and the room
Chapter IV
Properties of the violin and guitar string
Chapter V
Vibration properties of the wood and tuning of violin plates
Chapter VI
The function, tone, and tonal quality of the guitar
Chapter VII
The function of the violin
Chapter VIII
The tone and tonal quality of the violin
Chapter IX
Sound examples and simple experimental material under preparation
Webpage: http://www.speech.kth.se/music/acviguit4/index.html
PREFACE
The aim of this compendium is to build an understanding for the acoustics of the guitar and
the violin, and to explain how their different parts cooperate. This will be done with results
obtained by research. I shall show what can be measured and what can be perceived by our ears.
Further I shall hint at measuring procedures that the maker himself may develop. Finally I shall
show how "standard" laboratory equipment can be used to measure characteristics of the violin
and the guitar, which partly shall be used by the participants of this course. Much energy has
been devoted to balance an informative presentation without too much complication. Hopefully
this balance is appropriate for many readers.
The material presented is a combination of well known acoustical facts, late research on the
acoustics of the violin and the guitar and results of the latest results of the ongoing research at
KTH. The material has been collected by some 30 years of research and co-operation with a large
number of persons and institutions. At my KTH-home, the Department of Speech, Music and
Hearing, Prof. Johan Sundberg, Dr Anders Askenfelt, our first Dr of Music Acoustics Jesus
Alonso, Prof. Gunnar Fant and his successor Prof. Bjrn Granstrm, all friends and colleagues
have helped and inspired my work, and especially Mrs. Gudrun Weiner-Rispe who has plotted a
large number of the figures. Much material has been collected at the Department of Physics II,
KTH and the Institute of Optical Research headed by Profs Erik Ingelstam and Klaus
Biedermann together with my optical "colleagues" Drs Nils-Erik Molin and Leif Ek. Of the many
makers I early came into contact with are Harry Sundin and Gunnar Mattson of the Stockholm
Violin Maker's Club. Much work has been made in co-operation with Gran Levvin at AB
Herman Carlsson Levin and Carlo and Birgit Hansen at Carlo Hansen Violinatelj AB. Lately
much work has been made together with the Division of Experimental Mechanics at Lule
University of Technology and my early colleague Prof. Nils-Erik Molin, Prof. Lars Frydn and
Benedykt Niewczyk, violin maker from Poznan Poland. Without all this help and co-operation,
this information would never have been collected and summarised. In addition I would like to
add two names: Prof. Arthur Benade and Dr Carleen Hutchins, who both have taught and
inspired me a lot. Although much material is presented mainly from work by the author, it must
be pointed out that there is much more collected by other persons. The manuscript has been read
by Dr. Rodney Day which has resulted in considerable improvements, both presentation and
language. I want to thank these persons and all other helpful persons not named.
Misinterpretations and negligence to present important material by others is the fault of the
author, who asks for forgiveness for his misbiased judgement.
The course is limited to acoustical fundamentals for the violin and the guitar. It is presented
with little or no mathematics. Additional valuable information can be found in the CAS Journal
(earlier called Newsletter). For readers with a more general interest in musical acoustics I
recommend "The Science of Musical Sounds" by Johan Sundberg (Academic Press, Inc. 1991 ),
which should be a good supplement to this course. Much information is collected by Dr Hutchins
in Benchmark Papers in Acoustics (Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania,
vol. 5 1975, vol. 6 1976) and Research Papers in Violin Acoustics 1975-1993 (Acoustical Society
of America through American Institute of Physics, 1996). The financial supports by above
institutions, the Swedish Humanistic Science Research Council, Swedish Natural Research
Council, Swedish Board for Technical Development, Carl Trygger Scientific Foundation,
Wenner-Gren Scientific Foundation, and Swedish Institute are gratefully acknowledged.
Stockholm 2002- Erik Jansson
Jansson: Acoustics for violin and guitar makers 1.2
The present compendium has been used teaching acoustics for violin and guitar makers by the
author. The material contains in parts original information not generally known and therefore it
has been translated into English and made public on the Internet. The written information can,
however, be difficult to read for many makers. If questions, they can be directed to the author,
erik@speech.kth.se, who hopefully can answer them. A simplified version may be put together after
retirement, i.e. after 5 years if judged to be interesting.
INTRODUCTION AND CONTENT
FUNDAMENTALS OF ACOUSTICS:
Chapter 1. SOUND AND HEARING
First part: THE SOUND
Second part: THE HEARING PROCESS
Chapter 2. RESONANCE AND RESONATORS
First part: RESONANCE
Second part: RESONATORS
Chapter 3. SOUND AND THE ROOM
First part: FUNDAMENTAL ROOM ACOUSTICS
Second part: THE SOUND IN THE ROOM
APPLIED INSTRUMENT ACOUSTICS:
Chapter 4. PROPERTIES OF THE VIOLIN AND THE GUITAR STRING
First part: FUNDAMENTALS OF STRINGS
Second part: PLAYED STRINGS AND SCALES
Chapter 5. VIBRATION PROPERTIES OF THE WOOD AND TUNING OF VIOLIN PLATES
First part: VIBRATION PROPERTIES OF THE WOOD
Second part: TUNING OF THE TOP AND BACK PLATES OF THE VIOLIN
Chapter 6. THE FUNCTION, TONE AND TONAL QUALITY OF THE GUITAR
First part: THE FUNCTION OF THE GUITAR
Second part: THE TONE AND TONAL QUALITY OF THE GUITAR
Chapter 7. THE FUNCTION OF THE VIOLIN
First part: PROPERTIES BUILT INTO THE VIOLIN
Second part: INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT PARTS
Chapter 8. THE TONE AND TONAL QUALITY OF THE VIOLIN
First part: FUNDAMENTALS OF THE VIOLIN TONE
Second part: ACOUSTICAL QUALITY MEASURES
Chapter 9. SOUND EXAMPLES AND SIMPLE EXPERIMENTAL MATERIAL.
ACOUSTICS FOR
VIOLIN AND GUITAR
MAKERS
Erik Jansson
Chapter I:
Sound and Hearing
Fourth edition 2002
ACOUSTICS FOR VIOLIN AND GUITAR MAKERS

Chapter 1 Fundamentals of acoustics
SOUND AND HEARING
Part 1: THE SOUND
1.1. What is sound?
1.2. Sound and spectrum
1.2. Time history of the sound
1.4. Summary
1.5. Key words
Part 2: THE HEARING PROCESS
1.6. The ear and the hearing process
1.7. Masking, critical bands, and roughness
1.8 Timbre and spectrum
1.9. Summary
1.10. Key words
Chapter 1.
FUNDAMENTALS OF ACOUSTICS - SOUND AND HEARING
First part: THE SOUND
INTRODUCTION
In this first part of chapter 1 properties of sound will be presented. Fundamental measures such as
frequency and level will be introduced. The measures will be developed into spectrum and time
histories (oscillograms). Sounds as musical tones, single tones and noise will be described by
their spectrum representation and by their time history representation.
1.1. WHAT IS SOUND?
Sound is quick and microscopically small variations in the barometric air pressure. The
variations are described by two fundamental acoustical measures FREQUENCY and LEVEL.
FREQUENCY is related to the pitch, i.e., a low frequency corresponds to a low pitch and a
high frequency to a high pitch. LEVEL relates to loudness, i.e. a low level corresponds to a
weak sound and a high level to a loud sound.
A simple example can illustrate that air pressure variations are sound, see Fig. 1.1. A
loudspeaker emits sound. A loudspeaker placed with its opening directed upwards emits sound
upward through the opening. A sheet of paper placed over the loudspeaker opening will vibrate
and give a rattling sound. The loudspeaker membrane moves up and down, which will result in
the following interaction with the paper sheet:
Figure 1.1. Cross-section of a loudspeaker box seen from the side, and stages 1 to 3 described in the text. The
arrows mark the position of the loudspeaker membrane in relation to its equilibrium and the varying air
pressure (the sound pressure) acting on the paper sheet, respectively.
1. At the equilibrium position of the loudspeaker membrane the air pressure is the same below as
above the paper and the paper sheet is not moving.
2. When the loudspeaker membrane moves upwards, the air is compressed under the paper and
the increased air pressure pushes the paper upwards.
3. When the membrane moves towards its lowest position the air pressure is lowered and the
paper is pulled down towards the loudspeaker.
The experiment is easily made and it shows that the vibrations of the paper sheet (a rattling
sound and sensations of tickling in a hand held over the loudspeaker) are related to sound. When
the loudspeaker emits strong sound the paper rattles strongly (strong hand tickling), and when the
loudspeaker emits weak sound the paper rattles weakly (weak hand ticking).
HOW LOUD IS THE SOUND LEVEL?
The strength of the sound, the sound pressure level is measured in dB (decibel
soundpressure level mathematically the level relative to a sound pressure of 0.00002 Pa). To
give a coarse feeling for sound pressure levels three extreme examples are given in Table 1.1 and
to give a more detailed feeling, some sound pressure levels typically met in daily life are given in
Table 1.2. The barometric sound pressure, well above the threshold of pain, can only be obtained
theoretically (mathematically).
Table 1.1. Sound pressure levels minimum to maximum and barometric pressure
Faintest audible sound
0 dB
Loudest (without pain)
120 dB
Barometric pressure (760 mm Hg)
194 dB
Table 1.2. Sound pressure levels of typical sounds
Threshold of pain
Disco
Heavy traffic
Conversation
Library
Rustling of leaves
Threshold of hearing
120 dB
100 dB
80 dB
60 dB
40 dB
20 dB
0 dB
PITCH OF THE SOUND - OR FREQUENCY?
Frequency is a measure of how often an event (in the time history) is repeated per second and
the unit of measurement is Hz (hertz). Often the given frequency unit is kHz (kilohertz),
which is 1000 Hz in the same way as 1000 gram is 1 kilogram. Thus 2 kHz and 2 000 Hz are the
same.
Example 1.1. A metronome adjusted to 60 gives 60 beats per minute, which equals 1 per
second and the frequency is 1 Hz. If the metronome is readjusted to 120 it
gives 120 beats per minute, which equals 2 per second and the frequency is 2 Hz.
Example 1.2. Sound is the vibration of air. If the membrane of a loudspeaker moves out and in
20 times a second, i.e., with the frequency 20 Hz, we can hear a very low tone. If
the membrane moves in and out 440 times per second, we hear a tone of 440 Hz,
i.e. the standard tuning A (A4).
The young, fresh human ear can hear sound approximately from 20 to 20 000 Hz, i.e., from 0.02
to 20 kHz. The frequency of the lowest note on the piano has a frequency of 27.5 Hz (A0
nominal value) and its highest note is 4.186 kHz (C8 nominal value).
1.2. SOUND AND SPECTRUM
Let us look at pictures of the sounds. What do the sounds "look like"? Usually one draws the
spectrogram of a musical note, shortly to be called the SPECTRUM. The spectrum is an
acoustical snapshot of the note. The spectrum can be explained by means of Fig. 1.2.
The horizontal scale - the frequency axis - of the spectrogram corresponds to the staves in the
musical representation. A specific tone has a specific staff such as the note A of 220 Hz. In the
spectrogram the tone is represented by a bar (a vertical line) at the frequency 220 Hz. The
strength of the tone, strong (musical ff) corresponds to a high bar and weak (musical pp)
corresponds to a low bar. The level of the tone can be read at the (vertical) level scale in dB and
its frequency at the (horizontal) frequency scale in Hz. It has thus been shown that the frequency
in Hz and level in dB can describe a TONE. The TONE is an acoustical building stone of the
sound we hear.
Example 1.3.a) The time signal (at least in Sweden) contains a tone of the frequency 1000 Hz,
i.e., 1 kHz. The level of the tone can be adjusted by the volume control.
b) The tuning forks with the standard tone give a tone with the frequency 440 Hz.
The level is high in the beginning and decreases slowly. A stronger hit gives a
higher level.
Most musical tones do not have the simple representation shown so far. They consist of several
tones, c.f. Fig. 1.3. The musical tone A 220 Hz in Fig. 1.3 is placed two staves below the five
permanent ones (in guitar notation 110 Hz, a transposition to one octave lower). A more
complete representation has been given on the staves to the left, i.e. a tone (the fundamental), a
tone an octave higher (acoustically twice as high), a tone an octave plus a fifth higher (three
times as high), a tone a double octave higher (four times as high), and a tone a double octave plus
major third higher (five times as high). The played notes of the melody instruments such as
violin, clarinet and trumpet are made up by several single tones as sketched in Fig 1.3.
The spectrogram of a real musical tone consists of several bars, c.f. Fig. 1.3. The frequencies of
the bars can be read at the horizontal scale. The levels of the different tones, the heights of the
bars, can be read at the vertical scale. The different tones are called PARTIALS (harmonics) and
the lowest partial is called the FUNDAMENTAL. A little closer look reveals that the frequency
of the second tone is twice that of the fundamental, the frequency of the third partial is three
times that of the fundamental, etc. The bars show the SPECTRUM of the musical tone. The
partials are numbered 1, 2, 3 etc. and the partial frequencies are 2,3 etc times that of the
fundamental. The frequency of the fundamental corresponds to the pitch and the levels of the
partials correspond to the timbre. The spectrum of a sound is measured with a spectroscope.
The spectrogram of the musical tone in Fig 1.3 show five partials (bars), which are placed at
even distances. The partials are equally strong, i.e. of the same level, as the five bars have equal
height.
Figure 1.2. Musical description and acoustical description of a tone.
Figure 1.3. Musical description of a real tone and acoustical description.
Figure 1.4. Time histories (left) and spectra (right) for a) a simple tone (upper plots), and b) a more real tone
(lower plots) with four equally strong partials.
Example 1.4. A violinist plays the open A-string, i.e., a spectrum with the fundamental of 440
Hz. The second partial has the frequency 2 times the fundamental, i.e., 2 times
440 equals 880 Hz. In the same way the third, fourth and fifth partial frequencies
can be calculated as 3, 4, and 5 times the fundamental frequency, respectively.
The frequencies are 1320 Hz (1.32 kHz), 1760 Hz (1.76 kHz), and 2 200 Hz (2.2
kHz), respectively.
1.3. TIME HISTORY OF THE SOUND
The simple tone with only one partial (= the fundamental) has a time history (oscillogram) and a
spectrum corresponding to Fig. 1.4a. The time history repeats itself after equal time intervals. A
spectrum with four equally strong partials has a time history corresponding to Fig. 1.4b (the
simplest case). The time history repeats itself after equal time intervals here too. The time
history is considerably more complicated though than that of one partial.
A played tone does not look the same all the time. It may look as in Fig. 1.5. This played tone
has a beginning, an extended constant (more or less) part and an end. The beginning is usually
called the starting transient and corresponds musically to the attack. The end of the tone is
usually called the ending transient and corresponds to the decay of the string vibrations. The time
history is measured with an oscilloscope.
Example 1.5. The motion of the tuning fork is very rapid but the tone of a tuning fork decays
slowly, c.f. Fig. 1.6. It vibrates so rapidly but decays so slowly that it is not
possible to plot in detail the sound pressure variations and the full ending
transient. In the upper part of Fig. 1.6 the time history of the decaying motion has
been drawn. Below, parts of the time history has been enlarged considerably, i.e.,
the central part shows the detailed time history at three instants. In the lower part
of Fig. 1.6 the spectra corresponding to the three instants have been plotted. The
figure shows that the tuning fork gives a simple tone at the different instants and a
single partial bar in the spectrum (c.f., Fig. 1.4a). The sound pressure decreases
slowly and thus the level of the single partial decreases slowly.
Figure 1.5. Time history of a tone in principle: A the starting transient, B the constant (more or less) part, and C the
ending transient (the oscillations are generally to close to be drawn, and are marked here by the shade).
Figure 1.6. The full time history of the tone of a tuning forks (an ending transient), detailed time histories and
corresponding spectra.
Example 1.6. The pipe organ is an instrument, in which the starting transient is most important.
It can be adjusted differently and can give different sounding qualities. Two
different starting transients of the same pipe are shown in Fig. 1.7. The upper
time history is somewhat more complex than the lower one. In a detailed time
history one can read that the second partial (the octave shown as the fine pattern
shade) dominates during the earliest part (0.02 to 0.03 seconds): Thereafter the
first partial (the fundamental, the coarse pattern shade) starts to dominate. In the
lower time history the first partial dominates the starting transient and just
increases.
Figure 1.7. Time histories (shaded oscillograms) of starting transients of two pipe organ tones, the same pipe
differently adjusted. In the upper frame the second partial dominates initially (dark area) the time history, in the
lower frame the fundamental (the lowest partial) just grows (after Sundberg 1966).
Figure 1.8. Time history (oscillogram) of a played violin tone.
Usually technical people measure time in units of 0.001 seconds, which are called ms
(milliseconds) compare m (meter) and mm (millimetres), 1 mm being 0.001 m).
Example 1.7. A musical instrument such as the violin results in still more complicated time
histories, c.f., Fig. 1.8. The time history is changing all the time in a specific
way and monitored by the skilled musician. If one listens to the early, the middle,
and the late part of the tone (by computer manipulations this can be done) one
will hear that the loudness, timbre and also the pitch of the tone are different in
the different parts. Timbre and pitch will be defined later in this chapter
Figure 1.9. Time history (left plots) and spectra (right plots) of a guitar tone immediately after attack, 0.2, and 0.4
seconds later.
Example 1.8. The guitar string is plucked and is thereafter left to decay freely. The time history
of a guitar tone may look as in Fig. 1.9. It is rather irregular at the attack, but
shows clearly repetitive (periodic) time histories at the later two instants. The time
histories are more similar to that of Fig. 1.4 b (four partials) than that of Fig. 1.4a
(one partial only). The spectra corresponding to the different instants also show
that the guitar tone is made up by several partials. It shows 14 partials just after
the attack, 9 after 0.2 seconds, and 7 after 0.4 seconds. The levels of the partials
decrease differently.
The highfrequency partials decay faster than the
lowfrequency ones. Every partial can be thought of as produced by a tuning fork
and the tuning forks of the different partials decay with different speeds. The
shown guitar tone could be produced by fourteen different tuning forks and not by
one (the line between the partial peaks is called the spectrum envelope).
Figure 1.10. Time history (left) and spectrum (right) of noise.
Figure 1.11. Time history and spectrum of an impulse.
NOISE AND IMPULSE SOUND

In the violin-making world and in modern technology two different kinds of test sounds are used,
i.e. IMPULSE sound and NOISE sound.
NOISE is technically a sound that has irregular variations with time. Noise has the property that
it contains partials at all frequencies and on average of the same level.
A noise thus contains partials at 100 Hz, 101 Hz, 102 Hz, etc. It has also partials between 100 Hz
and 101 Hz, i.e. at 100.1 Hz, 100,2 Hz .... 100.8 Hz, and 100.9 Hz. But between these partials
there are also partials at 100,11 Hz, 100.12 Hz, etc. Between the latest partials there are also
partials and so on. The noise is made up by a spectrum of infinitely densely packed partials,
which on average are of equal strength (technically called white noise). At any frequency there
is a partial, for instance at 100 Hz and 173.937 Hz.
The time history for a noise sound may look as in Figure 1.10 , a completely irregular and
wriggly curve. The spectrum looks as in the right part of the figure. The partials are so densely
packed that single partials can not be seen and all partials are on the average equally strong.
Example 1.9. a) A television set emits noise when the transmission is turned off after the end of
the last program.
b) When a wooden surface is ground with sandpaper noise is obtained.
An impulse is a single short sound (a spike) with a time history as shown in Fig. 1.10b. The
impulse has partials of all frequencies (as the noise) but only at one instant.
Example 1.10. a) When you hit a nail with a hammer, an impulse is obtained at the moment of
the hammer impact.
b) When you hit a violin top plate with you knuckle, an impulse is obtained at
the moment of impact.
Violinmakers use these two kinds of sounds to test the properties of a free top plate for instance.
By letting a finger slide along the top plate surface a noise sound is obtained. Depending on the
acoustical properties of the plate some partials of the noise are amplified. The maker can hear a
sound of certain pitch and timbre. With some experimenting the maker can learn to use the
procedure as a guiding test during the shaping process.
The violinmaker can also use impulsive sound. By tapping (knocking) the free top plate with a
knuckle, an impulsive sound is injected (the procedure is the same as hitting the tuning fork at a
table edge). The response of the plate to the injected impulse give the resonances of the plate
(each corresponding to a tuning fork giving different pitch, level and time decay). Thereby the
pitches, levels and decays of the resonance vibrations reflect the properties of the plate and can
guide the maker towards a wanted result. The maker cans optimise the tapping sound for specific
purposes. By hitting with a soft "club" (the fingertip) the low resonances vibrations are favoured
(longer duration of the impulse). The impulse spectrum is also changed. A softer club gives a
spectrum with weaker partials at high frequencies.
In tones from musical instruments there are also impulsive and noisy sounds, which can be
important for the timbre.
Example 1.11. a) When the violin bow is pulled over the string, a musical tone is generated,
which also contains noise.
b) Noise can be heard in the beginning of the irregular time history of the guitar
tone, c.f., Fig. 1.9. When a left hand finger slides along a wrapped string, noise is
generated.
c) In wood wind instruments such as the clarinet, air turbulence causes noise in the
same way as for a microphone outdoors in wind. Hitting a key gives impulsive
sound.
1.4 SUMMARY: THE SOUND
In this part I have shown what a played musical tone can look like. It consists of very small and
rapid variations in the atmospheric pressure. The variations are as a rule complicated. The time
history of the tone varies with timbre. In addition the played tones have a beginning and an end,
i.e. a starting transient and an ending transient. The spectrum of a tone shows an instantaneous
view of the tone at one particular time. The spectrum varies from one part to another of the same
tone. As a rule a spectrum representation is not typical for all tones of the played instrument.
1.5 KEY WORDS:
Frequency, Hz, kHz, level, dB, spectrum, partials, fundamental, time history, ms, starting
transients, ending transients, noise, and impulse.
Chapter 1.
Second part: THE HEARING PROCESS
INTRODUCTION
In the second part of the first chapter the measured properties of sound will be connected to the
perception by our hearing. First the function of our hearing organ is sketched, the sensitivity and
the working range. Thereafter masking phenomena and the so-called critical bands of hearing are
introduced. Finally timbre and spectrum of tones are discussed.
1.6. THE EAR AND THE HEARING PROCESS
Fig 1.12. Sketch of the ear.
The ear is a very complicated microphone with a built-in spectroscope, c.f., Fig. 1.12. The outer
part of the ear or the pinna is the part we in everyday language call the ear. The pinna works as
an antenna, picks up the sound, leads it via the auditory canal to the eardrum or tympanic
membrane (corresponding to the microphone membrane). The vibrations of the eardrum are
coupled via three small bones, the ossicles, to the oval window of the cochlea, c.f. Fig. 1.13a. The
vibrations of the oval window set the upper liquid filled part of the cochlea, scala vestibuli,
vibrating. The vibrations of the liquid will in its turn make the basilar membrane vibrate.
Muscles connected to the ossicles adjust the sensitivity of hearing, i.e. these work as an automatic
volume control. By adjusting the sensitivity, the hearing is protected against strong sounds. The
sensitivity adjustment takes, however, a short time during which the hearing is "unprotected".
Therefore this adjustment can not protect our hearing against strong impulsive sounds, such as
the firing of a gun. For very high sound levels it is also insufficient and ear protectors must be
used.
Figure 1.13. a) Sketch of the function of the outer ear (upmost picture). The cochlea has the shape of a spiral with 2
and 3/4 turns, but has been drawn straight to give a clearer picture (after Hadding and Petersson). b) The
displacement of the basilar membrane at different frequencies (frames below picture, after Denes and Pinson).
The basilar membrane is the part where the mechanical vibrations are transformed into electrical
nerve pulses, see Fig. 1.13a. For single tones the basilar membrane gives maximum
Figure 1.14. The working range of the hearing
vibrations at special positions depending on their frequencies. Low-frequency tones give a

maximum far away from the oval window and high frequency tones close to the oval window see
Fig. 1.13b. At the basilar membrane there are vibration sensitive cells, so called hair cells. It is
the hair cells that react to the basil vibrations and transmit the nerve pulses. If we put our hand
close to a loudspeaker we feel tickles, which are registered by the brain. If we put a part of our
arm close to a loudspeaker it is received by the brain as tickling at a specific position of the arm.
In a similar way the brain registers the positions of the basilar membrane vibrations. Different
frequencies correspond to different places, which makes the basilar membrane act as a
spectroscope.
THE HEARING PROCESS
The ear works as a complicated microphone as has been shown. The working range of hearing
covers frequencies from 16 to 16 000 Hz (16 kHz), c.f., Fig. 1.14. This is a wide frequency range
corresponding to 10 octaves (visible light has a much, much wider frequency range, from
390 000 000 000 000 to 750 000 000 000 000 Hz but this is less than a one-octave range in
musical language). The dynamical working range of hearing is from -5 to 120 dB. The lower
limit where a tone is just noticeable is called the HEARING THRESHOLD. The hearing
threshold is different for different frequencies and is at the lowest at -5 dB at 2 kHz. The upper
limit is called the PAIN THRESHOLD, because here the hearing sensation is changed into a
sensation of pain (if a sound results in a pain sensation, stick a finger in each ear and leave the
sounding area immediately). The threshold of pain is approximately at 120 dB. The maximal
working range of level from -5 to +120 dB, i.e. close to 120 dB. A digital tape recorder is needed
to cover this range. The hearing threshold varies appreciably with frequency. At 30 Hz the
hearing threshold is at 60 dB. Between 500 Hz and 5 000 Hz it is approximately at 0 dB. For
frequencies above 5 000 Hz the hearing threshold increases rapidly. The threshold of pain can be
regarded as independent of frequency and constant at 120 dB.
Figure 1.15. Levels of equal loudness (phone-curves)
The loudness of a tone depends both on its frequency and its level. Fig. 1.15 shows the level that
a tone should have to give the same loudness at different frequencies. Levels of equal loudness
have been plotted starting from 0, 20, 40 etc. dB at 1 000 Hz. The figure shows, that for
frequencies below 500 Hz a fairly loud sound is necessary to be heard (the hearing threshold is
at a fairly high level). Above the hearing threshold the lines of equal loudness are closely
spaced, i.e. our hearing is very sensitive to increased sound level at low frequencies. The
hearing threshold and the sensitivity decreases up to 500 Hz. Between 500 Hz and 5 000 Hz the
equal loudness lines are approximately horizontal and parallel, i.e. the hearing is equally sensitive
in this range and corresponds to the volume control of an amplifier.
The importance of the equal loudness lines can be evaluated in a different way. At low sound
levels the sensitivity of hearing is rather different at different frequency ranges, especially at low
frequencies. At higher sound levels these differences become less prominent, the equal loudness
lines become more horizontal. Thus the hearing properties can be summarised in the following
way. Different sound levels give different sound impressions. High sound levels favour the low
frequency sounds (the bass sounds).
Figure 1.16. Masked threshold of hearing from a) a simple tone of constant frequency but varying level and b) from
a tone spectrum (from Sundberg)
1.7. MASKING CRITICAL BANDS AND ROUGHNESS

Different frequencies give different positions of maximum deflections of the basilar membrane
(cf., Fig. 1.13b). This fact explains two fundamental hearing phenomena, MASKING and
ROUGHNESS.
The masking effect is that a sound may hide or mask, another, weaker sound. In the presence of a
tone the hearing threshold (for an additional tone) is partially increased from the hearing
threshold (in silence, the hearing threshold of one tone only). This so-called masked hearing
threshold is 10 dB below the level of the first tone for another tone close in frequency. For
frequencies below the masking tone, the hearing threshold soon reaches the threshold of hearing
in silence, c.f., Fig. 1.16a.
For frequencies above that of the first tone, the masked threshold is considerably higher than the
hearing threshold in silence. For a tone as marked with a bar at 0.4 kHz (400 Hz) it is easily seen
that the masked threshold (the full line leaning downwards to the right) lies considerably above
the silence threshold up to 4 kHz. Towards lower frequencies the masked threshold is only
higher to 0.2 kHz (200 Hz). The condition for a second tone to be noticed is that its level is
above the masked threshold (it is not sufficient that its level is above the threshold in silence).
The rule of thumb is that a loud tone masks (hides) a weak tones of higher frequency but not a
weak tone of a lower frequency. Thus in tests with tap and noise sounds, one should avoid
exciting resonances of lower frequencies than the one of interest. Resonances excited at
frequencies above are less disturbing.
Figure 1.17. Analysis bands, so called critical bands of the hearing. The width of the critical bands in relation to the
frequency (from Sundberg).
A played musical tone is not a single tone but a complete spectrum of partials. Therefore the
masked threshold for the played tone is fairly complicated to estimate. Each partial will have its
own masked threshold, c.f., Fig. 1.16b. The complete, the effective masked threshold of the
partial spectrum is the highest partial threshold within each frequency range. Only the partials
that reach above the effective masked threshold contribute to the hearing sensation of the partial
spectrum. From the masked partial spectrum in Fig. 1.16b one can see that only the first, second,
third, eighth and ninth partials contribute to the hearing sensation - the other partials are masked.
CRITICAL BANDS AND ROUGHNESS

The second phenomenon that can be related to the deflection curves for the basilar membrane in
Fig. 1.12b, is the roughness of a sound. If two partials are close in frequency, the two partials
cannot be heard as separate. One can only hear them together, which gives the sound a sensation
of roughness. The roughness sensation appears as the partials are closer spaced in frequency than
a CRITICAL BAND of hearing. The widths at the different frequencies for the critical bands are
shown in Fig. 1.17. For frequencies below 500 Hz the critical bands are 100 Hz wide but above
they are 1/3 of an octave (approximately 25 %) wide.
Figure 1.18. Spectra of single tones and the single tones added.
Figure 1.19. Tone spectra with four and six partials respectively - the first spectrum sounds smooth, the second
sounds rough.
Figure 1.20. Spectra of different vowels (only envelopes, c.f. Fig. 1.9 are drawn, from Fant)
Figure 1.21. Spectrum for a spoken vowel (o in often. dashed line) and sung (with full line, only envelopes drawn
from Sundberg).
A simple listening exercise can be prepared as shown in Fig. 1.18. The single partials 1 through
4 give tones with little character and without roughness. If the partials are added a "tone" is
heard, still without much character. In the spectrum of the four partials added one can still
separate each of the four partials.
Example 1.19. What will happen if we add many partials, can all partials still be distinguished? A
little consideration gives that when the critical bandwidth and the frequency
separation between partials match, then it should be difficult to separate the
partials and roughness will occur. A few calculations show that the bandwidths
and the partial separations for musical tones occur up to the fifth partial. Thus we
should expect that a played tone with four partials has no roughness but a played
tones with six has some roughness. A listening exercise as sketched by Fig. 1.19
will confirm that with six partials a sense of roughness is obtained.
The critical bands of hearing can thus explain the sensation of roughness. Furthermore the
musical dissonance can partly be explained by roughness phenomena.
1.8 TIMBRE AND SPECTRUM
The partials of a spectrum results in a character called timbre (often represented as spectrum
envelopes). We learn early to recognise differences in timbre of tonal sounds. The vowels of
speech are as a matter of fact tonal sounds of different timbre. The timbre of a specific vowel is
adjusted in an elegant way. In the vowel in "word" the partial levels follows the full line (i.e. the
envelope) in the upper frame of Fig. 1.20. The same vowel is heard also if the fundamental
frequency but not the envelope is changed. In the vowel in "cat" the partial levels (the envelope)
follow the dashed line. In this case the vowel timbre is independent of the fundamental
frequency too. The spectral difference between the two vowels is that the frequency of the
leftmost hump has been shifted. By shifting the second leftmost hump the vowel "o" in shoot is
shifted to the vowel "e in three.
The spectral humps are also used to give the sung vowels their timbre and character (not the
fundamental frequency), c.f., Fig. 1.21. The male opera singer trains his voice to give strong
partials in the range of maximum sensitivity of the hearing. It gives his voice a more brilliant
timbre and it comes through the orchestra accompaniment better. This spectrum hump is
generally called the singer's formant (a similar spectrum maxim is generally favourable for
musical instruments).
As a rule of thumb it can be said that a strong first partial (the fundamental) is necessary for a full
sounding timbre. Many and strong high partials give the timbre a more brilliant but also more
rough character.
In everyday speech noise and impulse sounds are also included. The fricative consonants such as
s, f and sh are filtered noise sounds. Stop consonants such as k, p and t are impulse excited
sounds. The character of the fricatives and the stop sounds are formed by different adjustments
of the speech organs. The consonant sounds give different timbres and sometimes also a feeling
of pitch - similar to the tap and noise sounds used by the violinmaker. It must be pointed out that
the sketched ear function is far from complete. Only most fundamental function has been
introduced.
1.9. SUMMARY: THE HEARING PROCESS
In the preceding part some of the properties of the hearing process have been presented. The
working range of the hearing has been described. Examples on how we perceive sounds have
been presented by using common speech sounds. Perception "units" such as pitch, loudness and
masking have been introduced.
The presented information on hearing could be used to predict well-known facts further, now not
included. It is well known that playing louder, from mf to ff, is not only a turning up of the
volume control, it corresponds mainly to an increase of the treble control. However, to show how
this is done is outside the scope of the present compendium.
1.10. KEY WORDS:
Measurable units - Frequency, level, spectrum, frequency and level of partials
Perception - units - Pitch, loudness, timbre, hearing threshold, masking, and roughness.
ACOUSTICS FOR
VIOLIN AND GUITAR
MAKERS
Erik Jansson
Chapter II:
Resonance and Resonators
Fourth edition 2002

Index of chapters
Preface/Chapter I
Sound and hearing
Chapter II
Chapter III
Sound and the room
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX

Chapter 2 Fundamentals of Acoustics
RESONANCE AND RESONATORS
Part 1: RESONANCE
2.1. Resonance
2.2. Vibration sensitivity
2.3. The mechanical and acoustical measures of the resonator
2.4. Summary
2.5. Key words
Part 2: RESONATORS
2.6. The hole-volume resonator
2.7. Complex resonators
2.8. Mesurements of resonances in bars, plates and shells
2.9. Summary
2.10. Key words
Chapter 2.
FUNDAMENTALS OF ACOUSTICS - RESONANCE AND RESONATORS
First part: RESONANCE
INTRODUCTION
In chapter 1, I presented the fundamental properties of sound and how these properties can be
measured. Fundamental hearing sensations were connected to measurable sound properties. In
this, the second chapter the concept of RESONANCE and of RESONATORS will be introduced.
Resonators are fundamental building blocks of the sound generating systems such as the violin
and the guitar. The chapter starts with introducing the resonance and how a resonance is
described. Thereafter vibration sensitivity (technical term mobility) of resonances is discussed
and finally how mechanical and acoustical measures of a resonator are related.
2.1. RESONANCE
A RESONATOR or a system of resonators gives one or several RESONANCES. The blown
tone of a bottle is the result of a resonance and the bottle is the resonator. A practical property to
measure a resonator is its frequency response (vibration sensitivity, techn term mobility). The
response curve gives a picture of each resonance, i.e. its FREQUENCY (the peak frequency),
its resonance LEVEL response (the peak height for the selected driving) and its BANDWIDTH
(the peak width). These properties are related to the mechanical properties of the resonator;
the MASS (weight), STIFFNESS (spring) and FRICTION. Often a resonator consists of a
vibrating area, such as a violin top plate. Then the distribution of the vibrations are important.
Positions of maximal vibrations are called ANTINODES and the positions of no vibrations are
called NODES. Furthermore the decay (the reverberance) of a resonance can be important. The
relations between these different measures and properties will be explained in this chapter.
Let us first look at the guitar tone displayed in Fig. 1.9. The time history of the tone is smooth
except the sharp wiggles soon after the attack. The tone is not made up by a single partial but a
spectrum of partials, the levels of which slowly change. The frequency separation between the
partials is constant and equals the frequency of the fundamental (the first partial). It is the level
of the partials that give the guitar tone its character, the timbre.
But why do we obtain a decaying spectrum of partials at these very frequencies? Let us
cautiously move towards the answer by looking at a vibrating string.
AN EXAMPLE OF RESONANCE: THE VIBRATING STRING
A large scale picture of the vibrating string can be presented by means of a long rubber band
with one end fixed to a wall. The rubber band is held stretched by a hand at its free end. If the
free end is slowly moved up and down, the whole band moves up and down in time with the
hand. If the beat tempo, the frequency, is increased the string tends to swing out more between
the fixed end and the hand end. At a specific frequency the band will swing up and down in a
large bend between wall and hand, but still only requires small hand movements. The vibrations
at the bends are maximum. If the beat frequency is increased further the bend will diminish and
it is difficult to make the rubber band vibrate visibly. With still further increase of the beat
frequency the rubber band will divide itself into two bends. At a specific beat frequency the
vibrations at the bends are maximum. With further increased beat frequency the bends diminish
and thereafter the rubber band will divide itself into three bends, etc.
Let us repeat the same experiment with better control and use a small electrical vibrator
attached to a rubber band with its other end fixed to a wall (a similar demonstration can be made
using a string of a musical instrument). An electrical tone generator (oscillator) provides the
electrical driving signal. The magnitude and the frequency of the driving signal are easy to
adjust with high accuracy. The vibrator is replacing the hand. At low frequencies the rubber
band again moves in phase with the motion of the vibrator, but with increasing frequency it
starts bending out more and more in the middle. At a specific frequency, the first resonant
frequency the bend becomes maximum. The position of maximum motion is called an
ANTINODE. With further increase of the frequency the bend will first vanish and thereafter at
the second resonant frequency, two maxima of motion will come out and the rubber band does
not move in the middle. We have now two ANTINODES and in between a NODE. If we
continue to increase the frequency the two antinodes vanish and at a higher frequency we will
find three bends, antinodes, and between the antinodes, nodes. Further increase of the
frequency will show vibrations with four, five, six etc. antinodes with three, four, five etc.
nodes. We shall find that the maxima of vibrations are at at fixed frequencies. By measuring
the frequencies we will find that the frequencies are 2, 3, 4, 5 times the frequency with
maximum vibrations with only one bend.
The experiment has shown that certain things happen at specific frequencies (the resonant
frequencies) - the rubber band vibrations become maximum at specific positions (antinodes) and
are zero at other positions (nodes).
THE ORIGIN OF A RESONANCE
What is behind these peculiarities and what has that to do with the guitar tone? It is
RESONANCES. The vibrating rubber band and also the vibrating string have resonances. But
before I explain what is happening to the guitar string, let me explain the origin of a resonance,
how its properties are described and are measured.
The RESONANCE is an acoustical building brick of fundamental importance. To describe a
resonance we need to answer the following questions:
At what frequency is a resonance, the resonant frequency?
How limited is this resonance in frequency, the bandwidth?
How easily are the vibrations to excite, the vibration sensitivity at resonant frequency?
How are the vibrations distributed, the modes of vibration (or operating deflection shapes)?
A simple resonator is a small ball attached to a string of rubber bands, c.f., Fig. 2.1a. When
the finger is slowly moved up and down the ball moves in the same way up and down (in time,
in phase with the hand). If the beating frequency of the finger is increased the up and down
motion of the ball increases more and more. At a certain beating frequency the ball motion
becomes maximum. Further increase of the frequency will make the ball motion smaller and
finally at high frequencies only the finger will move.
Figure 2.1. A simple resonance: a) a simple resonator - a ball (C) attached to a rubber band (B) and hung on a
finger (A), and b) vibration sensitivity curve of the resonance - resonance frequency (RF), peak height (RL) and
bandwidth (B measured 3 dB below the peak maximum).
The size of the ball vibrations (upand down motion) follow the vibration sensitivity curve
plotted in Fig. 2.1b. The curve shows low vibration sensitivity at low and high frequencies. In
between there is a peak, a resonance peak giving the resonant frequency (the peak frequency),
the peak height giving the vibration sensitivity at the resonance and the peak width giving the
bandwidth. The bandwidth of resonances vary much from a fraction of a Hz for the string to
tenths of Hz for body resonances.
The resonator consists of a mass (weight) - the ball - and a spring - the rubber band. The
turbulence in the air surrounding the ball tries to brake its motion and provides friction. If the
stiffness of the rubber band is increased the resonant frequency is increased. If the mass (weight)
of the ball is increased the resonant frequency is decreased. If the friction (against the air) is
increased by a thin plate under the ball, the width of the resonance peak is increased.
It is difficult to move a finger up and down maintaining the same beat size and beat frequency.
Therefore an arrangement as shown in Fig. 2.2 may be used. A loudspeaker gives a strong
tone. By turning a knob on a tone generator the tone frequency is changed without changing
the strength of the tone. The plate with attached rubber band is hung over the loudspeaker and the
strong loudspeaker tone sets the plate into vibration. The frequency is slowly changed and at
the same time the magnitude of the plate vibration is measured. The vibration size is plotted for
each frequency and thereby the vibration sensitivity of the ball-rubber band resonator is obtained
(in the real world this very experiment may be hard to conduct though a suitable combination
loudspeaker, plate and rubberband may be hard to find).
Figure 2.2. Principle set-up for measuring the vibration sensitivity.
Figure 2.3. Specific vibration sensitivity and stiffness - bending with a force between a thick and a thin plank
(applies to low frequencies).
2.2. VIBRATION SENSITIVITY

VIBRATION SENSITIVITY ( techn term mobility) is a measure of how easily vibrations can be
started and maintained. If one holds a swing, and pulls and pushes it to and fro with the same
force then the swing starts to swing, i.e., it starts to vibrate. How much the swing vibrates is a
measure of the vibration sensitivity. More mathematically expressed the is the ratio between
vibration velocity and the driving force. Mathematical formulas describing the vibration
sensitiivty (mobility) are given in the appendix of this chapter. At a specific push and pull
frequency the swing vibration become maximum, i.e., the swing is vibrating at its resonant
frequency.
The SPECIFIC VIBRATION SENSITIVITY (specific mobility) is a measure on how easily a
resonator (a swing, a string or a violin back plate) can be set into vibration, when its resonant
properties are fully eliminated.
Example 2.1. What is the specific vibration sensitivity of and how much does a plank bend,
which is ten times stiffer compared to a second plank? The picture is drawn for
static forces, but applies also to vibration forces below the resonant frequency of
the system. Here only stiffness is involved, which is only applicable for low
frequencies and the static case. The same force is applied in the two cases. By
using formulas (see appendix) one finds that the stiffer plank is bent 1/10 of the
second one. The difference in specific vibration sensitivity is squareroot of 1/10,
which is approximately 1/3 and corresponds to -10 dB. Rule of thumb - 10 times
stiffer results in a 10 dB lower level, c.f., Fig. 2.3. The relation is also true for
vibration forces at frequencies well below the resonant frequency of the system.
Figure 2.4. Specific vibration sensitivity and mass (weight) - displacement by a force between a big motorboat
and a small rubber boat (applicable at high frequencies, c.f., example 2.2).
Example 2.2. What is the specific vibration sensitivity and how much less does the ten times
heavier motorboat move than the smaller rubberboat if pushed? The picture is
drawn for a static force but applies to vibration forces above the resonant
frequency of the system. A little calculation shows that the heavier boat obtains a
motion of 1/10 of the smaller one. Furthermore the specific vibration sensitivity
becomes the squareroot of 1/10, i.e. 1/3 corresponding to 10 dB lower specific
vibration sensitivity for the heavy boat car compared to the small one. The relation
is also true for vibration forces at frequencies well above the resonant frequency of
the system
VIBRATION SENSITIVITY
FREQUENCY
Fig 2.5 The specific vibration sensitivity, the dashed line, can be low but resonance properties of the instrument
body may increase the total vibration sensitivity, the full line, to give large interferance with the string motion and
cause a wolf tone.
The results of examples 2.1 and 2.2 are "reasonable" - a stiff spring or a heavy mass (weight) is
more difficult to set into vibration, and the specific mobilities are lower. Complications are
added in the range of a resonant frequency. The resonant properties are superimposed, c.f., the
formula predict larger vibrations close to the resonant frequency.
The specific vibration sensitivity also gives an average (geometric mean) measure of how two
vibrating systems may cooperate. If the specific vibration sensitivity is large (a string for
instance) in one of the systems and small in the other (the body of a musical instrument), then
the two systems will work fairly independently of each other, c.f. the strings on a violin or a
guitar. If the specific vibration sensitivity with the superimposed resonance properties (c.f. Fig
2.5) are about the same of a string and of an instrument body, then the two systems will effect
each other, c.f., the wolf tone of the cello.
Figure 2.6 A two-resonator system as example on vibration sensitivity and specific vibration sensitivity. Nailing a
small block of wood to a bending board by means of a small hammer with bending handle and an axe as extra masssupport.
In common life one meets these practical problems such as nailing in weak boards, c.f., Fig.
2.6. The thin board is set into vibration, it will vibrate at its resonant frequency. The vibration
sensitivity of the board can be decreased by adding mass with an axe, which greatly
simplifies the nailing. The force from the hammer is transmitted by friction between the nail
and the block to the board. The mass of the small hammer head together with the stiffness of the
handle gives a second resonance. This resoance is much damped by the holding hand. In
somewhat similar ways can the function of musical instruments be modelled as seen by the eyes
of the physicist, although the musical instruments are much more complicated. The string of
the guitar replaces the small hammer, the bridge replaces the block and nail, and the body
replaces the board.
A resonance is determined by the spring and the mass. At a specific frequency, the resonant
frequency, the spring effect and the mass effect are of the same size. They counteract and the
vibration sensitivity becomes maximimum. The effects of very large friction is also calculated.
2.3. THE MECHANICAL AND ACOUSTICAL MEASURES OF THE RESONATOR
One very interesting question is: How much are the acoustical measures changed if one of the
mechanical measures is changed? The changes we shall study correspond to doubling of the
stiffness, mass and friction, c.f., Fig. 2.7.
In the case shown in Fig 2.7a only the mass is changed (for simplicity two rubber bands and
two weights are used as standard). If the mass is doubled (four weights) the resonance
frequency decreases half an octave (from 500 to 350 Hz, i.e. 1/1.4 times). If the mass is halved
(one weight) the resonance frequency is increased half an octave (from 500 to 700 Hz, i.e. 1.4
times). The peak heights (the levels) are approximately the same and the levels of these curves
are the same at low frequencies (100 Hz for instance). At high frequencies the level (the
vibration sensitivity) is larger for the smaller mass.
If only the stiffness of our resonator is changed, then the following happens, see Fig. 2.7b.
For doubled stiffness (four rubber bands) the resonance frequency increases half an octave
and for half the stiffness ( one rubber band) the resonance frequency decreases half an octave.
For high frequencies the level (the vibration sensitivity) is the same but for low frequencies it
is higher for the smaller stiffness. The peak heights are little influenced by the stiffness changes.
Thus we have found that the effect on the resonance frequency by a doubling of the mass is
equivalent to halving the stiffness and vice versa. There is, however, one large difference. The
doubling of the mass decreases the vibration sensitivity at high frequencies only, while halving
of the stiffness increases the vibration sensitivity at low frequencies only.
Finally if the friction is doubled and halved as indicated in Fig. 2.7c the peak height is
decreased and increased by 6 dB, respectively. In addition the effect of very large friction,
bandwidth 500 Hz being equal to the resonant frequency is calculated. For such large losses
(large bandwidth) no clear resonance peak is obtained.
Suggested experiment: Start with three similar bars, use one as reference, add and take away a
small weight from the second. Add and take away a stiffening rib from the third. Tap and
listen - is the tap tone pitch (frequency) changing as one should expect. Further experiments
can be made by thinning one of the bars, c.f., chapter 5.
Figure 2.7. Vibration sensitivity with different mechanical properties.
Figure 2.8. Vibration sensitivity for a vibrating system consisting of a single resonance (upper frame) with the
resonant frequency RF, the height of the resonance peak RL, and the bandwidth B, and for a vibrating system
consisting of several resonances (lower frame) where each resonance has it own resonance frequency, height and
bandwidth.
ACOUSTICAL PROPERTIES OF A RESONANCE. MULTIRESONATOR SYSTEMS.
The properties of a resonance can be described by its vibration sensitivity curve i.e. a curve of
the vibration sensitivity for every frequency. Usually such a curve is called a resonance curve
or a frequency response curve, c.f., Fig. 2.8a. The frequency at the peak is the RESONANT
FREQUENCY. The height of the peak is the PEAK LEVEL The width of the peak 3 dB below
maximum is the BANDWIDTH (often the ratio of the resonant frequency divided by the
bandwidth is given, the so called Q-factor). The acoustical properties of a resonance are
described by the three measures RESONANT FREQUENCY, PEAK LEVEL and

BANDWIDTH (Q-factor).
The mechanical properties of a resonator are:
1. STIFFNESS such as the stiffness of a spring or the springiness of a rubber band.
2. MASS such as the weight of a ball.
3. FRICTION such as the air friction when the ball is moving.
The different mechanical properties influence the resonance curve differently as has been
shown in Fig. 2.7. More mass (weight) gives lower resonance frequency and lower levels at
high frequencies, and higher stiffness a high resonance frequency and lower levels at low
frequencies. The mass and the stiffness do not influence the bandwidth. The friction does
however. Little friction gives a high level and narrow bandwidth and a high friction gives a
low level and a large bandwidth. The friction influences only the resonance curve in the
neighbourhood of the resonance frequency. To build up the vibrations at a resonance demands
a specific time, which gives a specific starting characteristic. In the same way it takes some
time for the resonance vibrations to vanish, which gives an ending characteristic. Both the
starting and the ending time are set by the bandwidth of the resonance peak.
The resonance curve for a single resonator can be measured and looks as in Fig. 2.8a, and gives
a measure of the resonant frequency, the bandwidths and the level. The resonance curve for a
multiple resonator system such as the guitar can look like the resonance curve 2.8b. Each peak
corresponds to a resonance and has its own resonant frequency, bandwidth, and level as each
resonance is made up its own stiffness, mass and friction. In general all three measures are
different for the different resonances.
2.4 SUMMARY: RESONANCE

In this first part of this chapter the concept of resonance has been introduced. The mechanical
properties of a resonance system such as mass (weight), stiffness (springiness) and friction
have been related to the acoustical properties of the resonance system, such as resonant
frequency, bandwidth and level. The duration for starting and ending characteristics (transients)
is determined by the bandwidth of the resonance. Furthermore a method to measure the
acoustical properties of a resonance system has been sketched.
2.5 KEY WORDS:
Resonance (eigenmode), resonant frequency, bandwidth and level, vibration sensitivity, starting
time (start duration), ending time (end duration), mass (weight), stiffness (springiness), and
friction.
CHAPTER 2.
Second part: RESONATORS
INTRODUCTION
In this part properties of resonators used in string instruments will be introduced. First simple
resonators as the hole-volume (the Helmholtz) resonator and the string will be presented.
Thereafter properties of complex resonators as the bar and the plate. Finally a simple way to
measure the properties of plate resonantors as well as further complications as shape and arching
will be introduced.
2.6. SIMPLE RESONATORS
THE HOLE-VOLUME RESONATOR (RESONANT FREQUENCY)
The simplest resonator encountered in musical instruments is an enclosed air volume with a
hole. Often this resonance is called the Helmholtz resonance The resonator is called a
Helmholtz resonator. The air volume works as a spring (stiffness) and the mass (the weight) is
the air plug in the sound hole. Except for the constructional difference it works as the ballrubber band resonator, c.f. Fig. 2.1. A large volume and a hole with small cross section gives an
air tone of low frequency.
A simple example of a hole-volume resonator is a bottle, which is set into vibration by blowing
over the neck opening. The air volume in the bottle works as the spring and the air plug in the
bottle neck is the mass, see Fig. 2.9. When one gently blows over the neck opening the air plug
is set into vibration and co-operates with the spring of the air volume in such a way that the
air plug will vibrate in and out. These vibrations give the "bottle tone" one hears. In the
musical instruments such as the guitar and the violin the inner air volume of the sound box is the
spring and the air plugs in the sound holes are the vibrating masses. The resonant tone is often
called the air tone.
spring
mass
Figure 2.9. A simple resonator - hole-volume resonator (the Helmholtz resonator) - a bottle and its mechanical
analogue.
The resonance frequency is determined by (area A/volume V see appendix), i.e. large sound
holes and a small corpus volume give a high resonant frequency while small holes and a large
volume give a low resonant frequency (formulas see appendix). The shape of the air volumes
and sound holes are generally so complex that an accurate calculation of the air resonance
frequency is difficult. For practical purposes it is simplest to measure the resonant frequency.
The formulas suggests how changes of the size of volume and hole area alter the resonance
frequency.
THE STRING RESONATOR (FREQUENCIES - NODES - ANTINODES).
Let us as the next example study the resonances of a stretched string. The vibrations may
look like the upper part of Fig. 2.10. We have seen this earlier, see section 2.1. We have also
seen that the string may vibrate as in the lower parts, i.e. the string has not one resonance but
several. The resonances occur at different frequencies and the vibration modes look different
for each resonance. The vibration mode must now be included in our description of a resonance.
For all resonances sketched there are no vibrations at the end fastenings. In the first resonance
(topmost) the string has its maximum of vibration in the middle of the string, i.e. there is an
antinode in the middle. In the second resonance (the second topmost part) there are no
vibrations in the middle, i.e. there is a node in the middle of the string. The maximum
vibrations are one quarter string length from the ends, i.e. there are two antinodes at these
positions. In the third resonance (the next lower part) there are two positions of no motion
(excluding the fastening points), i.e.nodes and three positions of maximal vibrations, i.e.
antinodes. In the fourth mode there are three interior positions of no vibration and four
positions of maximum vibrations. At resonance the string divides itself into "subparts" by a
number of nodes with antinodes in between.
Figure 2.10. Resonances of a stretched string.
We have thus made a simple summary of a string's way to vibrate at resonance, i.e. the
maxima of vibrations, ANTINODES, and the minima of vibration, NODES, for the four
lowest resonances. Often the vibration modes of an object are described by giving the nodes
(nodal lines). Another way, which may be more informative is to use the antinodes. In Fig.
2.10. we see that the first resonance has one antinode, the second two, the third three. the
17:th resonance 17 antinodes, etc.. Note that the number of nodes also increases as the
resonance number increases. The vibration modes are thus fully determined by the fastening
and the length of the string. The frequency is determined by the string length (l), the string
mass (weight) and the string tension. Relations between resonance frequencies, positions of
nodes and antinodes are presented in Table 2.1.
Figure 2.11. The vibrations of the second string resonance - the motion seen by the eye (top plot) and vibration
shapes at consecutive instants (c.f., snapshots).
Table 2.1. The vibrating string - resonance frequencies, positions of nodes and antinodes.
If the frequency of resonance no

then the frequency of resoance no
1
2
3
is f1
f2 = 2 x f1
f3 = 3 x f1
....
17
f17 = 17 x f1
i.e. the frequency of the n:th resonance equals n times the first one.
If the length of the string is L then the nodes are at positions
for resonance no
1 position
0
2
0
L/2
3
0
L/3 2L/3
.........
17
0 L/17 2L/17 ........
The antinodes are halfway between the nodes i.e.
for resonance no 1
position
L/2
2
L/4
3L/4
3
L/6
3L/6
5L/6
........
17
L/34, 3L/34, 5L/34, ........ 33L/34
etc
L
L
L
L
etc.
etc.
The vibration shapes sketched in Fig. 2.9 are the extreme positions of the string during
vibration.. The extreme positions of the second resonance looks like the upmost frame in Fig.
2.11. But the vibration shape is changing all the time. In the lower frames of Fig. 2.11, the real
vibration shapes are sketched for consecutive instants (snapshots of string shapes).
A resonance occurs at its own fixed frequency, when the resonator is driven (excited) at just
that very frequency. At the pluck of a guitar string or at the hammer blow of the piano string,
all the string resonances are set into vibration at once. The different string resonances will
behave differently depending on their bandwidths for instance. Note the difference in the
starting of the vibrations, plucking means pulling the string aside and then be left to vibrate
freely (decay). In the piano the string is given a short push and is thereafter left to vibrate
(decay) freely.
2.7 COMPLEX RESONATORS
We have so far studied fairly simple resonators, the properties of which can be described by exact
mathematical formulas. We shall now continue with more complex resonators for which no exact
mathematical formulas can be derived.
Figure 2.12. Vibration modes for resonances of a bar with both ends free.
THE BAR RESONATOR (FREQUENCIES, NODES, ANTINODES, VIBRATION MODES AND TAPPING TESTS).
Let us so turn our attention to the bar resonator and its resonances. We shall treat the free bar,
i.e. a bar not fastened at the ends or elsewhere.
The bar has many resonances. The vibration modes are sketched in Fig. 2.12. In the first
resonance, the bar has two nodes, not at the ends but 22.4 % of the bar length from its ends.
The vibrations are maximum at the ends and in the middle (about equal size), i.e. these are
the positions of antinodes. For the second resonance there are three nodes at 13.2 %, from the
ends and in the middle. The antinodes are at the ends and between the nodes. The following
resonances have an increasing number of nodes, and the antinodes are in between and at the
ends. Note that there are simple relations between the order number of the resonance and its
number of nodes and antinodes. Resonant frequencies and positions of nodes are given in
Table 2.2. Note that the relations between resonant frequencies and nodal positions are not as
simple as for the string resonator. Resonant frequencies, position of nodes and position of
antinodes can, however, be described with accurate (but complicated) mathematical formulas.
The lowest resonant frequency is determined by the stiffness, by the mass (weight) and by the
length. A little work with the formulas shows that the resonant frequency is proportional to the
thickness of the bar (and thus to its mass too).
What practical use follows from this theoretical backing? One good thing is that resonance
frequencies can be obtained with tap tone testing. To do so one needs to know where to expect
nodes and antinodes. For a bar it is simple. The length of the bar determines the position of
nodes.
Table 2.2. Resonant frequencies and node positions of a free bar.
Resonance
Frequency
Nodes at
no 1
f1
22.4%
77.6%
2
f2=2.76 x f1 (5/3)2)
13.2%
50%
86.8%
3
f3=5.40 x f1 (7/3)2
9.4% 35.6% 64.4% 90.6%
4
f4=8.93 x f1 (9/3)2
7.3% 27.7% 50% 72.3% 92.7%
The antinodes are at the ends and in the middle between the nodal lines
Take for instance resonance no 1 for a 50 cm long bar. Hold the bar lightly at 22.4% from one
end, i.e. 50 x (22.4 / 100) = 11.2 cm from the end. The bar will not vibrate at this position for
the first resonance and this is a good position for holding. Tap at the antinode halfway between
the ends, and the optimum way of listening to resonance no 1 has been chosen. For further
instructions, see paragraph 2.8 Measurement of resonances in bars and plates.
The bandwidth of a resonance determines how long the tone can be heard. The pitch and the
duration of the tap tone give measures of the frequency and the bandwidth of the resonance. In
principle a scratching at the antinode can also be used. For a sufficiently sharp resonance, a
weak tone with the pitch corresponding to that of the resonance is heard. A sharper resonance
will give a better defined "scratch tone".
2.8. MEASUREMENT OF RESONANCES IN BARS, PLATES, AND SHELLS
TAPPING TESTS FOR RESONANCES (EIGENTONES).
The resonances of a bar (and a plate) can be sought and identified by applying the following
rules:
1. HOLD lightly at a NODE. One should always hold at a node!
2. TAP at an ANTINODE.
3. To suppress a disturbing resonance, tap at the node of the disturbing resonance.
4. The author has found it convenient to hold the bar (or the plate) between the first finger
and thumb of the left hand as lightly as possible. The left arm is held over the head with the bar
hanging freely just outside the right ear. The tapping is done with the right hand, a finger tip,
a knuckle or a nail (the higher resonance frequency the harder "hammer head" should be used).
The tapping point is just outside the ear and it is shifted relative to the bar by moving the left
arm up or down. The holding point is shifted by letting the bar slide a small amount between
the first finger and thumb. It is often suitable to lean slightly forwards to ensure that the bar is
hanging freely (nothing is allowed to touch the bar but the left hand first finger and thumb).
The best way is, however, obtained with the so called Chladni method and a loudspeaker, c.f.
Fig. 2.2. A loud tone of the loudspeaker sets the bar into vibration and small particles, such as
coarse saw dust is sprinkled over the bar. The nodal lines are found in the following way:
1. the loudspeaker is placed under an expected antinode
2. the supports in the form of small pieces of foam plastic are placed under two expected nodal
lines
3. the saw dust is sprinkled over the bar
4. the frequency of the loudspeaker tone is adjusted to a frequency at which the particles have the
largest motion
5. the positions are sought where the saw dust collects, i.e., the positions of nodal lines
6. the measurements are optimised by repositioning the supports at nodal lines and the
loudspeaker under an antinode.
The frequency of maximum vibration equals the resonance frequency and the lines where the
saw dust collects are nodes (nodal lines). The positions where the saw dust starts moving are the
antinodes. A coarse measure of the vibration sensitivity peak level can be obtained by watching
how much the volume control of the amplifier must be turned up to start moving the saw dust at
antinodes (a low volume means a strong resonance).
THE PLATE RESONATOR (FREQUENCIES AND NODAL LINES).
A plate has two main directions in which it may bend and therefore resonances are found in two
directions. The nodal line patterns can for a free plate in principle be ordered as
Figure 2.13. Nodal lines (broken lines) for a rectangular plate with free edges (frequencies for a Sitka Spruce
plate 110 g, 362 x 210 x 3.7 mm).
in Fig. 2.13. In the first row the resonances with zero vertical nodal lines are placed (two
resonances with two and three horizontal nodal lines are sketched - compare the bar Fig. 2.12).
In the second row the resonance with one vertical nodal line is placed, etc. In the first line
there are resonances with zero horizontal nodal lines placed, in the second line with one
horizontal nodal line, in the third line those with two horizontal nodal lines, etc. . Higher
resonances have nodal lines which are combinations of the simplest ones. The antinodes are
centred between the nodes in the inner part and along the edges. The resonance frequencies are
determined by the thickness, length, width, and mass of the plate.
Figure 2.14. Vibration modes for a plate fastened along its edge compared to those of a string. Nodal lines along
the edges and inside (broken-dotted lines). Lines of equal vibration are also plotted (full lines, bent and closed).
In Fig. 2.13 three measured resonances are marked together with their nodal lines and
frequencies. A complication should be mentioned. When a plate is bent in one direction it will
by itself bend in other ways at the same time. When the plate is bent down at the short edges of
Fig. 2.13 the longer edges will bend slightly upwards. This means that the nodal line patterns
sketched in Fig. 2.13 and 2.14 look somewhat different in the real world, especially the high
frequency ones.
THE INFLUENCE OF FASTENING AND THE SHAPE OF THE PLATES
The plates are, however, often fastened along the edges, and such a rectangular plate will
give vibration modes as sketched in Fig. 2.14. The magnitude of the vibrations have been
marked with lines of equal vibration. Observe the close analogy with the string in two
directions.
A1460Hz
Figure 2.15. (left) Vibration modes of a violin shaped rubber membrane - the first seven modes with nodal lines
and antinodes indicated with a plus or minus sign , and (right) air modes of the violin body, A1 being the first..
The frequency and not only the vibration modes are much dependant on the fastening along
the edges (or at the ends). Say that the first resonance frequency of a bar with free ends is 100
Hz. If the ends are clamped the same first resonance frequency is still obtained, but the nodal
lines are moved to the ends. If the ends are fastened with hinges the frequency is lowered to 44
Hz. In the violin and the guitar the plate fastening is be somewhere between clamped and
hinged.
The shape of the fastening also influences frequencies, nodal lines and antinodes. The
influence of the nodal lines for a rubber membrane stretched over a set of ribs are shown in Fig.
2.15. The rubber membrane was set into vibration by a small vibrator and small cork fragments
marked lines of no motion at the different resonance frequencies, i.e. nodal lines. It can be
seen that the "waist" of the violin divides the membrane in two partly independent areas.
The same kind of nodal patterns are found in the upper and lower part, c.f., 73 Hz and 90 Hz,
and 106 and 127 Hz, respectively. The resonances of the aircavity show, similar patterns, see fig.
2.14 (right) . Note that resonance 1 (A1) is close to the main resonances of a violin.
ARCHING (SHELLS)
A violin top is not a flat plate but a slightly arched plate. Effects of the arching can be tried in a
simple way by means of a playing card, c.f. Fig. 2.16. The card is held arched between the thumb
and pointer. If the distance between the two fingers is varied the card will bend in and out in the
middle. If one with the second hand increases or decreases the arch height of the card one feels
with the first hand that the fingers on the sides of the card move together. The arching couples
motions perpendicular to the card surface to motions in the plane of the card, especially along the
edges.
An arched plate is in physics called a shell and not a plate. To test the influence of arching a
series of simple experiments were made. A rectangular spruce plate, 3 mm thick, 215 mm wide
and 290 mm long (fibres along the plate and annular rings perpendicular to the surface) was
selected. First the plate was bent by means of a string-loop across the plate at each of the nodal
lines marked in Fig 2.13 (160 Hz). A wedge was pushed between each string and the plate giving
a 6 mm arch (H, in Fig 2.16) and the the resonant frequency increased 50 % (increased stiffness)
compared to flat. By locking the motion of the edges with a light clamp at each nodal line the
resonant frequency increased another 50 %. Secondly the plate was bent by two string-loops
along the nodal lines marked in Fig 2.13 (100Hz) and two wedges. The resonant frequency
increased 60 %. Experiments with locking the edges by clamps introduced a new complication.
The static clamping force gave a large influence on the dynamical properties. The experiments
show that the arching has a large influence. In the top and back plates of the violin the arching is
larger than in the experimental plate.
Figure 2.16. In an arched plate (arch height H) vibrations y result also in vibrations x.
2.9. SUMMARY:RESONATORS
In this part four kinds of resonators have been described: the hole-volume resonator (the
Helmholtz resonator), the stretched string, the bar and the plate. The resonant frequency of the
hole-volume resonator is determined by the size of hole and volume - large hole and small
volume give high resonant frequency. The resonant frequencies of the string are determined by
the length, the mass (the weight) and the tension of the string - a short string with high tension
and small mass results in high resonant frequencies. The frequency of the second, third, etc.
resonances are two, three etc. times the frequency of the first resonance. The resonant
frequencies of the bar and the plate are determined by the length, the width, thickness and
mass. A short bar, and a short and narrow plate give high resonant frequencies. A thick and
light bar and plate will have high resonant frequencies. In general there are no simple relations
between the different resonant frequencies of the bar and plate, respectively. The effects of
different fastenings have been introduced. Furthermore the vibration at resonance have been
described by nodal lines and antinodes. Finally a simple way has been described on how to test
resonant frequencies of bars and plates by tapping and listening. Furthermore a somewhat more
advanced method by Chladni patterns, giving vibration patters as well as resonant frequencies.
For the violin top and back the arching increases the stiffness of a plate in perpendicular to the
arching.
2.10 KEYWORDS:
Resonator, resonance, resonant frequency, bandwidth, decay time, vibration modes (vibration
patterns), nodes, antinodes, hole-volume resonator, string resonator, bar resonator, plate
resonator, free ends, hinged ends and clamped ends.
2.11 APPENDIX
The resonant frequency of the hole-volume resonator is in principle A / V where A is area of
hole and V is volume of cavity. The length with end corrections leff are considerably larger than the length l for
thin-walled musical instrument, and resonant frequency = (c / 2 ) A /(leff V ) .
Formulas and some numerical values on the relation between acoustics properties and
mechanical properties of a resonator
In mathematical language the mobility (vibration sensitivity) for a resonance
(vibration velocity/ vibration force) =
= (2 f / SM ) (1/ ( B / f o ) 2 + ( f / f o f o / f ) 2 =
=(specific mobility) (resonance properties) (c.f. Fig. 2.5)
In the formulas S is the spring of the resonator, M is its mass and B its bandwidth, f 0 is the
resonance frequency = (1/ 2 ) S
and f is the frequency of evaluation.
Examples:
1a) If the mass is doubled or halved, what happens to the resonance frequency?
A little calculation shows that the resonance frequency is lowered or increased
approximately 6 semitone steps (from 500 to 350 or 500 to 700 Hz).
1b) If the stiffness is doubled or halved, what happens to the resonance frequency?
A little calculation shows that the the results are opposite to those in 1a, i.e. the resonance
frequency is lowered or increased approximately 6 semitone steps (500 to 700 Hz or 500 to 350
Hz).
2a) What is the time for 60 dB decay (the reverberation time) for the bandwidths 500, 25,
12.5 and 6.25 Hz?
With some calculations it can be shown to be 0.0002, 0.088, 0.176, and 0.352 seconds,
respectively.
2b) How much higher is the resonance peak higher level than the specific vibration sensitivity at
500 Hz for the three bandwidths?
Again a little calculation shows the peak level is 0, 26, 32, and 38 dB above the specific
vibration sensitivity, respectively.
ACOUSTICS FOR
VIOLIN AND GUITAR
MAKERS
Erik Jansson
Chapter III:
Sound and the Room
Fourth edition 2002

Index of chapters
Preface/Chapter I
Sound and hearing
Chapter II
Chapter III
Sound and the room
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX

Chapter 3 Fundamentals of Acoustics
SOUND AND THE ROOM
Part 1: FUNDAMENTAL ROOM ACOUSTICS
3.1 Propagation of sound
3.2 Sound radiation
3.3 Reception of sound
3.4. Summary
3.5. Key words
Part 2: THE SOUND IN THE ROOM
3.6. The influence of the room
3.7 Properties for rooms
3.8 Acoustics of the podium
3.9. Summary
3.10. Key words
3.11 APPENDIX. Relations between sound pressure level and sound pressure.
Jansson: Acoustics for the violin and guitarmaker 3.2
Chapter 3.
FUNDAMENTALS OF ACOUSTICS - SOUND AND THE ROOM
First part: FUNDAMENTAL ROOM ACOUSTICS
INTRODUCTION
The sound is spread in a room roughly as sketched in Fig. 3.1. It is spread in all
directions from the violin and reaches the ear of the player first. Soon thereafter the
earliest reflected "sound ray" reaches the ear of the player. The direct "sound ray" from
the violin first reaches the listener, followed soon after by reflected sound rays. It is the
reflected sound that gives the characteristic sound of the room.
Figure 3.1. Spread of sound in a room.
In this part we shall talk about the sound and the room, i.e. the propagation of sound,
musical instruments as sound sources, the ear as a sound receiver. We start with the
Propagation of Sound, continues with Sound Radiation and concludes with Reception of
Sound.
3.1 PROPAGATION OF SOUND (TIME AND LEVEL)
TIME (distance and sound velocity)
The sound travels through the air with a velocity of slightly less than 345 m/s (the sound
velocity is somewhat dependant on temperature). The fact that time is needed for the
sound to spread means that the listeners in the auditorium do not hear the tones at the
same time as they are played. Furthermore they reach the different listeners at slightly
different times. The played tones also reach the different members of the orchestra at
different times. How much the tones are delayed by the distances is illustrated by the
following examples.
Fundamental formula: time x velocity = distance
Example 3.1. At a park concert one listener is sitting 5 m from the solo singer and
another listener 100 m away on the lawn. How much later do the two
listeners hear the tones than the singer?
time x velocity = distance, i.e., time = distance / velocity
The distance from mouth to ear of the singer is approx. 15 cm = 0.15 m i.e.
time = (0.15 m) / (345 m/s) = 0.000 43 s. Thus the singer hears himself
with a very short delay, in practice no delay. For the close listener, time =
(5 m) / (345 m/s) = 0.015 s, and for the distant listener, time = (100 m) /
(345 m/s) = 0.29 s. The example shows that fairly short distances gives
measurable time delays from source to listener.
Table 3.1. Time table for some distances
time = distance /sound velocity (sound velocity 345 m/s)
1/1000 s = 1 ms (millisecond).
DISTANCE
m
1
2
5
10
15
20
30
40
50
100
TIME
ms
3
6
14
29
43
58
87
116
145 i.e., distance increased 4 times
290 takes 4 times longer time
LEVEL (distance)
The sound level decreases with the distance from the sound source. We shall treat the
simple case of levels for spherical radiation in this part. The simplest case is equally
strong radiation in all directions (spherical waves). In the appendix to this chapter there
is a table, which can be used for "translation" between sound level and sound pressure.
Formula: sound pressure = a constant / distance
The formula says that the sound pressure decreases to half when the distance is
doubled, which means that the sound level decreases 6 dB.
Example 3.2. Assume that a violin gives a sound level of 85 dB at the distance of 1 m.
What is the level at the distances of 5 and 100 m respectively (assume
spherical waves)?
a) 5 m: The sound pressure amplitude at 5 m distance is 1/5 of the
amplitude at 1 m. This can be translated by the appendix table, which
shows that the ratio (1:5.0) corresponds to a level decrease of 14 dB.
The sound level at 5 m is thus 85 - 14 = 71 dB sound level (SPL). The
violin tones should be weak but easily heard.
b) 100 m: The sound pressure amplitude at a distance of 100 m is 1/100
of that at 1 m, i.e., translated from 1:100 to -40 dB. The sound level at
the distance 100 m becomes 85 - 40 = 45 dB. The violin tones will only
be heard under quiet conditions.
Example 3.3. If one stands at a distance of 10 m, how much closer should one walk to
make the violin sound twice as loud?
A level increase of 10 dB makes the sound twice as loud (rule of thumb).
A 10 dB increase corresponds in the appendix table to an increase of
the amplitude ratio of 3.2:1, i.e., the distance should be decreased to
10/3.2, which is close to 3 m. Note that twice as strong corresponds to a
distance decrease to one third (not one half).
Table 3.2. The level change at different distances relative to 1 m.
Distance m
1
2
5
10
15
20
30
40
50
100
Level change dB
-0
-6
-14
-20
-24
-26
-30 i.e., 3 times longer distance gives
-32
10 dB lower level, and
-34
10 times longer distance gives
-40
20 dB lower level
For further calculations (translations) the reader is referred to the appendix.

3.2 SOUND RADIATION (spherical radiation, directional radiation, reflection, and
size-frequency limit DG)
Sound radiation is as a rule very complicated, but some simple rules of thumb can be
made. The radiation properties are determined by two characteristics of the sound
source: its size (area or diameter) and the frequency of the sound. It is the relation
between the two measures that largely determines the radiation properties. Let us
introduce a size/frequency measure DG to be able to simplify the properties of sound
sources. The measure DG equals 100/frequency. For a diameter of the sound source
smaller than DG the sound is radiated with equal strength in all directions. A sound
source with a diameter larger than DG gives a more directed and complex radiation.
When sound hits an object, parts of the sound sneak round it, parts are spread around
the object and parts are reflected. Again the same factors are involved, the size of
the object and the frequency of the sound. At low frequencies most sound sneaks
around the object and little is spread or reflected. With increasing frequency more and
more of the sound is spread and reflected. At high frequencies most sound is reflected.
We can again use the measure DG. A DG larger than 100/frequency gives mainly
reflection and smaller DG gives little disturbance.
Example 3.4. Can the head substantially influence the timbre of the singer's voice and if
so from what frequency?
At 1000 Hz DG = 100/1000 m = 10 cm.
500
100/500
20 cm
The diameter of the head is slightly less than 20 cm, i.e., we should expect
directional radiation above 500 Hz. Measurements support the prediction,
see Fig. 3.2. The radiation is between 5 to 15 dB lower behind the head
than in front for the range of appropriate frequencies, and thus the head
influences the timbre.
Figure 3.2. Directional properties of the radiation around the human head for speech a) in the horizontal
plane and b) in the vertical plane. The arrow marks the forward direction (the nose direction and the
shaded areas level differences of less than 5 dB, after Kuttruff).
An object of certain size in comparison with the sound frequency will influence the
sound radiation. This occurs when the size of the object D > DG (= 100/frequency). In
table 3.3 some of these size-frequency limits are given.
Table 3.3. Size-frequency limit DG for some frequencies

Frequency Hz
20
50
100
200
500
1 000
2 000
5 000
10 000
20 000
Example 3.5.
Diameter m
5
at low frequencies even large
2
objects give little influence
1
0.5
0.2
0.1
0.05
0.02
0.01
at high frequencies even small
0.005 objects give large influence
Do the traditional string instruments radiate equally strongly in all

directions at the fundamental of the lowest string? A little arithmetic on
the tuning, DG, and the instruments sizes gives:
Instrument
Violin
Viola
Cello
Bass
Guitar
Lowest fundamental DG
G 196 Hz
0.56 m
C 131
0.83
C 65.4
1.7
E 41.2
2.7
E 82.4
1.3
corpus length
0.36 m
0.43
0.75
1.15
0.48
i.e., the corpus length is much smaller than DG and the instruments
radiate the lowest fundamental equally strong in all directions.
Let us show examples on radiation of musical instruments and start with the simplest,
the brass instruments. For the brass instruments and especially the trombone the
following radiation properties are found. The sound is radiated via the bell in a wide
angle (a wide lobe) at low frequencies, cf., Fig. 3.3. The angle (the lobe) becomes
narrower with increasing frequency.
The violin radiates somewhat similarly, in all directions for low frequencies, but the
radiation is split into more complicated patterns for higher frequencies. A tendency for
increased sound radiation from the top plate is found, cf., Fig. 3.4.
The differences in radiation make spectra obtained in different directions look different.
To demonstrate this, played music has been analysed with filters corresponding to the
so called critical bands of hearing, cf., Fig. 3.5. It is easily seen that the spectra are
different in the different directions, especially at high frequencies. The spectrum
corresponding to radiation in the neck direction gives the
highest levels,
540 Hz
2000 6000 Hz
750 - 1100 Hz
7000 10 000 Hz
Figure 3.3. Main radiation directions for the trombone (to -3 dB limits, after Meyer).
200-500 Hz
1000-1250 Hz
550-700 Hz
1500 Hz
800 Hz
2000-5000 Hz
Figure 3.4. Main radiation directions for the violin (after Meyer).
Figure 3.5. Average spectra in different directions for the violin. In the lower parts spectra obtained in
two directions are shown and in the upper part the difference between the two spectra together with the
directions are plotted.
Figure 3.6. Sound level difference between the ear directed towards and away from the sound source
(after Meyer and Neumannn, phones close to dB in the present application).
In the directions perpendicularly to the neck, i.e., the top turned towards or away from
the auditorium, there are large level differences in the frequency range 2 - 3.5 kHz (the
range of the singer's formant and of the violin BH-peak). Note that the last two cases
correspond to the difference between first and second violin positions when seated to
left and to the right of the conductor, respectively. When the first violins are placed to
the left and the second violins to the right of the conductor the first violins turn the top
plate towards the auditorium but the second violins the back plate. With this
arrangement the first violins will give a more brilliant sound than the second violins. If
the player does not want to be heard, he should turn his back towards the auditorium
(note the obvious connection between vision and hearing). A practical interpretation is
the following. A soloist, who really wants to be heard should aim with the violin neck at
his listeners.
3.3. RECEPTION OF SOUND (head with ears, directional and room hearing)
THE HEAD
The ears (the pinnae) are on opposite sides of the head and slightly behind the middle.
This arrangement gives a microphone system that can recognise directions by means of
"spacial filtering". We should expect a marked influence on the sound by the head.
Measurements also show that there are differences in sound level between the left and
the right ears starting from 500 Hz. The level differences depend on the direction of the
sound, cf., Fig. 3.6.
Figure 3.7. Average spectra in the left (full line) and right (dashed-dotted line) ear of the player and one
ear of a nearby listener (dashed line). In the upper part are differences between left and right ears of
player (full line) plotted together with the differences between left ear of the player and the listener ear
(dashed line).
It is possible with simple experiments to prove that sounds with high frequency
components are much more affected than low frequency ones. The s-sound contains
high frequency components. If one person says an s-sound while turning around, the
sound is much louder when facing the listener. A low frequency sound like an u-sound
(u-sound as in do) will be much less dependant on direction (the experiments should be
made outdoors with no reflecting walls nearby).
Example 3.6. At what frequency should we expect the head to give directional
effects for hearing? How long should it take for sound to travel from the
left to the right ear?
Say that the human head has a diameter of 15 cm. A little calculation
shows that we should expect different levels in the left and the right ear
from approximately 700 Hz. Say that the distance between the ears
equals half the circumference of the head, i.e., 3.14 x radius = 25 cm
(approximately) and with the sound velocity of 345 m/s a maximum time
difference of 0.7 ms can be obtained.
The player listens to his own instrument while playing and therefore a natural
question is: How does the violin sound "look" in the two ears of the violin player?
Measurements with small microphones inserted the ears of a player and the ears of a
listener are shown in Fig. 3.7. The diagram shows that there are large differences
between the left and right ears of the player, the left being approximately 10 dB above
at 1.3 kHz (a replay with headphones sounds natural for a violin player but seems silent
in the right ear of a non-player). The level for the listener was about 5 dB lower than
the left ear of the player, somewhat more at high frequencies.
THE PINNAE DIRECTIONAL ANTENNAS
The pinna also gives directional effects. Its diameter is about 4 cm, corresponding to a
frequency limit for the directional effects of 3 kHz, which corresponds to the first
resonance of the auditory canal. Above this frequency the pinna starts working as a
direction sensitive antenna, and gives us possibilities to separate sound arriving from the
front, back and above.
THE BRAIN THE COMPUTER
Connected to the ears we have a powerful computer, the brain. By means of this
computer we can store and compare sound impressions. The differences of arrival times
can be used and are of great importance for the hearing impression. Time differences
larger than 1 ms makes it possible to separate sound sources such as loudspeakers at the
cinema. A time differences of 17 to 35 ms between your own instrument and that of your
fellow players is optimal for playing together. A time difference between the direct
sound and the first reflection of 50 to 80 ms, results in disturbing reverberation and
echoes.
The audio signals of music and speech include very fast changes within a hundredth of
a second, while the reverberation time of a room is about 1 second. Experiments show
that for the subjectively experienced reverberation the initial part is the most important,
cf., Fig. 3.8. A listener uses only the first 160 ms and not a full second to experience the
reverberation of a room. He or she can also use the first 10 dB decay but not the 60 dB
decay of the classical reverberation time.
Another important effect is the so-called precedence effect, which predicts that the
reflected sound close after the direct sound is not disturbing. The reflected sound may
even be 10 dB stronger than the direct sound and still gives little disturbance. As a
rule of thumb one might say that delayed and added reflections within 50 ms give little
disturbance. The effect may be used in large auditoriums for sound reinforcement with
loudspeakers. A somewhat stronger loudspeaker signal than the direct sound increases
the perceived sound level. If the loudspeaker signal is somewhat delayed relative to
the direct sound, the impression is that the sound derives from the speaker, i.e., the
directional impression is not distorted.
Figure 3.8. Experienced (subjective) reverberation time and initial reverberation time (160 ms
reverberation) translated into traditional reverberation time (-60 dB, after Atal et al).
From the information presented on the precedence effect the following conclusions can
be drawn. The initial part of the sound (the direct sound) gives the direction of the
sound source. The reflected sounds arriving later increase the loudness but disturb the
sound impression if arriving too late. The time ranges for different impressions are
approximately: sound within the first ms is perceived as direct sound, time delays within
35 ms increase the loudness impression but time delays of 50 ms or more give
disturbances.
The phenomenon that the properties of sound vary with the direction relative to the
listener's head may cause difficulties for a listener. The direction to a known person
speaking (sound source) in the vertical plane can be localised by the hearing, c.f. Fig.
3.9, but if the listener does not recognise the voice of the speaker is it difficult to decide
the direction to the speaker. Thus to juDGe safely the timbre of a sound source its
direction in the vertical plane must be known.
100 %
50 %
50 %
Figure 3.9. Judgement of direction for a known voice (full, thick lines) and unknown voices (broken, thick
lines, after Cremer and Mller).
3.4 SUMMARY:
The sound spreads out with a velocity of 345 m/s. At low frequencies it is spread out
with equal strength in all directions and the sound pressure level decreases 6 dB for a
doubling of the distance. For increasing frequency the sound radiation becomes more
directional. If the frequency is high (sound velocity divided by frequency is small in
relation to the size of an object, the head for instance), then the sound is affected. The
sound of a speaker is louder in front of the speaker than to the sides and back. A similar
influence guides us to hear from which direction a sound comes. The pinnas of the
ear act as direction sensitive antennas, increasing the direction sensitivity further. The
brain acts as a computer, and adds the sound coming from the same direction if close in
time but gives a disturbed sound impression if parts of the sound is delayed too much in
time. The sound radiation of the musical instruments is approximately equally strong in
all directions for low frequencies, but becomes more and more directional for higher
frequencies.
3.5 KEY WORDS:
Sound source (sound transmitter), sound receiver, frequency, size, non-directional and
directional radiation, and hearing in room and directional hearing.
Chapter 3.
Second part: THE SOUND IN THE ROOM
INTRODUCTION
The information presented below is mainly textbook knowledge supplemented with
experience from a research project "Speech and Music in Rooms". We start with the
influence of the room on the sound (reverberation time), summarises properties of
typical rooms, and ends with acoustics of the concert podium.
3.4. THE INFLUENCE OF THE ROOM (reflection,
reverberation time and reverberation distance).
absorption, resonances,
Figure 3.10. Time courses of a spoken message as registered by ear properties modelled by computer, a) at
an ear of the speaker, and b) at an ear of a listener at a distance of 8 m in a lecture hall with poor acoustics.
In our project work a "computer ear" was developed. The computer ear contained
known major properties of the human ear, the so called critical bands of hearing. The
analysis of a spoken sentence is shown in Fig. 3.10. The two upmost wavy lines
correspond to the sound level in the 2000 Hz critical band of the hearing, the two middle
ones the sound level in the 500 Hz critical band. The lowest two wavy lines show the
sound level without any filtering. The analysis was made of the same speech signal but
obtained at the left ear of the speaker (it is shown in the upper lines, a, in the three
frames) and a listening position 8 m out in the lecture hall (shown by the lower lines, b,
in the frames). The influence of the room is large. The sound level curves at the speaker
have clear peaks and dips. At the listener the peaks are smoothed out
Figure 3.11. Direct sound (full line) and reflected sound (dashed lines, after Kuttruff).
Figure 3.12. Time course for reflections in a rectangular room of an impulsive sound (after Barron)
and the dips at 0.2 and 0.5 seconds are completely erased. Without the room (outdoors)
the sound level curves should have looked the same at the speaker and at the listener,
although the levels would have been lower at the listener. The room gives a higher
sound level but smears out the sound. It can also be seen that the level of the disturbing
reverberant sound increases all the time. The cause for this influence of the room will be
discussed in the following.
The walls of the room (including ceiling and floor) reflect the sound rays back into the
room. By using ray tracing techniques, the magnitude of the sound reaching a listener is
the combination of the direct sound and the sound reflected from the walls can be
predicted as shown in Fig. 3.11. The sound distribution as a function of time, direct
sound and reflections can also be calculated and is shown schematically in Fig. 3.12 for
an impulsive sound.
Figure 3.13. Sound pulses in a lecture hall with poor acoustics (from Lundin). Radiated sound pulsse
upper trace to the left and responses (reflectograms) in the lower trace. Low frequency (500 Hz) in the left
figure and high frequency (2000 Hz) in the right (20 ms per division).
The different sound rays from source to listener are of different lengths - a longer path
makes the sound come later and weaker. This means that the direct sound ray reaches
the listener first and thereafter the different reflected sound rays. With increasing time
the reflected rays come closer and closer and they smear out into a reverberant sound.
Examples on how emitted sound pulses may be changed by a room to the listener are
shown in Fig. 3.13. We see here that initially there is a weak pulse, thereafter it becomes
stronger. Later there is a very complicated time history. The figure gives an example of
how a room with poor acoustic properties could look.
There is very little sound absorption in the air. At each wall reflection a considerable
part of the sound energy is absorbed. The reverberation of a room is altered by selecting
suitable wall materials. Large rooms give few reflections and thus long reverberation
times. Small rooms give many reflections and short reverberation time even if the
walls are hard. Thick and soft wall materials give strong absorption (thick carpets for
instance) while hard materials such as glass plates give little absorption. Typical data
for some materials and a person are given in Table 3.4.
Table 3.4. Absorption factor for different materials (from Kinsler and Frey).
Material
Brick wall
Wooden panel
Light draperies
Heavy draperies
Glass
Plaster
Concrete floor
Wood floor
One person
at 125 Hz
at 500 Hz
at 2000 Hz
0.02
0.03
0.05
0.10
0.10
0.08
0.04
0.11
0.30
0.10
0.50
0.82
0.04
0.05
0.05
0.04
0.05
0.05
0.01
0.02
0.02
0.06
0.06
0.06
0.5 m2 with absorption 1.0
A room with a large volume and little wall absorption gives strong resonances at
very low frequencies. At higher frequencies the number of resonances become very
large. This gives the room a very uneven frequency response curve. The unevenness of
the frequency response curve is set by the random addition of several resonances and
not by single resonances.
Figure 3.14. Sound level in a room as function a) of the frequency at a fixed position, and b) of the
position at a fixed frequency (1 kHz after Kuttruff).
Figure 3.15. a) definition of reverberation time and b) reverberation distance of a room, horizontal line
marks level of reverberant sound and the bent line marks level of the direct sound. The dashed vertical line
marks the so called reverberation distance, i.e. the distance from the sound source at which the levels of
the direct sound and the reverberation sound are equal.
Resonance density, pulse density and room volume are related in the following ways:
A room with a small volume has few resonances within a specific frequency range but a
large number of pulses arrive within a specific time interval (low resonance density but
high pulse density). A room of large volume has a high resonance density but a low
pulse density. In the large room the first reflected sound ray arrives much later than the
direct sound ray.
The high density of resonances of a room means that the sound levels of a room are very
different from one frequency to another and from one position to another, see Fig. 3.14.
This dependence of position makes it difficult to measure a representative curve for a
guitar or a violin in an ordinary room.
The sound is spread in the room in a very complicated way and a simple description
of the sound is not possible. A statistical description must be used. The most common
measures are the reverberation time and the reverberation distance (reverberation
radius).
The oldest and most common measure is the reverberation time, i.e., the time for a 60 dB
level decrease after a sound has been shut off, c.f. Fig. 3.15a. The reverberation distance
is the distance from the sound source where the direct sound and the reverberation sound
are equally strong, c.f. Fig. 3.15b. The figure indicates that a 10 dB level increase is
about the maximum that can be gained by going very close to a sound source (the
directional properties of the sound source should be included in the reverberation
distance, i.e. it is much longer in front of a trumpet than beside the same instrument).
Large volume and lightly damped wall areas (the sum of floor, ceiling and walls)
result in a long reverberation time and a short reverberation distance. Thus one can
adjust both the reverberation time and the reverberation distance by using suitable
absorption materials on the walls. Outside the reverberation distance the sound level is
independent of the distance to the sound source.
In general the reverberation time and the reverberation distance are different for
different frequencies. The reverberation time is typically long and the reverberation
distance short at low frequencies and vice versa at high frequencies, c.f. Fig. 3.16. For
different types of rooms a practice has been developed to choose different reverberation
times, see Fig. 3.17. The number of persons in a room influence the reverberation time
and distance considerably.
Figure 3.16 Measured a) reverberation time and b) reverberation distance for a lecture hall (E5 from
Lundin)
The sound level in a room is determined by the strength of the source, the volume of
the room and the absorption at the walls. Outside the reverberation distance the
sound level is constant. Within the reverberation distance the sound level increases
towards the sound source (c.f. Fig. 3.15b). Examples of the strength (sound power)
from different sound sources are given in Table 3.5. For living rooms and class rooms a
"silent" level below 35 dB is recommended and for the concert hall below 30 dB is
recommended in Sweden.
Table 3.5. Sound power for some musical sound sources and sound pressure level at a
distance of 1 m (after Sundberg). The corresponding sound level (*) has been calculated
at a distance of 1 m although this is rather unrealistic for the symphony orchestra.
Bass singer
Clarinet
Trumpet
Trombone
Symphony orchestra (max)
0.03 W
0.05
0.3
6
60
94 dB at 1 m
98
104
117
127 (*)
Figure 3.17. Optimum reverberation times for different rooms (1000 feet3 equals 92.9 m3 from Beranek).
3.7 PROPERTIES FOR ROOMS (reverberation, resonances, pulse density etc)

Let us define three rooms to get a grasp of the properties introduced in this chapter.
The three rooms are a) a typical living room with a floor area 3 x 5 m2 and a wall height
of 2.4 m, b) a small lecture hall (class room) 6 x 8 m2 floor and 3 m height, and c) a
large concert hall 25 x 35 m2 and 13 m, respectively.
Example 3.7 What are the reverberation times of the three rooms empty? Typical values
of the reverberation time to aim at in the design are 0.5, 0.8 and 1.5 s,
respectively for our three rooms. The formulas for calculating
reverberation time show that the volume and the total wall area including
floor and ceiling are the main parameters. For the three rooms the volumes
are 36 m3, 150 m3, and 11000 m3, respectively. The total wall areas are
70 m2, 200 m2, and 3300 m2
Starting from the given numbers the reverberation time for the three
rooms can be calculated. First the wall absorption is calculated. Let us
assume that all walls have wooden panel with an absorption coefficient of
= 0.1, c.f. Table 3.4. The reverberation time T is calculated with the
formula T = 0.16 x V /(S x ), where V is the room volume and S is the
wall area.
A little calculation shows that the reverberation times could be
estimated to be 0.8 s, 1.2 s, and 5.3 s, respectively. Thus the small
room can be expected to have a reasonable reverberation time, a little too
long for the medium sized room, and a catastrophe for the concert hall.
For the large rooms it is necessary to have wall absorption materials.
Example 3.8 What are the reverberation distances in the three rooms? The reverberation
distance can also be calculated but by a somewhat more complicated
formula (square root of the volume divided by 300 times the
reverberation time). The reverberation distances can thus be estimated
to 0.4 m, 0.6 m, and 2.6 m, respectively. This means that one must sit
very close to the sound source to obtain dominating direct sound (typical
values for real rooms are 0.5 m, 0.8 m, and 5 m).
Example 3.9 SPL in reverberant field The sound level in the room is another interesting
measure to calculate. We use a bass singer and the three rooms with
reverberation times of 0.5, 0.8 and 1.5 s, respectively. A little
calculation shows that the sound levels (outside the reverberance distance)
become 102 dB SPL, 98 dB SPL, and 86 dB SPL, respectively. Thus it
seems unwise to sing loudly in a small room since 65 dB SPL is sufficient
for good communication.
For comparison it should be mentioned that the sound levels for the guitar and violin
are considerably lower than for the bass singer. For the guitar measurements have
shown that the levels vary between 35 and 70 dB SPL and for the violin between 45 and
60 dB (Spelda). Thus the pp-levels seem a bit low to be heard well, which also is
in agreement with common experience.
Example 3.10 What are the effects of changes in the three rooms on reverberation time,
reverberation distance and sound level?
What is the influence of a thick carpet on the floor?
Table 3.4 gives = 0.3 as a reasonable absorption and a little
calculation shows that the reverberation times become 0.6 s, 0.8 s,
and 3.4 s, respectively, i.e. a thick carpet may give considerable
influence on the room acoustics.
What is the influence of persons in the rooms?
Let us assume that the three rooms typically include 3 persons, 30
persons, and 1400 persons, respectively. One person corresponds to 0.5
m2 absorption area, which gives the reverberation times 0.7 s, 0.7 s,
and 1.7 s, respectively, i.e. we find that a room full with people gives a
large influence on the room acoustics (The sound level decreases a
moderate 5 dB).
Example 3.11 What are the relations between resonances and pulses in a room? Pulses
and resonances? The sound rays, their reflections, the delay and number
of pulses within a short time interval is a way to describe a room. For
the three rooms the time delay between the direct sound ray and the first
reflected sound ray, and the number sound rays reflected past a listener
within the first 1/10 second can be calculated for the three rooms. It is
assumed that the first reflection is against the ceiling (thick carpet on the
floor) and that we are interested in the conditions for a singer 1.80 m tall.
Using the given measures shows that the first reflected sound ray will
arrive 3 ms, 7 ms and 68 ms, respectively after the direct sound ray.
Within the first 0.1 seconds 4800 pulses, 1150 pulses, and 14 pulses,
respectively will have passed. We can thus see that in the small room the
sound comes back quickly and many times within a short time. In the
large hall the opposite conditions occur. It takes long time for the first
reflected sound ray to arrive and there are few pulses within the first 0.1
seconds.
Another way to describe a room is by means of its resonances, the
frequencies of the resonances and the density of resonances. A
little calculation shows that the lowest resonant frequency is at 35 Hz,
22 Hz, and 5 Hz, respectively, Below 100 Hz the rooms have 7, 50
and 3700 resonances respectively. The numbers clearly show that the
small room has a high first resonance frequency and few resonances while
the concert hall has a very low first resonance frequency and a large
number of resonances below 100 Hz.
With increased damping of the room the pulses and resonances become
less clear but the numbers remain the same.
It has been shown that when the number of resonances are densely spaced compared to
their bandwidths, then the room properties are determined by the density of the
resonances and the reverberation time of the room. There exists a lower limit fg
above which the room properties are so determined. Let us assume that the
reverberation times for the three rooms are 0.5 seconds, 0.8 seconds and 1.5 seconds
respectively. By using the formula for fg we find that fg equals 224 Hz, 139 Hz
and 21 Hz, respectively. Thus the frequency limit is below the important frequency
range for sound communication.
3.8 ACOUSTICS OF THE PODIUM (time delays, distance to walls and sound levels)
The sound from the instruments of the fellow musicians is very important to be able to
play together. Experiments have shown that the travel time for the sound from the
fellow musician's instrument should if possible be within 0.03 s. The sound travels with a
velocity of 345 m/s, which corresponds to 10 m in 0.03 s. The musicians of an orchestra
thus should sit within a distance of 10 m from each others. For the symphony orchestra
it is not possible to meet such a condition . Also the sounds that are reflected by reflectors
lowered from the ceiling should give a travelling distance of less than 10 m. Some
examples from Swedish investigations on acoustics for the symphony orchestra are
presented in the following.
Example 3.12. How long time does it take for the sound to travel between the players in
the Stockholm Concert Hall?
The travelling time for the sound can easily be calculated from the size of
the podium ( time = (distance m)/ (345 m/s) ), c.f. Example 3.1 (or
estimated from Table 3.1). The podium is approximately 17 m wide,
12 m deep and has reflectors 7 m above. The width measure gives a
travelling time of 0.05 s, the depth 0.035 s and 0.06 s along the
diagonal. The sound path via the ceiling reflectors varies from 0.02 to
0.07 s. The distances to the conductor position are more favourable:
0.025 s to the side walls, 0.04 s to the farthest corner and a maximum
of 0.05 s via the ceiling reflectors. This means that the sound paths and
the corresponding delays between extreme positions are too long, but
are more reasonable for a central position.
The example 3.12 shows that fairly short distances give measurable time delays from
source to listener. As a rule of thumb one may say that time differences of 0.01 s give
noticeable sound effects. The position of the instrument groups in the orchestra can
thus be most important for the players.
The reverberation time is the most traditional measure of the acoustics of a room. Long
reverberation time gives loud but non distinct sound. The reverberation of a sound
disturbs the sound starting later. The reverberation time is set by the sound absorption at
walls, ceilings and floors. On the podium the musicians of the orchestra should provide
most of the absorption. From the reverberation time the reverberation distance also can
be calculated, i.e., the distance within which the direct sound is stronger than the
reverberation sound. Within this distance the sound level increases the closer one sits
to the sound source.
Example 3.13. What is the reverberation distance in the Stockholm Concert Hall?
The reverberation time for the concert hall is approximately 2 s (below
2 kHz), which gives a reverberation distance of 5 m. This means that
the direct sound dominates within 5 m.
The musical instruments radiate the sound with different strengths in different
directions, especially at high frequencies. The bell of the brass instruments act as a
directional antenna and give a stronger sound straight ahead. Such a property affects the
reverberation distance. For the trombone the reverberation distance should increase from
approximately 7 m at 500 Hz to 20 m at 2500 Hz. A similar increase in reverberation
distance should be expected for the trumpet from 900 Hz to 3500 Hz. This means that
for high partial tones the "direct sound" will dominate "straight ahead" over the whole
podium, while for the low partial tones the direct sound will dominate over a shorter
distance.
As a part of a series of experiments with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
microphones were placed close to musicians with loud instruments: at the French horns
before the timpanis (position A), at violas in front of oboes (position B), at bassoons in
front of trumpets (position C) and at the second violins besides the piccolo (position D),
see Fig. 3.18. The recorded music shows that the piccolo is very dominant, and that
even the brass is difficult to hear "through" the orchestra at fff level.
Figure 3.18. Position of instruments in the symphony orchestra and measurement microphones A,
B, C, and D (slagverk=percussion, Pk=timpanies, cor= French horns, tr = woodwinds).
Figure 3.19. Example of the time course of the sound level (level - vertical scale and time - horizontal).
The sound level in the symphony orchestra varies much, see Fig. 3.19. The results of
an investigation (Jansson and Karlsson) gave the following average levels. A small
orchestra with a soloist has a typical average level of 75 dB(A), a large part of the
symphonic music give average levels of 85 dB(A), but the "heavy" music gives 90 dB(A)
and 95 dB(A) in "normally" and "heavily exposed" orchestral positions, respectively
(dB(A) is the sound level with a filter that should approximate the sensitivity of the ear).
One can conclude that the average sound level of the symphony music is likely to be
about 85 dB(A), but sometimes a little higher. The level from position to position in
the orchestra is normally within 5 dB. The peak levels found were below 125 dB. This
means that the orchestra members are exposed to sound levels that constitute a risk for
hearing loss (when industrial noise limit criteria are applied).
The conclusions from the evaluation of two large investigations (Karlsson et al, and
Axelsson and Lindgren) were, however, the following: 1) The sound levels are such that
there may be a risk for hearing losses, especially at "heavily exposed" positions within
the symphony orchestra. 2) Audiograms for the musicians show, however, that 75 % of
them have normal hearing. Among the remaining 25 % there are tendencies to worse
hearing levels. No proof was found that some orchestral positions are more dangerous
than others.
3.9 SUMMARY: THE SOUND IN THE ROOM
The propagation of sound in rooms can be described by means of sound rays in analogy
with light rays in a room with mirrors on the walls. The sound ray directly from the
instrument to the listener, the direct sound, gives the directional perception. The sound
reflected off the walls increases the sound level outside a specific distance from the
instrument, the reverberation distance. The reflected sound also gives the character of the
room including the reverberation time. A listener should select a position to give direct
sound (he or she should see the musicians) at a suitable distance to add the right amount
of the room character. Small rooms can give disturbing resonances at low frequencies
and large room disturbing echoes. The ratio room volume to total absorbing wall area
(including also ceiling and floor) is the most important "acoustical" measures. This ratio
gives the reverberation time, reverberation distance and the sound level in the room.
3.10 KEY WORDS:
Sound rays, direct sound, reverberation sound, reverberation time, reverberation distance,
absorption factor.
3.11 APPENDIX. RELATIONS BETWEEN SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL AND

SOUND PRESSURE
Generally the strength of a sound is given in sound pressure level, dB. But in many cases
the strength is given in sound pressure. The relation between sound pressure P
and the sound pressure level L is given by the relation L = 20 log ( P / Po ),
where Po is the reference for sound pressure = 0.000 02 Pa ( Pa is Pascal = N/m2 ).
Differences in sound pressure level corresponds to ratios in sound pressure. To convert
differences of sound pressure level to ratios of sound pressure (and vice versa) the
following transformation table has been calculated
Table 3.9: Relations between sound pressure level and sound pressure
Level difference dB
0
+ 1 (-1)
+ 2 (-2)
+ 3 etc
+4
+5
+6
+7
+8
+9
+10
Level difference dB
+ 20 (-20)
+ 40 (-40)
+ 60 etc
+ 80
+100
+120
Sound pressure ratio

1:1
1.1:1 (1:1.1)
1.3:1 (1:1.3)
1.4:1 etc
1.6:1
1.8:1
2.0:1
2.2:1
2.5:1
2.8:1
3.2:1
Level difference dB
+11 (-11)
+12 (-12)
+13 etc
+14
+15
+16
+17
+18
+19
+20
3.5:1 (1:3.5)
4.0:1 (1:4.0)
4.5:1 etc
5.0:1
5.6:1
6.3:1
7.1:1
7.9:1
8.9:1
10:1

10:1 (1:10)
100:1 (1:100)
1 000:1 (1:1000)etc
10 000:1
100 000:1
1 000 000:1
Example 3.20: Which sound pressure corresponds to 67 dB sound pressure level?
+67 dB = 60 + 7 dB i.e. (1 000:1) x (2.2:1) = 2 200:1

and 2 200 x 0.000 02 = 0.044 Pa
Example 3.21: Which sound pressure corresponds to -26 dB sound pressure level?
-26 dB = -20 - 6 dB i.e. (1:10) x (1:2) = 1:20

and 0.000 02 x (1:20) = 0.000 001 Pa
Example 3.22: Which sound pressure level corresponds to the sound pressure 3.6 Pa?
3.6 Pa i.e. (3.6:0.000 02) = 180 000 = 1.8 x (100 000:1)

and 5 + 100 dB = 105 dB
ACOUSTICS FOR
VIOLIN AND GUITAR
MAKERS
Erik Jansson
Chapter IV:
Properties of the Violin and the Guitar String
Fourth edition 2002

Index of chapters
Preface/Chapter I
Sound and hearing
Chapter II
Chapter III
Sound and the room
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX

Chapter 4 Applied Acoustics
PROPERTIES OF THE VIOLIN AND THE GUITAR STRING
Part 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF STRINGS
4.1. Fundamental string theory
4.2. Homogeneous strings
4.3. Wound strings
4.4. Summary
4.5. Key words
Part 2: PLAYED STRINGS AND SCALES
4.6. Real strings
4.7. Played string in principle
4.8. Gesture of the bow and scales.
4.9. Summary
4.10. Key words
4.11. APPENDIX: Relations frequency and tone position
Chapter 4.
APPLIED INSTRUMENT ACOUSTICS - PROPERTIES OF THE VIOLIN AND THE
GUITAR STRING
First part: FUNDAMENTALS OF STRINGS
INTRODUCTION
In the first part of this chapter the acoustical fundamentals of the string is presented. First
fundamental string theory is introduced, resonances, vibration sensitivity and their
relations to mechanical properties of the string. Thereafter the properties of string
materials are given and finally the effects of winding on a string.
4.1
FUNDAMENTAL STRING THEORY (resonance, resonant frequency,
bandwidth, nodes, antinodes, vibration sensitivity (mobility), tension, mass, specific
specific vibration sensitivity (specific mobility)).
ACOUSTICAL PROPERTIES
The acoustical properties of a resonator can be measured in terms of vibration sensitivity
(mobility). For the simple resonator a resonance curve is obtained with a peak like in Fig.
4.1. The peak and the shape of the complete curve is fully determined by three
measures, the position, the height, and the width of the peak i.e., the RESONANT
FREQUENCY, the PEAK LEVEL, and the BANDWIDTH respectively, see Fig. 4.1.
Often another level measure is interesting, i.e. the specific vibration sensitivity (specific
mobility). The specific vibration sensitivity can often be used as a material constant. The
peak level can be calculated from the resonant frequency, the bandwidth, and the specific
vibration sensitivity. The bandwidth is also a measure of how long it takes a constant
driving force to bring the system into equilibrium. Thus the bandwidth predicts the
length of the starting transient.
Figure 4.1. Acoustical properties of a resonance: vibration sensitivity response with resonance frequency
RF, bandwidth B, peak level RN and specific vibration sensitivity SV.
Figure 4.2. Resonances of the string: modes of vibration, their nodes and antinodes
The string has several resonances, see Fig. 4.2. The vibrations are distributed in specific
ways. For the ideal string the resonant frequencies (the partials) are 2x, 3x, 4x, etc. the
frequency of the lowest resonance, the fundamental tone. At each resonance the string
vibrates in a different mode, see Fig. 4.2. In the lowest resonance the string has one
antinode, and nodes at its ends, in the second resonance it has two antinodes with
nodes in the middle and at the ends, etc. The vibration sensitivity curve of a string
displays a number of peaks, see Fig. 4.3. Each peak has its own frequency, the resonant
frequency, its own bandwidth, and its own peak height. The peak height indicates the
strength of each string tone (partial, resonance) and the bandwidth indicates its
reverberation time. The specific vibration sensitivity is a measure of how the string will
cooperate with the instrument.
Figure 4.3. Resonances of the string: every resonance peak has its own frequency, bandwidth and
peak height.
SPECIFIC VIBRATION SENSITIVITY - DRIVING FORCE

The specific vibration sensitivity is a fundamental measure of how sensitive a resonator, a
string or a plate is to vibration forces. But, if one wants to study the sensitivity to
vibrations in detail also the resonance properties such as frequency and bandwidth must
be included.
The specific vibration sensitivity (and the resonant properties) is a measure how
vibrations are transferred, from a string to a violin for instance.
FIGURE. 4.4. Force transfer between two resonator systems a) stiffness controlled and b) mass controlled
Example 4.1: If you are standing on a thick plank and want to bend a board in the ceiling
(for nailing it, see Fig. 4.4) then
a) it is easy if the plank is stiff and the board soft, but
b) it is difficult if the plank is soft and the board is stiff.
Thus it is not only how strong you are but also the strength of the support you are
pushing from that is important. If you push and pull repeatedly in the board in case
a) the board will bend much and the plank little and
b) the board will bend little and the plank much. (compare with the formula for specific
vibration sensitivity - the stiffness corresponds to the spring in Fig. 2.8).
Example 4.2: If you are pushing a small dinghy away from a yacht then the dinghy is
given a considerable motion but the yacht a small one. If you push and pull
alternatively the dinghy moves much and the yacht little. The motions are
independent of whether you are in the dinghy or in the yacht (compare
with the formula for specific vibration sensitivity - the weights of the boats
corresponds to the mass in Fig. 2.8).
We can see a certain relation between the motions in the two cases, board-plank and
dinghy-yacht, i.e., vibrations are efficiently transferred from a stiff plank with low
vibration sensitivity to a soft board with high vibration sensitivity. The same relation
applies to the two boats. From a heavy boat with low vibration sensitivity vibrations are
efficiently transferred to a light boat with high vibration sensitivity. In the opposite
direction the transfer works inefficiently; it is difficult to transfer vibrations from an
object with high vibration sensitivity to one with low vibration sensitivity. The transfer of
vibrations is dependent on both the force applied and the ratios of the mobilities of the
two objects. Let us accept with the sketched background that the specific vibration
sensitivity of the transmitter and the receiver determines the vibration transfer.
Example 4.3. The output connectors of the amplifier should have the same labelling as
the loudspeaker - 4 ohms to 4 ohms or 8 ohms to 8 ohms.
Example 4.4: For a car motor to work efficiently an adaptation must be used - the gear
box.
Example 4.5: A string has a high specific vibration sensitivity and a violin or a guitar has
a low one - thus the string will vibrate much and the violin or the guitar
little. But the closer to equality the ratio of string vibration sensitivity to
the violin or guitar vibration sensitivity are, the more sound comes out of
the instrument. If the mobilities are equal a "wolf tone" is obtained.
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
The properties of the simple resonator are determined by its mechanical properties, i.e.
the mass (the weight), the stiffness and the total friction. For the multiresonator system
like the string, material constants are obtained by the mass (weight) per meter of the
string, the string tension (the stiffness), and the internal friction.
PRACTICAL FORMULAS FOR SMALL CHANGES
In the practical cases one chooses between different strings and thus it is interesting to
estimate how different mechanical properties influence the main acoustical properties.
Two simple formulas can be derived:
the resonant frequency change (in percent) = - length change (in percent) +
1/2 x tension change (in percent) - 1/2 x mass change (in percent).
the specific vibration sensitivity change (in percent) = - 1/2 x tension change (in
percent) - 1/2 x mass change (in percent)
The formulas point out two very important facts which are presented in the examples
below:
Example 4.6. What is the consequence of the relation between the resonant frequency and
mechanical properties like weight per meter and string tension?
In most musical instruments the fundamental frequency and the string
length are set by the tuning of the instrument and its construction. Only the
string tension and the mass per meter of the string can be selected.
Therefore the ratio between the tension and the mass per meter must be
constant in order to keep the fundamental frequency as required. The
practical formula says the same in another way - if the mass is increased
by 10 % the tension also must be increased by 10 %. Result: for many
practical applications the string mass per meter is the fundamental

measure.
Example
4.7.: What is the consequence of the relations between specific vibration

sensitivity and mechanical properties?
Again we start from the fact that most musical instruments have a given
string length and tuning. This means that only the string tension and the
string weight per meter can be chosen. The tuning condition sets a specific
ratio of tension to weight. The formula for the specific vibration sensitivity
says that the specific vibration sensitivity is proportional to 1/weight and
again the weight per meter is the most important measure for the string.
Result: it is sufficient to know the weight per meter, thereby the specific
vibration sensitivity of the string is given.
Example 4.8.: If we start from normal conditions and thereafter change a mechanical
property at a time, how are the acoustical properties changed?
a) if the string tension is increased 2 %
=> the frequency is increased 1 %, i.e., from 440 to 444 Hz
the specific vibration sensitivity decreases 1% (the sound level
increases 0.1 dB)
b) if the weight is increased 10% but the tuning is kept
=> the string tension must be increased 10% and the specific vibration
sensitivity is lowered 20 % (the sound level increases 2 dB)
c) if the string length is increased 5 % but the tuning is kept.
=> the string tension must be increased 10% and the vibration sensitivity
decreases 5 % (the sound level is increased 0.5 dB)
Example 4.9.: Say that a resonance (partial) of a guitar string decays 10 dB in a second.
What is the bandwidth of the string resonance?
A little calculation shows that this reverberation corresponds to a
bandwidth B of 0.3 Hz, which is a very sharp resonance peak.
4.2 HOMOGENEOUS STRINGS (mass, tension, tensile strength, elasticity modulus,
typical string tension, thickness, inharmonicity, and partials)
A common wish is to have a string with strong tone and a high fundamental frequency.
How can this be obtained? In principle the string should be made short, heavy and
tightened up to a high tension. But the heavy string favours tuning to low frequencies and
the light one to high frequencies and therefore a compromise must be made.
In the theoretical introduction we have already shown that the weight of the string is the
most important and "automatically" determines the string tension. It is therefore
interesting to know the density (weight per cubic meter) for materials, see table 4.1. For
string materials we are in the heavy range, see table 4.2 for typical string materials.
Table 4.1. Densities of common materials
Air
Water
Lead
1.2 kg/m3
1 000
"
11 000
"
Table 4.2. Density of typical string material

Steel
Gut
Silk
Nylon
7 700 kg/m3
1 300 "
1 300 "
1 200 "
Example 4.10. How much thicker should a gut string be to give the same tension as a
steel string for the same pitch?
A little calculation on weight, tension and fundamental frequency shows
that the gut string must be 2.5 times thicker.
Example 4.11. How much do we loose in specific vibration sensitivity when we use a
gut string as thick as a steel string which we tune to the same frequency?
The density for steel is 6 times that of gut which means that the gut string
tension becomes 1/6 of the steel string tension. This means that the
specific vibration sensitivity increases 16 dB, and the sound level
decreases 16 dB (this is a very large decrease).
The strength of a string is tested by tensile tests. In a measurement apparatus the string
tension (load) is increased and the resulting lengthening (strain) is measured. The tension
is increased until the string breaks. Thereby a load-strain diagram is obtained, see Fig.
4.5a. The first part of the curve is a straight line. If the pulling force is disconnected
within a certain range (up to the limit P) the string regains its original length. The strain
within this range is elastic. At the limit P the elastic strain turns into a plastic strain and a
remaining lengthening is left after the tension has been disconnected, se Fig. 4.5b. If the
string is stretched until it breaks, the fracture limit B, a measure is obtained of the
maximum tension possible.
Figure 4.5 a) Typical tension-lengthening (load-strain) diagram and b) diagram of plastic lengthening.
Strings can not be stretched to any limit. First the string tension is increased, thereafter it
is stretched and finally it breaks. The breaking limit B sets is the maximum frequency the
string can be tuned up to but the elastic limit P should be the maximum useful limit. The
breaking limit for some materials are given in table 4.3.
Table 4.3. Fracture limit for typical string material (107 Pa = 1 "kg/mm2")
Steel
2 100-2 600 x 106 Pa
Gut
320 - 460 "
"
Silk
350 - 550 "
"
Nylon
600 - 750 "
"
i.e. a steel string can be stretched 3 to 4 times that of the gut, silk and nylon materials.
The string should not be stretched to the breaking limit. Suitable limits are given for
loading are given in table 4.4. The table says that strings are loaded to 50 % of the
breaking limit. Thus the steel string can still be tensioned 3 to 4 times more than the gut,
silk and nylon strings.
Table 4.4. Suitable tension in percent of the fracture limit.
Steel
40 - 75 %
Gut and fibres 35 - 70 %
ON INHARMONIC PARTIALS
(This paragraph is accidentally too mathematical-technical. Do not read it if difficult)

Table 4.5. Elasticity modulus E (typical) and inharmonicity factor I for different string
tensions
E x109 Pa
0.5 Imax 0.75 Imax 1.0 Imax
Steel
220
56
38
28
Gut
5.5-6.5
9.4
6.3
4.7
Silk
5.0-6.0
7.5
5.0
3.8
Nylon 4.5-5.5
4.5
3.0
2.3
Steel has a high inharmonicity factor and must therefore be given a high tension (the
piano string has so high a tension that the string can be broken by a hard touch).
Example 4.12.What is the tension of the E-string of the violin if made by steel with the
diameter 0.25 mm?
A violin string has a free length of close to 325 mm = 0.325 m, diameter
0.25 mm = 0.00025 m and the density of steel is 7 800 kg/m3, which
results in a weight of 7 800 x 3.14 x (diameter/2)2 = 0.000383 kg/m. The
frequency is 660 Hz and a little calculation gives the string tension 70 N
("7.1 kg").
Example 4.13 If the A, D and G strings are made of steel and all should have the same
tension, how thick should they be made?
For the same tension and the same material it turns out that the diameter
should be a constant divided by frequency. The violin is tuned in fifths
which means that the string diameters should be increased successively by
a factor 3/2 and the A string (3/2) x 0.25 = 0.38 mm, the D string (3/2) x
(3/2) x 0.25 = 0.56 mm, and the G string (3/2) x (3/2) x (3/2) x 0.25=
0.84 mm
Example 4.14: What kind of inharmonicity should we expect from the first and the third
strings of a guitar if they are made of nylon and with diameter 0.71 and
1.03 mm and with tension 77 and 52 N.
A little calculation shows that the strings are tensioned to 30 and 10 % of
the fracture limit and the inharmonicity factor is approximately 8 and 16
respectively. If we multiply with (d/L)2 (1.19 and 2.5 x 1 000 000) and use
the formula we find that the third string gives an inharmonicity 7 times
that of the first string (note that the calculation example gives a good
demonstration but can not be expected to be accurate).
The examples show that one should have a high tension to obtain a low inharmonicity, or
to make a heavier string without increasing the stiffness, i.e. by additional winding.
4.3. WOUND STRINGS (mass and material for winding)
Figure 4.6. Different types of string windings
To obtain strings with strong tone, i.e., heavy strings without making them very stiff, the
strings are made in several parts.The core is fairly thin and has little stiffness. Thereafter
this core is covered with one or several layers of windings and a wound string is
obtained. The winding can be made in several ways, see Fig. 4.6. The winding is made in
such a way that the string stiffness is little increased. By means of suitable winding
materials, the string is made to the desired weight, see table 4.6
Example 4.15: The G-string of the violin has a diameter of 0.8 mm, of which 0.2 mm is a
silver winding. What is the density in kg/m3 and what is the string
tension?
a) a little calculation shows that the string density is 4 700 kg/m3
b) the frequency of the open string is 196 Hz which together with some
calculation gives the string tension as 38 N ("3.9 kg").
Table 4.6.Density for typical winding materials.
Aluminium
2 700 kg/m3
Steel
7 700 "
Copper
8 900 "
Silver
11 000 "
Gold
19 000 "
Wolfram
19 000 "
Example 4.16: What will the density of the string become if wound with gold instead of
silver?
Table 4.6 shows that the density for aluminium is 2 x Gut, for steel it is
6 x, for silver 8 x and for gold and wolfram (tungsten) it is 15 x. Thus the
string mass could be greatly increased by winding with little increase of
thickness", i.e., the string weight has been doubled but the diameter has
not been changed.
4.4: SUMMARY: FUNDAMENTALS OF STRINGS
In this part, fundamental string theory has been summarised, i.e., the relations between
acoustical properties such as resonance frequencies and vibration sensitivity, and
mechanical properties such as the mass (weight), length, and tension of the string
have been given. The influence of the string diameter on the string inharmonicity has
been demonstrated. Finally the mass increase by winding of a string without making it
stiffer has been shown.
4.5: KEY WORDS:
Resonant frequency, string length, string tension, string mass (weight), modes of
vibration, antinodes, nodes, vibration sensitivity, string diameter, wound strings, fracture
limit, and elasticity modulus.
Chapter 4.
Second part: PLAYED STRINGS AND SCALES
INTRODUCTION
In the second part of this chapter we are approaching the real world of played strings.
First properties of real strings are presented. Thereafter the fundamentals of the plucked
and the bowed string is introduced, effects of bow gestures and played scales. In the
appendix the relations between tone frequency (in Hz) and tone position (name and
deviation in cents from nominal value).
4.6 REAL STRINGS
As pointed out in the theory part it is sufficient to weigh a string to be able to calculate its
most important properties. The weights of the strings and not their diameters should be
given on the string envelopes. For very thin strings extremely sensitive scales are needed
and it may be easier to measure the fundamental frequency of a string when tensioned
with a well defined force, see Fig. 4.7. Measured frequencies can be recalculated into
string weights. Measured string weights are given in table 4.7 for violin strings (Pickering
found also that some strings had rather high inharmonicity and large bandwidth) and
these are given in table 4.8 for guitar strings. Furthermore an example on inharmonicity
for violin strings is given in table 4.9.
Figure 4.7. Two ways to determine the main properties of a string are a) by measuring the mass
(weight) with a precision scale, or b) by measuring the frequency with a well defined tension (L is the
string length and D a vibration sensitive detector).
Table 4.7. Measured properties of violin strings (after Pickering)

Fundamental frequency (Hz)
Diameter (mm)
min-max
Tension (N approx "kg/10")
min- max
Weight (mass) (g/m)
min-max
Spec vibration sensitivity
(m/Ns) min-max
E-string
660
A-string
440
D-string
294
G-string
196
0.249-0.264
0.452-0.701
0.671-0.914
0.790-0.833
72.25-84.01
48.89-63.51
34.76-61.73
35.43-49.92
0.381-0.443
0.579-0.752
0.924-1.641
2.115-2.799
5.18-6.02
4.57-5.94
3.14-5.58
2.59-3.65
Table 4.8. Measured properties of guitar strings

String
Fundamental frequency (Hz)
Diameter (mm)
Tension (N approx "kg/10")
Weight (mass) (g/m)
Spec vibration sensitivity
(m/Ns)
330
0.70
76.7
0.417
5.59
247
0.83
61.1
0.593
5.25
196
1.03
57.9
0.892
4.33
147
0.75
74.5
2.04
2.56
110
0.93
74.5
3.45
1.97
82.4
1.07
61.2
5.33
1.97
Table 4.9. Inharmonicity (cent*) and bandwidth (BD) measured for four violin strings
STRNG
(Hz)
E 656.5
A 440.2
D 296.0
G 196.6
F1 / BD (cent
/ Hz)
0 0.27
0 0.32
0 0.29
0 0.16
F2 / BD2
(cent / Hz)
0 0.62
1 0.41
-2 0.79
-1 0.35
F3 / BD3
(cent / Hz)
0 0.50
2 0.56
0 1.1
1 0.72
F6 / BD6
(cent / Hz)
1 0.75
0 1.3
5 3.5
9 1.9
F10 / BD10
(cent / Hz)
4 1.5
1 2.3
17 13.1
19 8.3
*Cent is a measure of deviation from correct nominal value in hundreds of a semi-tone

step (see section 4.8).
B P
FORCE
BRIDGE VIBRATION-FORCE
TIME
Fig 4.8 Time history (in principle) for the plucked string, bridge B and plucking position P (after Hall) and
bridge forces. The different vibration shapes and corresponding bridge forces are indicated by points in the
bridge force curve.
4.7 PLAYED STRING IN PRINCIPLE (time history, shape of deflection, spectra, the
plucked and the bowed string)
The plucked string has in principle the following time history. The string is pulled out of
equilibrium and makes a triangle as showed in the upper left corner of Fig. 4.8. When the
string is released it will develop a complicated vibration as sketched in the left column. It
can be seen that the string is divided into three straight parts. The string angle in relation
to the bridge determines the excitation force by which the string will shake the bridge. If
one looks closely at the shape of the string one can see that the string only has two
different angles at the bridge, which results in half the maximum force upwards in the
first case and the maximum force downwards in the second case. The vibration force will
show a time history as shown in right part of Fig. 4.8. It should be noted that the time
history shows a downward pulse for one third of the time, i.e., the same relation as the
one to three division of the string at the plucking position.
Figure 4.9 Position of plucking and excitation strength of resonance (in principle). Left upper part the
lowest four resonances, right upper the corresponding partials, down left the initial shape of the string at
plucking for different plucking positions and down right the resulting spectra for the different plucking
positions.
FINGERTIP
NAIL
STIFF STRING
LEVEL
SOFT STRING
FREQUENCY
Figure 4.10 Influence of different pluckings and of different strings
The relation between position of plucking and the level of partials have been sketched in
fig 4.9 When plucked in the middle, the string is initially displaced in form of a triangle
with two sides alike. For a string resonance to be excited it must not be plucked at one of
its nodal points. Thus we can understand that for a plucking in the middle the first partial,
the fundamental is set into vibration, but not the second, the third is set into vibration, but
not the fourth etc.. Thereby we obtain a spectrum like in the uppermost part of the lower
right frame. If we choose to pluck at a third of the string length the third, the sixth etc.
partials will be missing. If we pluck at a tenth of the string length the tenth,the twentieth
partial, etc. will not be excited.
The player has also other possibilities to influence the properties of the played tones, see
Fig. 4.10. A soft "plectrum" like the fingertip will give a smoother bend of the string and
thus weaker high partials. A stiff string can not be bend sharply and gives therefore a tone
with weaker high partials.
PLUCKING AT l/2
PLUCKING AT l/10
LEVEL dB
PLUCKING AT l/2
Resonance no
TIME HISTORY
SPECTRUM
Figure 4.11 Time history and spectrum of string force on bridge for different plucking distances from the
bridge.
Different plucking positions give different time histories for the force from the string to
the bridge, and thus different vibrations of the bridge. A qualitative explanation was
given in Fig. 4.9. As a matter of fact also a varying level for the different partials will be
obtained, in principle as in Fig. 4.11.
NUT
BOW
BRIDGE
STRING MOTION AT BOW
STRING FORCE AT BRIDGE
STRING SHAPE
SPECTRUM
Figure 4.12 Time history for a bowed string etc. (after Hall)
Similar relations are also valid for the bowed string, see Fig. 4.12. When the bow is
pulled over the string, the string is displaced as in plucking. The string is pulled aside but
tries to regain its straight line. After a while the force to regain equilibrium becomes so
large that the string pulls itself loose from the bow hair and moves towards a straight line.
After some time the string motion is stopped and the string fastens to the bow hair again,
is pulled aside once more, pulls loose, etc.. The excitation here corresponds to a plucking
once each fundamental period of the string. Thereby a saw tooth shaped time history is
obtained. The nature makes this repeated plucking happen once every period as long as
the violin player handles his bow in a correct manner. The ratio of string-lengths, bow to
bridge and bow to nut, is the same as the duration ratio of the two straight parts of the
saw tooth time history. It should be mentioned that twisting motions of the string (torsion
motions) are important and that temperature effects may also play a role.
4.8 GESTURE OF THE BOW AND SCALES

GESTURES OF THE BOW
At our department Dr. Askenfelt has investigated the bow gestures and articulation. With
a special experimental apparatus he can simultaneously measure 1) the fundamental
frequency of the played tone (pitch), 2) the bow position at the string (contact point), and
3) the bow pressure (the bow force). The three parameters are registered simultaneously
as the violin is played. The bow force was found to be between 0.15 and 1.5 N
(corresponds to a weight of 15 to 150 g). The velocity of the bow is between 0.04 m/s and
3 m/s (3 m/s is approximately 8 mph).
Examples of different ways of bowing are shown in Fig. 4.13. In the upper frame we can
see examples of legato playing, and from top to bottom, music, bow force, bow position,
and time respectively. It can be seen that the violin player decreases the bow force just
before changing to a new note and keeps the low bow force at the beginning of the
following note.
In martellato and the sforzando playing it is found that the violin player adjusts the
bowing force and velocity. In the martellato case the the velocity is constant (the bow
position is a horizontal line) and the bow force is released just before the bow reaches the
tip. In the sforzando case the bow is pressed against the string with a high force in the
beginning, the bow is pulled quickly over the string, the bow force is released and the
bow velocity has diminished to a third. Furthermore it was found that the normal and the
reversed way of playing crescendo-diminuendo gives large differences in the time history
of bow force.
From research in psychology it is known that different feelings are reflected in
differences in gestures, articulation. An example is shown in Fig. 4.14 for violin playing.
Four bars from the Beethoven violin concerto were played softly and aggressively as
shown in Fig. 4.14. The figure shows that in the aggressive version the player chose to
vary the bow force rather abruptly.
BOW
FORCE
BOW
POSITION
LEGATO
TIP
FROG
DETACH
TIP
FROG
TIME
STACCATO
BOW
POSITION
BOW
FORCE
BOW
POSITION
BOW
FORCE
TIME
TIP
FROG
TIME
Figure 4.13 "Bow pressure" (bow force) and contact point (bow position) for different types of bowing
(from Askenfelt).
BOW
FORCE
BOW
POSITION
TIP
FROG
TIME
Figure 4.14 "Bow pressure" and contact point for two different types of bowing of four bars of the
Beethoven violin concerto (aggressively and smoothly full lines and broken lines respectively, from
Askenfelt)
THE EQUALLY TEMPERED SCALE AND PLAYED SCALES (definition of the scale, frequency
and cent)
The scale generally used for tuning keyboard instruments and in playing is the equally
tempered scale. This scale uses a division of the octave into 12 equal steps called
semitones. Each step corresponds to an h times higher frequency and
12 steps
h x h x h x h x h ................
i.e.
h12 = 2
and h =
12
xhxh = 2
2 = 1.059
A semitone step thus corresponds to slightly short of a 6 % increase in frequency. Often

the frequency of a played tone should be given with higher accuracy than a semitone step.
For this purpose every semitone step is divided in 100 equal steps c. .
100 cent steps = 1 semitone step i.e. c x c x c x c x ...... x c x c =
i.e. c100 =
12
and c =
1200
12
2 = 1.00058.
The step c is called a cent and corresponds to 6/100 %. Furthermore, for practical use a
numbering system which gives the lowest useful octave the number 0 has been devised.
This octave goes from C0 to C1 and covers the frequency range from 16 to 32 Hz and
notes in the octave are labelled with "zeroes". The next octave goes from C1 to C2 and
notes are labelled with a "one" etc. The tuning A = 440 Hz is labelled A4 ( to avoid
misunderstandings one can write A4 (440 Hz), as the introduced labelling does not agree
with any of the ten most common notations used in musical scale systems. Further the
introduced system only uses sharp signs, i.e. C#, D#, F# etc.
For tuning of free plates this division in single cent steps is too detailed. Therefore a centfrequency table has been calculated in 20 cent steps, i.e., steps 1.012 times the lower
frequency. Twenty cent (20 cent) is thus 12/10 % i.e., slightly above 1 %. This table can
be found in the appendix 4.11 RELATIONS BETWEEN FREQUENCY AND TONE,
table 4.10,starting at the 0th octave C= (16.4 Hz) ending at the 7th octave C8 (4186 Hz).
Every octave, from the 0th to the 7th., has its own table.There are thus 8 tables starting
with the 0th octave and ending with the 7th octave.
The top line of every table gives the tone names and the first line with numbers the cent
values 0 and corresponding frequencies in Hz. The second line gives the tones + 20 cent
and corresponding frequency in Hz. The table continues with +40, +60 and +100 cent.
The bottom line gives the tone names again but now at +100 cent, i.e. a semintone step
higher. The column to the right give the cent values starting from the bottom line, i.e. 0
to 100 cent.
Example 4.16: 440 Hz = tuning A = A4.
Example 4.17. The note C2 has the frequency 65.4 Hz.
Example 4.18. The frequency 119 Hz corresponds to the note A# in the second octave
+40 cent (upper line and left column) or if preferred the note B in the
second octave -60 cent (lower line and right column).
Let me also present some measurements on scales and played frequencies. In Fig. 4.15
the relations are shown between three theoretically defined scales. As a rule of thumb one
hears differences outside 5 cent, which have been marked with two horizontal dotted
lines.
Along the horizontal scale the note numbers in the octave have been marked, where 0 is
the lowest tone of the octave and 12 is the highest. A look shows that the differences as a
rule are small between the three scales, but in some cases the differences are noticeable
15 cent. For the construction purpose of a musical instrument the conclusion can be
drawn that one should be able to play the equally tempered scale 15 % variations.
DEVIATION CENT
SCALE TONE NO
DEVIATION CENT
Figure 4.15 Relations between the equally tempered scale (horizontal line), the pure scale of just
intonation and the Pythagorean scale.
SCALE TONE NO
Figure 4.16 Average of intervals used in woodwind quartet playing, students in tutti (triangles), in solo
(crosses), teachers in tutti (squares) and in solo (circles) (from Mason).
Let me so show the differences that can be met in actual playing, see Fig. 4.16. The
experiments showed that the students as a rule played considerably above the "tuning
pitch". The teachers also tend to be high but as a rule less than +5 cent. In solo
performance without accompaniment the oboist in Fig. 4.17 played even 20 cent outside
a arbitrarily chosen reference tone.
cent
+50
+20
0
-20
-50
G#3
C4
E4
G#4
C5
E5
G#5 C6
E6
Figure 4.17 Deviations from the equally tempered scale used in unaccompanied solo playing (after
Sundberg).
The important conclusion from the presented material is that the played scales do not
follow simple mathematical formulas - one plays neither in the Pythagorean scale, nor the
pure scale nor the equal tempered scale. It seems rather that the played tone frequency is
a part of the musical speech and one chooses the frequency approximately as the
mathematically defined scales but with minor deviations for the effects one wants to
stress. When playing several instruments together the possibilities of selection for the
single musician is strictly limited to avoid unwanted sound effects.
4.9 SUMMARY: PLAYED STRINGS AND SCALES

In this part mechanical and acoustical properties have been presented for violin and guitar
strings. Further the principles for the vibrations of the strings have been sketched for
differences in plucking and bowing of the string. The gestures with the bow makes it
possible for the player to "talk" with the violin. Finally the equally tempered scale has
been described, and how the scales are used in playing and how frequency can be
measured.
4.10 KEY WORDS:
Plucked string, bowed string, time history spectrum, equally tempered scale, cent, bow
velocity, bow force (bow pressure), position.
4.11 APPENDIX
OCTAVE 0
TONE C C#
cent Hz Hz
+0 16.4 17.3
+20 16.5 17.5
+40 16.7 17.7
Table 4A.1 RELATIONS FREQUENCY AND TONE POSITION

OCTAVE 0
D
D# E F
F#
G G# A A#
H TONE
Hz Hz
Hz Hz Hz Hz Hz Hz
Hz Hz cent
18.4 19.4 20.6 21.8 23.1 24.5 26.0 27.5 29.1 30.9 -100
18.6 19.7 20.8 22.1 23.4 24.8 26.3 27.8 29.5 31.2 -80
18.8 19.9 21.1 22.3 23.7 25.1 26.6 28.1 29.8 31.6 -60
+60 16.9 17.9 19.0 20.1 21.3

+80 17.1 18.1 19.2 20.4 21.6
+100 17.3 18.4 19.4 20.6 21.8
TONE C# D
D# E F
22.6
22.9
23.1
F#
23.9
24.2
24.5
G
OCTAVE 1
TONE C C# D
D# E F
F#
+0 32.7 34.6 36.7 37.9 41.2 43.7 46.2
+20 33.1 35.1 37.1 39.3 41.7 44.2 46.8
+40 33.5 35.5 37.6 39.8 42.2 44.7 47.3
25.4
25.7
26.0
G#
+60
+80
+100
TONE
C# D
D# E
69.3 73.4 77.8 82.4
70.1 74.3 78.7 83.4
70.9 75.1 79.6 84.3
67.7 71.7 76.0 80.5 85.3

68.5 72.6 76.9 81.5 86.3
69.3 73.4 77.8 82.4 87.3
C# D
D# E F
OCTAVE 3
TONE C C# D
D# E
0 131 139 147 156 165
+20 132 140 149 157 167
+40 134 142 150 159 169
+60 135 143
+80 137 145
+100 139 147
TONE C# D
30.2 32.0 -40

30.5 32.3 -20
30.9 32.7
0
H
C TONE
OCTAVE 1
G G# A A#
H TONE
49.0 51.9 55.0 58.3 61.7 -100
49.6 52.5 55.6 58.9 62.5 -80
50.1 53.1 56.3 59.6 63.2 -60
+60 33.9 35.9 38.0 40.3 42.7 45.2 47.9 50.7

+80 34.2 36.3 38.4 40.7 43.2 45.7 48.4 51.3
+100 34.6 36.7 38.9 41.2 43.7 46.2 49.0 51.9
TONE C# D
D# E F
F#
G G#
OCTAVE 2
TONE C
0 65.4
+20 66.2
+40 66.9
26.9 28.5
27.2 28.8
27.5 29.1
A A#
53.7 56.9
54.4 57.6
55.0 58.3
A A#
60.3 63.9 -40

61.0 64.7 -20
61.7 65.4 0
H
C TONE
OCTAVE 2
F
F#
G G# A A#
H TONE
87.3 92.5 98.0 104 110 117 123 -100
88.3 93.6 99.1 105 111 118 125 -80
89.3 94.7 100 106 113 119 126 -60
90.4
91.4
92.5
F#
F
175
177
179
95.8 101
96.9 103
98.0 104
G G#
107 114
109 115
110 117
A A#
121 128 -40

122 129 -20
123 131
0
H
C TONE
OCTAVE 3
F#
G G# A A#
H TONE
185 196 208 220 233 247 -100
187 198 210 223 236 250 -80
189 201 213 225 239 253 -60
152 161 171 181 192 203

154 163 173 183 194 205
156 165 175 185 196 208
D# E F
F#
G G#
215 228
217 230
220 233
A A#
241
244
247
H
256 -40
259 -20
262 0
C TONE
OCTAVE 4
TONE C C# D
D# E F
F#
G G#
0 262 277 294 311 330 349 370 392 415
+20 265 280 297 315 333 353 374 397 420
+40 268 284 301 318 337 357 379 401 425
A
440
445
450
+60 271 287 304 322 341 362 383 406 430
+80 274 290 308 326 345 366 387 411 435
+100 277 294 311 330 349 370 392 415 440
TONE C# D
D# E F
F#
G G#
A
456 483
461 488
466 494
A#
H
OCTAVE 5
TONE C
0 523
+20 529
+40 535
+60
+80
+100
TONE
C#
554
561
567
D
587
594
601
D#
622
629
637
OCTAVE 4
A#
H TONE
466 494 -100
472 500 -80
477 505 -60
511 -40
517 -20
523 0
C TONE
OCTAVE 5
E F
F#
G G# A A#
H TONE
659 698 740 784 831 880 932 988 -100
667 707 749 793 840 890 943 999 -80
675 715 757 802 850 901 954 1011 -60
542 574 608 644 683

548 581 615 652 690
554 587 622 659 698
C# D
D# E F
723 766 812

731 775 821
740 784 831
F#
G G#
860
870
880
A
911 965
922 976
932 988
A#
H
1023 -40
1034 -20
1047
0
C TONE
OCTAVE 6
TONE C C# D
D# E F
F#
0 1047 1109 1175 1245 1319 13971480
+20 1059 1122 1188 1259 1334 1413 1497
+40 1071 1135 1202 1274 1349 1430 1515
OCTAVE 6
G G# A A#
H TONE
1568 1661 1760 1865 1976 -100
1586 1681 1780 1886 1998 -80
1605 1700 1801 1908 2022 -60
+60 1083 1148 1216 1288 1365

+80 1096 1161 1230 1303 1381
+100 1109 1175 1245 1319 1397
TONE C# D
D# E F
1623
1642
1661
G#
1446 1532
1463 1550
1480 1568
F#
G
1720
1740
1760
A
1822
1843
1865
A#
1930 2045 -40

1953 2069 -20
1976 2093
0
H
C TONE
OCTAVE 7
TONE C C# D
D# E F
F#
0 2093 2217 2349 2489 2637 2794 2960
+20 2117 2243 2377 2518 2668 2826 2994
+40 2142 2269 2404 2547 2699 2859 3029
OCTAVE 7
G G# A A#
H TONE
3136 3322 3520 3729 3951 -100
3176 3361 3561 3773 3997 -80
3209 3400 3602 3816 4043 -60
+60 2167 2296 2432 2577 2630

+80 2192 2322 2460 2607 2762
+100 2217 2349 2489 2637 2794
TONE C# D
D# E F
3247
3284
3322
G#
2892 3064
2926 3100
2960 3136
F#
G
3440
3480
3520
A
3644 3861 4090 -40

3686 3906 4138 -20
3729 3951 4186 0
A#
H
C TONE
ACOUSTICS FOR
VIOLIN AND GUITAR
MAKERS
Erik Jansson
Chapter V:
Vibration Properties of the Wood and
Tuning of Violin Plates
Fourth edition 2002

Index of chapters
Preface/Chapter I
Sound and hearing
Chapter II
Chapter III
Sound and the room
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX

VIBRATION PROPERTIES OF THE WOOD AND TUNING OF VIOLIN PLATES
Part 1: VIBRATION PROPERTIES OF THE WOOD
5.1. Fundamental theory
5.2. Measurement methods
5.3. Acoustical and mechanical properties of wood
5.4. Summary
5.5. Key words
Part 2: TUNING OF THE TOP AND BACK PLATES OF THE VIOLIN
5.6. Fundamental principles for tuning
5.7. Typical properties of free violin top and back plates
5.8. On practical tuning of violin plates
5.9. Summary
5.10. Key words
5.11 APPENDIX: Formulas and calculations
5.12 References
Chapter 5.
VIBRATION PROPERTIES OF THE WOOD AND TUNING OF VIOLIN PLATES
First part: VIBRATION PROPERTIES OF THE WOOD
INTRODUCTION
In this first part of chapter 5 fundamental vibration properties of wood will be introduced. First
fundamental theory is presented. It is followed by presenting measurement methods and ends with
giving vibration (mechanical, acoustical) properties of wood.
5.1 FUNDAMENTAL THEORY
We have previously seen how properties like stiffness, mass and internal friction determines the
vibration properties of a plate. We shall try to sort out how one should design a violin top to give it
wanted acoustical (vibration) properties. The properties we shall design a top plate to have are 1)
specific nodal line patterns and 2) specific resonant frequencies. In order to give a better understanding
for the problems related to top and back plates and possible solutions we shall again summarise some
vibration basics concerning the properties of resonances of bars and plates. Thereafter follows
measurement methods of the resonance properties (resonant frequency, level, bandwidth and nodal line
pattern), their use for deduction of mechanical vibration properties of wood (moduli of elasticity and
internal friction) and some data of different wood species.
Figure 5.1 Definition of acoustical (vibration) measures at a resonance peak.
PROPERTIES OF A SINGLE RESONANCE (resonant frequency, level, bandwidth, and specific vibration
sensitivity (specific mobility))
The vibration sensitivity at the driving point is a measure of how easily a guitar, a violin or a violin
plate is set into vibration. The driving-point vibration sensitivity varies with frequency. At low and
high frequencies the driving-point vibration sensitivity is low for the simple system with only one
resonance (as the rubber band yo-yo). At an intermediate frequency the driving-point vibration
sensitivity is maximum and the vibration sensitivity shows a resonance peak, see fig. 5.1.
In a diagram of the driving-point vibration sensitivity as function of frequency three acoustical
(vibration) properties can be read: the frequency of the resonance peak (RF Hz), the level at resonant
frequency (RL dB) and the bandwidth of the resonance (B Hz, i.e. the width 3 dB below the peak
value).With the resonance removed the specific vibration sensitivity (SV, i.e. peak value minus
20log[RF/B]) is obtained. Inversely if we know that we have a simple system with one resonance only,
the three properties; frequency at, bandwidth of, and level of the resonance peak are sufficient to
predict (plot) the behaviour at all frequencies. Thus the curve for a simple resonance can be
described by the three measures without any loss of information, c.f. fig. 5.1.
The decay of resonance vibrations (after turning off the driving) is determined by the bandwidth of the
resonance. The vibration sensitivity of the mechanical system is the combination of specific vibration
sensitivity and resonance properties.
Figure 5.2 Predicted VIBRATION SENSITIVITY curve for a wooden plate (in principle).
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES (mass, stiffness, and friction)

The simple resonance (as the rubber band yo-yo) has three mechanical parts: 1) a spring (the
rubber band), 2) a mass (the weight), and 3) friction (the air friction when the weight is moving).
Between the mechanical and the vibration properties there are mathematical relations as
presented in section 5.11 appendix.
VIBRATION (ACOUSTICAL) PROPERTIES OF A MULTIRESONANCE SYSTEM (vibration modes at resonance,
nodes and antinodes)
If we replace the simple resonator (the rubber band yo-yo) with a thin plate and measure the drivingpoint vibration sensitivity we shall obtain a large number of resonance peaks. Each resonance is
described by the frequency, the level and the bandwidth of each peak, see fig. 5.2. The complete
driving-point vibration sensitivity curve can be predicted (plotted) from the three measures of all
resonances. In fact, a violin plate is a multiresonance system with a large number of peaks.
What the driving point sensitivity curve does not reveal is that the plate vibrates in a different way for
each resonance. At a given resonant frequency, different points of the plate vibrate with different
magnitudes varying between a maximum and no vibrations. This vibration pattern (vibration mode)
must be added to the three vibration sensitivity measures for a complete description of the vibration
(acoustical) properties of the plate. The positions of maximum vibrations are called antinodes and the
lines of no motion are called nodal lines.
BAR AND PLATE PROPERTIES
Nodal lines for a bar or a plate can be measured with a loudspeaker and particles sprinkled over the bar
or plate. Small pieces of foam plastic are placed under "suspected" nodal lines, see fig 5.3. The position
of the supports are adjusted to the real nodal lines after the measurement has been started.
Nodal lines of a thin rectangular spruce plate are shown in fig 5.3b. Nodal lines were first visualised by
Ernst Chladni, and another name of the nodal line patterns are Chladni patterns. A rectangular plate can
in some of its lower modes be regarded as made of broad bar along the grains or a broad bar across the
grains, see fig. 5.4. In the plate there is a certain degree of coupling between vibrations spread along
the two directions.
Figure 5.3. Vibration distribution for the resonances of a) a bar with free ends (an antinode marked with triangle and a
node with circles) and b) a rectangular plate with free edges (dashed lines are nodal lines, Sitka Spruce 362 x 210 x 3.7 mm
and 110 g).
Figure 5.4. Fundamental vibration modes of a) a free bar, b) a free plate across and along with no coupling, and c) a free
plate across and along with coupling.
Figure 5.5. Dimension of top plate blank for test of material properties; for violin: 385 x 215 x (20 in the middle, 7.5 mm
along edges) and for viola: 450 x 260 x (25 in the middle , 78 mm along edges) mm - proposal worked out by Gunnar
Mattsson, Stockholm's violin makers club.
Figure 5.6. Positions of holding (at circle H, full lines for the best but somewhat more difficult position to find, dashed lines
for the position simple to find) and tap positions for tapping (triangles T) for a blank (from Molin et al, 1988).
5.2 MEASUREMENT METHODS (resonant frequencies, antinodes and nodal lines)

In the process of experimenting, standard measures have been proposed for blanks, see fig. 5.5. If these
measures of blanks are used mechanical material properties can be measured by tapping. The tap tone
related to the closest tone of a piano, for instance.
METHOD OF TAPPING AND LISTENING (resonant frequencies).
The resonances of a bar or a plate can detected by taping and listening using the two main rules, c.f.
fig. 5.6.and 5.7.
Figure 5.7. Suitable way to hold a bar or a violin plate for tapping of a resonance. Hold lightly at a node and tap closely to
an antinode. Only the thumb, the index finger and the knuckle (at the moment of tapping) are allowed to touch the bar or
plate.
1. Hold lightly at a nodal line (one must hold at a nodal line).

2. Tap close to an antinode.
The method can be refined to obtain safer and more information by applying additional rules 3 and 4:
3. To suppress an interfering resonance - tap at a nodal line and hold close to an antinode of the
resonance to be suppressed. Note that one must hold at a nodal line of the resonance being
investigated.
4. With some practice nodal lines and antinodes can be localised in two different ways:
I) Start holding at a nodal line and tap at an antinode. Vary the holding point but not the tapping point.
Mark the holding points where the tap tone of the resonance can be heard the best. Connect the
holding points with lines. If correctly done, the lines mark nodal lines. Many "holding" points are
needed.
II) Hold at a nodal line and tap at many different points. Mark the points where the tap tone of the
resonance cannot be heard. Connect these points and the nodal lines have been marked. Many "dead"
points are needed. Method I should be more reliable but method II faster.
The author has found it convenient to hold the plate between the thumb and the index finger of the left
hand, c.f. fig. 5.7. The arm is held over the head as shown in the fig. 5.7 close to the right ear. The
plate is tapped with a finger tip (low frequency tap tones), a knuckle or a nail (high frequency tap
tones) level with the ear. The left arm is lowered or raised to position the tapping point close to an
antinode at the right ear. By determining the frequencies of the resonances in fig. 5.6 the violin maker
can determine the twisting, the longitudinal and the cross stiffness of the wood of a blank. Ultrasound
methods can also be used but the method presented has the advantage that no extra apparatus is needed.
Figure 5.8. Set-up for measurement of Chladni patterns of the three lowest resonances (a, b, and c) of the plate P. The
supports are marked with squares S, and the loudspeaker with circles L. Schematic diagram for measurement system
(d, from Molin et al 1988)
Figure 5.9. Measurement of vibration sensitivity: a) the plate P is hung in a frame F with rubber bands RB and the
measurement sond RT is fastened with wax in a corner. The measurement sond consists of a contact microphone and a
magnet. By means of an electric coil a vibration force is obtained. b) Vibration sensitivity for a blank measured as shown in
a (from Molin et al, 1988).
METHOD OF CHLADNI PATTERNS (resonant frequencies, nodes and antinodes).

Chladni methods to investigate vibrations of violin plates were probably first used by Felix Savart.
For this purpose he simplified the geometry of the violin to a flat triangular body. Lately the
method has been reintroduced and further developed by Beldie and Hutchins. They have investigated
properties of arched violin plates. The method is the following. The plate to be tested is placed over
a loudspeaker in a table, c.f. fig. 5.8. The plate is lifted up a cm or two above the table with four
pieces of plastic foam. Small particles, saw dust, tea leaves or similar, are sprinkled over the plate.
By means of an audio oscillator and a powerful amplifier (about 15 W) the loudspeaker gives a loud
tone. The frequency of the tone a adjusted until the particles jump the most. We have then found a
resonance and the frequency of the loudspeaker tone is the frequency of the plate resonance. The
positions of maximum jumps of the particles mark the antinodes. The particles will soon move and
collect at the nodal lines. The supporting plastic foam pieces should be positioned at nodal lines and
the loudspeaker at an antinode for the best results. Some experimenting may be necessary to find
such best positions. Thus the method gives resonance frequencies and nodal lines, but with a little
extra observation also antinodes.
LABORATORY MEASUREMENT METHODS FOR VIBRATION SENSITIVITY AND VIBRATION MODES.
The vibration sensitivity of a vibrating plate can be measured in the acoustical laboratory by a method
developed by Jansson and Alonso, c.f. fig. 5.9 The object is hung in rubber bands and the driving and
measuring sond is attached. The vibration sensitivity is obtained by slowly varying the driving
Jansson: Akustik fr fiol och gitarrbyggare sid. 5.9
frequency (c.f. glissando) and by simultaneously measuring the resulting vibration amplitude. A
diagram of the vibration sensitivity as function of frequency can be plotted within a couple of
minutes (c.f. fig. 5.2). The resonance peaks give accurately the frequencies, the levels and the
bandwidth at the resonances.
Optical methods have been developed by Biedermann, Ek and Molin to measure vibrations. The
advantage with the optical methods is that the measurements are made contact free, i.e. no weights
attached and disturbing the plate vibrations. The last apparatus in this development line is the
Vibravision. With a case containing a special optical interferometer, a laser and a TV-camera the
vibrations are made visible on a TV-monitor. The method gives quickly and accurately the
vibration amplitudes of the whole surface. Furthermore resonant frequencies are easily obtained and
with some work bandwidths and vibration levels. The method is much more sensitive than the
Chladni method.
Figure 5.10. Bars for test of material properties .
5.3 ACOUSTICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

friction)
OF WOOD (mass, stiffness, internal
Table 5.1. Density (kg/m3, mean from Haines, 2000).

Spruce
460 kg/m3
Maple (Czech)
620
Cedar (red)
390
Mahogany (Khaya) 550
Rosewood (Indian) 730
(Brazilian)
830
Ebony
1200*
Table 5.2. Stiffness (elasticity modulus GPa, 1 GPa is 100 "kg/mm2" from Haines, 2000).
shear
longitudinal radial
Spruce
0.84 GPa
15 GPa
0.76 GPa
Maple (Czech)
1.7*
10
2.0
Cedar (red)
0.65
9.1
0.72
Mahogany (Khaya) 0.63
12
0.90
Rosewood (Indian) 2.2
13
2.4
(Brazilian)
3.0
16
2.8
* for German subset no data for Czech one, GPa stand for billions of Pa (Pascal).
Table 5.3. Internal friction in the form of bandwidths at low frequencies (200 - 1000 Hz) and at high
frequencies (10 000 - 15 000 Hz) for longitudinal and radial bars (bandwidth B Hz at frequency F
kHz, B = F x log decrement x 3.14, calculated from Haines' data).
B longitudinal
Spruce
5.2 239
Maple (Czech) 5.5 226
Cedar (red)
5.6 173
Mahogany (Khaya)
3.8 321
Rosewood (Indian)
2.0 351
(Brazilian)
1.9 116
4.6
B radial
6.6 232
493
4.0 146
4.2 402
3.9 203
3.0 141
TEST BARS AND WOOD PROPERTIES

A wooden plate contains the three mechanical properties - it "tries" to unfold when folded, i.e. it
contains a spring, it has a specific mass (weight) and friction. It is interesting to know (how the three
mechanical properties mass, stiffness and internal friction) determine the vibration (acoustical)
properties of the plate. One way to test these properties is by means of test bars, see fig. 5.10. Often
the dimensions of the bars are selected to 100 mm length, 10 mm width, and 3 mm thickness. The bars
are cut along the grain (longitudinal bars) and across (radial bars, c.f. fig. 5.9).
The first resonant frequency of the bar is a measure of its elastic properties. The elasticity modulus
can be calculated from the resonant frequency, the geometry and the mass of the bar. In principle the
frequency can be identified by the tap tone method, except from the fact that the tap tone is very short
and weak. The Chladni method is however more suitable. The bar to be tested is laid on top of two
plastic supports shaped as wedges. The wedges are positioned 22.4% of the bar length from its ends
for the first (lowest frequency) vibration mode. The loudspeaker sets the bar in vibration and the tone
frequency is adjusted to maximize the motion of the particles, i.e. to the lowest resonance frequency.
With laboratory methods the internal friction and the twisting stiffness of the wood can also be
measured. Examples of elasticity modulus for vibrations along, across, and twisting along are given
in Tables 5.1-5.3.
PLATES AND WOOD PROPERTIES
A rectangular plate can sometimes be thought of as a bar of great width, both across and along the
grain, c.f. fig. 5.4. The plate will thus get the same nodal patterns as the corresponding bars across
and along the grain. In a real plate there is coupling between the vibrations along and across the
grain and the nodal lines will generally be bent, c.f. fig. 5.4c. Resonance frequencies of the plate can
be obtained by the tap tone method. The resonance frequencies, the nodal lines and the antinodes are
easily obtained with the Chladni method.
Figure 5.11. Typical nodal line patterns for spruce and maple - for the maple plate the frequency order is reversed compared
to the spruce platefor the higher two modes shown (from Beldie, 1965).
Such measurements may give the result shown in fig. 5.11. The lowest resonance has two nodal
lines forming a cross. In the second, the plate vibrates as a "wide bar" across the grains and in the
third resonance as a "wide bar" along the grains. If the plate material is changed to maple the second
and third resonance shift positions of nodal lines. This means that the first vibration mode of the plate
is a twisting motion. In the following two modes the plate vibrates mainly in two bending motions
across and along the grain for the spruce plate and vice versa for the maple plate. With resonance
frequencies, length, width and thickness known together with the density the three elastic moduli can
be calculated. This can be done with the tap tone method in principle. It may though be difficult to
find suitable sizes for plates to obtain suitable tap tone frequencies without destroying the material
for building.
Figure 5.12. Numerical experiments showing that the resonance frequency no 1 is determined by the shear modulus Gl
(lowest frame), resonance frequency no 2 by the longitudinal elastic modulus El (middle frame) and resonance
frequency no 3 by the transversal elastic modulus Et (topmost frame, from Molin et al, 1988).
We have experimented with blanks for top and back plates. By means of the Chladni method, the
resonance frequencies, the nodal lines and the antinodes can be recorded and if the vibration
sensitivity is recorded the internal friction can be measured in addition. We have started with a
standard size for blanks, see fig. 5.5.
For the blanks we will in principle obtain the same order of nodal lines as sketched in fig. 5.11b
(for the evenly thick maple plate). By means of computer calculations (finite element
calculations) we have proved that the three resonances are mainly determined by a single and separate
material property. The first resonance is mainly determined by torsion stiffness (the shear modulus),
the second by the longitudinal stiffness (the longitudinal elastic modulus), and the third by the radial
stiffness (the radial elastic modulus), c.f. fig. 5.12.
The computer calculations have also given simple formulas to calculate the material properties if
the test blank is close in size to our defined standard, i.e. the length and width measures should be
within 1 mm, the thickness within 0.5 mm. If so the density of the wood becomes the blank weight
divided by the blank volume (the volume is length x half width x (edge thickness + center
thickness) ). The elastic moduli can be calculated as follows:
modulus for shear
longitudinal
radial
17 x 1000 x weight x frekv2 Pa

89 "
"
"
"
4.4 "
"
"
"
For the shear modulus the frequency of the first resonance should be used, for the longitudinal the
frequency of the second resonance, and for the radial modulus the frequency of the third
resonance.
5.4. SUMMARY: VIBRATION PROPERTIES OF THE WOOD
After a repetition of properties of resonances, methods to measure these properties have been
presented: the tapping method, c.f. fig. 5.7, the Chladni method and by measuring vibration sensitivity.
Material properties for tone wood have been measured and how these influence the resonance
properties. Finally methods for determining material properties have been described, which can be
used in the maker's workshop.
5.5 KEY WORDS:
Resonant frequency, vibration sensitivity, specific vibration sensitivity, bandwidth, nodal lines,
antinodes, mass (weight), stiffness, friction, and elasticity (Young's) modulus.
Chapter 5.
Second part: TUNING OF THE TOP AND BACK PLATES OF THE VIOLIN
INTRODUCTION
In this second part some results are presented that can be useful for the maker. First the fundamental
principles for tuning followed by typical data of free violin top and back plates, and finally advices on
practical tuning of violin plates.
5.6. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES FOR TUNING (frequencies, bandwidths and nodal lines)
There is no simple answer either from the violin maker or the researcher on how a violin top plate
should be tuned. Therefore the reader should not expect to find such answers in this work. We shall,
however, look at some published works and compare the results with reasonable predictions, and
with the results of our own research. Dr. Carleen Hutchins has for many years worked with such
methods and is the most prominent maker-researcher of today. The results presented can be used by
the maker (both the violin and the guitar maker) to give clues in his own research to improve his or
her instruments.
TUNING OF A BAR (frequencies, bandwidths, and nodal lines)
The mechanical properties of the bar are stiffness, mass and internal friction. When wood is
removed from the bar both the mass and the stiffness is reduced. As the stiffness is more sensitive to
the thickness (proportional to the thickness to the third power) than the mass (proportional to
the thickness), then the resonant frequency (proportional to the thickness) decreases when the bar is
thinned by a constant amount over the whole length.
J. Alonso made series of experiments to investigate the principles of bar tuning. A number of bars
were made and their properties were measured. Thereafter wood was removed at well defined
positions with a milling machine. Nodal line shifts and resonant frequency shifts were measured, see
fig. 5.13.
The experimental results gave the following rules:
1) The resonance frequency is lowered in all cases except from thinning close to a free end.
2) The nodal lines are shifted the most but not much for thinning close to a nodal line. The closest
nodal line is shifted towards the near end, and the other nodal line is shifted less but in the same
direction.
3) The bandwidths were little influenced
For the bar this implies the main tuning rules:
a) the resonance frequency is lowered by thinning between the nodal lines, b) nodal lines can only be
shifted a little by thinning at nodal lines.
Figure 5.13 Frequency and nodal line shifts for thinning of a bar (from J. Alonso).
OUTLINE OF THE PLATES (Frequencies) :

Beldie (1969) made some experiments on the resonant frequencies and nodal lines of violin plates. A
flat rectangular spruce plate had the resonance frequencies and nodal line patterns shown in fig. 5.14
upper two lines. When the outline of a top plate is made, the Chladni patterns are changed and the
resonant frequencies are shifted. The frequency of the first mode is increased (mass is mainly removed
at antinodes, i.e. at the corners). The second resonant frequency has increased which should be
expected as the width of the plate is decreased. The frequency of the third resonance is decreased,
which also should be expected as the C-bouts give a plate of less width at the position of maximum
bending for the corresponding bar. For the last two cases detailed information on the nodal lines are
needed for more definite conclusions. Thus our main point here is: the outline of a violin plate has
influence on its resonant frequencies.
Figure 5.14.Nodal lines and resonant frequencies for a rectangular spruce plate (360 x 212 x 3 mm with the elasticity
modulii 8.9 Gpa and 0.52 GPa and the density 410 kg/m3), flat top plate with contour as a violin, and arched top plate with
bass bar (from Beldie, 1965).
Figure 5.15 Arch a) across and b) along the grains.
THE ARCH OF THE PLATES (Frequencies and nodal lines)

The arch height of a top or a back plate is fairly small. It is less than 1/5 of the smallest width (1/5
of 10 cm is 2 cm). The plates should therefore be regarded as somewhat arched plates (in
technical terms so called "shallow shells").
Figure 5.16. From a blank to a finished top plate - nodal lines and frequencies for a) the blank, b) 8 mm thick rectangle with
internal and external violin arching , c) as b but somewhat shorter and narrower upper part, d) 4 mm in the upper and lower
parts, and 5.1 mm in the middle, and e) the finished top plate 2.8 mm thick (from Jansson, Alonso Moral and J. Niewczyk,
1988).
The radius of curvature across the violin plate is of the magnitude 0.2 m and that along the plate 1.5 m.
The difference in radii implies that the arching will increase the cross stiffness more than the length
stiffness of the violin plate. Experiments were made with two arched rectangular plates, c.f. fig.
5.15 by Jakub Niewczyk, with cross and length radii, respectively, as given above. Thereby it was
found that
1) the first resonance had the nodal lines in a cross as for the rectangular plate
2) the plate become much stiffer than the corresponding flat plate for bending across the arch but
about the same for bending along the arch.
3) the influence of length/width together with grain orientations was large, i.e. the so called edge
effects are large.
For the plates with violin shaped outline it is not so simple to make detailed comparisons.
Assuming that the nodal lines are the same for the flat and the arched plates in fig. 5.14, this can
however be done. One finds that the first and second resonances increase considerably with the
arching (approximately 50 %). From the third resonance of the flat plate and to the fifth of the arched
top plate the resonant frequency is much increased (approximately 200 %). The effect of arching can
be "translated" in thickness. This means that the 50 % increase in resonant frequency from the length
arching corresponds to 50 % increase in thickness, i.e. an increase in thickness from 3 to 4.5. In
the same way the cross arching corresponds to a 200 % increase, i.e. thickness increase from 3 to 9
mm. Beldie's experiments imply a large influence by the arching on the top and back plate stiffness.
BLANKS, TOPS AND BACKS (Frequencies,
arching and thickness)

The development of the nodal lines of the finished violin top plate from those of the blank have been
investigated by Jakub Niewczyk and the author, see fig. 5.16. Starting with the blank we find two
nodal lines forming a cross for the first resonance. This nodal cross remains through all
following steps of adjustments. The second resonance has two horizontal nodal lines initially but
changes to those typical for the top plate in violin arched and 8 mm thick but still rectangular (step
b). This nodal pattern remains thereafter. Note that although the nodal lines changed from step a to
b the antinodes (at the edges between the nodal lines) remained and throughout the whole
experiment. The third resonance has in the step b one straight and one curved nodal line. The pattern
but upside down was found in step c.
In step d (the plate thickness varied from 4 to 5 mm) the fifth violin plate resonance, the ring mode
was found. The ring mode became more rectangular with further thinning. This experiment implies
that when the plate is worked to a certain thickness related to the arching, then the ring mode is
obtained. In step d the third resonance of the violin plate was found (which is the same as the fourth
of the blank). In the experiments the main features of the nodal patterns were little shifted with the
thinning in the different areas. The fifth mode was the most sensitive to thinning.
5.7 TYPICAL PROPERTIES OF FREE VIOLIN TOP AND BACK PLATES

DATA FOR BLANKS
Experiments have been made with blanks of the standard dimensions (see fig. 5.5) to determine the
relations between material properties and vibration properties. Ten top blanks and ten back blanks
(not necessarily typical material properties) gave the first three resonance frequencies which fell
in the ranges (tone names within the following brackets). By means of the formulas given in the
appendix below the vibration properties were estimated. For the top-plate blanks the frequencies were
270-333 Hz (C4-E4), 471-577 Hz (A#4-D5), and 596-727 Hz (D5-F#5). The masses (weights) were
445-545 g. For the back-plate blanks the frequencies were 326-352 Hz (E-F), 474-540 Hz (A#4C#5), and 682-770 Hz (E5-G5). The masses were 630-710 g. The nodal lines varied moderately.
Only in one case of a top-plate blank a large deviation was found.
Figure 5.17 Typical resonant frequencies, quality factors and nodal line patterns for top and back plates (L stands for
vibration level measured in the very experimental arrangement)
CLADNI PATTERNS (resonance
frequencies, bandwidths, and nodal lines)

The resonance vibrations have been recorded of free top and back plates by the Chladni method, see
fig.5.17. The three resonances can easily be recorded and can be used as guidance in making. In the
first resonance, c.f. fig. 5.17, both the top and the back plate have two nodal lines forming a cross.
The positions of maximal vibrations, antinodes, are at the edges between the nodal lines. Diagonally
positioned antinodes vibrate in phase. The antinode below or beside vibrate in antiphase (i.e. a twisting
mode).
The second resonance has maximum vibrations also along the edges and between the nodal lines, but
now in centre of the upper and lower edges, and at the C-bouts. The nodal lines of the typical top plate
are shaped as two vertical brackets )( and the nodal lines of the back plates of two horizontal but
bent nodal lines. Note that the vibration maxima are in the same positions both for the top and the
back plates but the nodal lines look rather different.
The third resonance, which in reality is the fifth resonance has a vibration maximum in the centre
and others along the edges. The nodal line tends to close and is therefore called the ring mode. For the
back plate the node is closed but for the top plate it opens at the C-bouts.
The typical nodal line patterns shown in fig. 5.17, were obtained from measurements of 14 top and
back plates, which had not been tuned. These nodal patterns can be compared with those of the
blanks. Thereby one finds that the first resonance has the same nodes for the blanks, the top and the
back plates. The second resonances of the blanks and of the back plates look similar. If one
compares positions of maximal motions one finds that these positions are similar for the second
resonances of the blanks, of the top, and of the back plates. There are also similarities for the third
blank resonances and for the ring modes of the top and back plates; maximal vibrations in centre
and at edges (at corners). The first, second and fifth resonances of the free plates could be used to
copy vibration properties of free plates. Carleen Hutchins has successfully used this method and it
will be presented in the next section. The implied similarities between blank properties and plate
properties must not be taken as evidence that the blank modes and the plate modes are the same. The
relations are far more complicated. The ranges of resonant frequencies and bandwidths (Q-factors) are
given in fig. 5.17.
From theory and measured nodal lines some general predictions can be made. In mode no 1 the plate is
twisting around the crossing points of the nodal lines. Thus reducing the thickness around the nodal
cross should give a large influence. In mode no 2 there is bending both longitudinally and transversally
with the main bending in the middle and thinning here should give large influence. In mode no 5 the
plate is bending both longitudinally and transversally, and is twisting. Thinning off the edges and off
the middle should give the largest influence on this mode.
Figure 5.18. Nodal lines for resonances 2 and 5 (average of five top plates) a) without f-holes (point-dashed lines), with fholes (dashed lines) and with bassbar (full lines) and b) with ribs (vibration mode 2 with dashed lines and two resonances
approximately as no 5 with full lines and cross lines, respectively, in cooperation with Hansen).
Table 5.4: Frequency shifts and average frequencies for five violin top plates (Hansen)
frequency change
with f-holes
plus bassbar
plus ribs
mode no 1
-7%
8%
-14 %
no 2
- 11 %
+4%
+ 11 %
resonant frequencies
with f-holes and bassbar
89 Hz
150 Hz
no 5
- 10 %
+ 13 %
-25 resp -18 %
342 Hz
F-HOLES AND BASSBAR
Two large additional changes are made to the top plate. The first one is the cutting of the f-holes
and the second is the instalment of the bassbar. Experiments were made together with Birgit and
Carlo Hansen, who made five top and five back plates of the same geometry with f-holes and
bassbar. The shifts of nodal lines and resonance frequencies were measured and the average
measures are given in fig. 5.18 and Table 5.4. The experiments show that the f-holes lowered all
three frequencies and the second and fifth the most (this should be expected from the experience of
the author). The bassbar influence the cross stiffness little but the stiffness of resonance no 1 and 5
considerably.
When tuning plates it is mainly the vibration properties such as resonant frequencies and modes of
vibration (nodal lines and antinodes) that are adjusted. It seems also to be advantageous to be able to
adjust the bandwidths. The possibilities for the maker are that he can choose properties of his wood
material, the arch height of the plates and their thickness distributions. In addition the violin maker
has some freedom with the design of the bassbar and the f-holes, and the guitar maker with
stiffening ribs and the bridge design. The tuning of violin plates is most common and will only be
discussed in the following.
For five top plates the nodal lines were investigated in detail, see fig. 5.18 and table 5.4. Thereby it
was found that the nodal lines of the resonances no 2 and no 5 cut each other in closely the same
positions. The positions were not noticeably changed by f-holes or bassbar and were also the same in
five back plates.
Figure 5.19 Suitable holding and tapping positions for tests of free top and back plates. Hold at circle (full line for the best
but somewhat more difficult place to find , dashed circle for the position simple to find but not the best) and tapping
positions (triangles) for a free top plate and back plate (the correct holding point should be within 10 mm of the given
measures).
5.8 ON PRACTICAL TUNING OF VIOLIN PLATES

GENERAL
The effects of changing material properties and sizes of the plates have been demonstrated. Note that
the order of nodal line patterns may change for very large changes of properties, i.e. the sizes of the
test blanks must not deviate much from standard. This shift of order implies that it is the resonant
frequencies and not the nodal pattern that are the most important. Therefore the frequencies of the
blanks obtained b tapping, c.f. Figs 5.6 and 5.19 are very important The results are supported by
experiments with blanks employing the Chladni methods, vibration sensitivity and optical
measurements.
Figure 5.20 General rules for tuning of the second and fifth resonance of the top plate (from Hutchins, 1983).
Figure 5.21 General rules for tuning of the second and fifth resonance of the back plate (from Hutchins, 1983).
By means of the tap tone method the violin maker can obtain the resonant frequencies of the three
resonances of a blank, c.f. fig. 5.6. He or she holds the blank at a nodal line of the wanted resonance
and taps close to an antinode, c.f. fig. 5.6. By keeping a standard size close to ours, the mass, and
the three resonance frequencies give a record of the wood properties. By using blanks of our sizes
the technically defined elastic parameters can be calculated. We hope that violin makers will start
to use this method and thereby be able to define blank properties suitable for their making and also
to give clues to choice of arching and thickness of plates.
CARLEEN HUTCHINS' RULES - MORE DETAILED TUNING
Carleen Hutchins has much experience with tuning helped by Chladni patterns and has given some
directions for use of the second and the fifth resonances. One should begin with a top plate
without f-holes and bassbar that is a little too thick, c.f. the leftmost sketch in fig. 5.20. Thinning at
the edge and a few centimetres inside lowers the frequencies of the two resonances by approximately
the same amount. If the plate is thinned in the regions just above or below the f-holes the frequency of
resonance no 2 is lowered more than that of resonance no 5. Thin from broken line towards the line of
dots. It should be possible to tune resonance no 5 with the bassbar.
For the back plate it is suggested to start from a thickness distribution as the leftmost sketch of fig.
5.21 Thinning along the edges as shown in the following sketch result in the frequency of resonance
no 5 being lowered more than that of resonance no 2. Thinning inside the corners lowers the
frequencies of resonances no 2 and 5 by the same amount. If the back is thinned towards the
centre then the frequency of resonance no 2 is lowered more than that of resonance no 5. Start by
thinning from the edges and towards the centre 3 to 2.5, 3.5 to 3 etc. and make the thickness
distribution more circular in the centre.
NIEWCZYK AND JANSSONS TUNING RULES
Table 5.5 Frequency shifts for thinning in different areas (-3/-9 means that a thinning on the outside (5.1 to 4.0 mm) gave a
frequency shift of -3 % and a thinning on the inside (4.0 to 2.8 mm) gave a frequency shift of -9 % (areas defined in table
figure).
Frequency shift
rel. previous step
for resonance
Thinning in area
1
no 1
no 2
no 5
-3/0
-1/-1
-1/-1
-2/-2
-2/-6
-3/-9
-8/-8
-9/-11
-4/-1
-6/-11
-11/-9
-1/-4
In the later steps of the J. Niewczyk experiments (fig. 5.16) the thining were made in such a way
that comparisons could be made with the presented experience by Hutchins. Thereby it was found that
when the whole plate was thinned, then the frequencies of resonance no 1 and 2 were lowered 70 % of
the thickness decrease, while that of the resonance no 5 was only lowered 50 %. For a flat plate the
resonance frequencies are lowered 100 % of the thickness reduction. Thus it can be concluded that
the arching has a large influence and mainly on resonance no 5.
The effects on frequencies of thinning in the different steps showed that the two outmost areas
influenced mainly resonance no 5 and the two central ones mainly resonances no 1 and 2, i.e. in
agreement with Hutchins' findings, c.f. Table 5.5. The results are also in agreement with theoretical
predictions and finite-element calculations.
Figure 5.22 Nodal lines and tuning of the bass bar. Shadings mark diffuse nodal regions. Start in a) with a too high bassbar
(17.2 mm and 313 Hz), in b) bassbar lowered to 14.4 mm (308 Hz) and ending in c) bassbar height 12.8 mm and 307 Hz
(from Bissinger and Hutchins, 1976).
THEORETICAL PREDICTIONS
Calculations with finite element methods predicted that the resonances no 1 and 2 should be the most
sensitive to the thickness and that resonance no 5 is the one most sensitive to the arching. Furthermore
the calculations indicated that the resonances 1 and 2 are the ones most sensitive for thinning in areas 3
and 4 but the resonance no 5 is most sensitive for thinning outside the middle (areas 2 and 3). The
presented information agrees on that the central thickness influences mode no 2 more than mode no 5
and that the bassbar influences mode no 5 more than mode no 2 (table 5.4).
BASSBAR TUNING
The Chladni method can be used to help with adjusting the bassbar, see fig. 5.22, which shows the
Chladni patterns for three stages of adjustment. With the very strong bassbar the nodal lines of
resonance no 5 do not pass the bassbar towards the nearby edge. The top plate is so stiff that it does
not want to vibrate in across the bassbar. By thinning and cutting down the bassbar the resonant
frequency is lowered approximately 6 Hz and at least a tendency for a ring mode is obtained. By
further successive thinning and lowering the ring mode starts appearing. The changes are large for
the nodal lines on the right side (as shown in the figure) but small on the left side. The last adjustment
on the upper and middle parts of the bassbar seems mainly to "fold" the lower nodal line up to the
wanted cutting point along the edge close to the bassbar.
Figure 5.23 Resonance no 2 and no 5 in the back plate a) with well balanced thickness distribution, the back b) with the
upper nodal line spread in the upper part (upper part too thick compared to the lower part) and back plate c) with the upper
nodal line of resonance 5 cutting the edges (plate too stiff between c bouts, from Hutchins 1989).
WHAT THE NODAL LINES CAN TELL US

If the nodal lines differ from the expected one, this means that the distribution of stiffeness and mass in
the plate deviate from the right one. If we learned the language spoken by the nodal lines, they tell
us what is wrong or erroneous.
Two examples of erroneously tuned back plates have been given by Carleen Hutchins, see fig. 5.23.
Only second and fifth modes are discussed. The Chladni patterns of the second resonance look as if
there is a central nodal line. This is, however, only an area of little motion and no nodal line. Thus the
second resonance has two nodal lines, the upper one shaped as a v and the lower one shaped as an
upside down v. The fifth resonance has an almost closed ring node. The plate in b) has an upper part
too thick compared to the lower one, which the distorted second resonance shows towards the second
resonance of the blank, i.e. a much too thick plate, but the fifth resonance indicates somewhere
between step d and e in fig. 5.16, i.e. a thin plate). With the central part too thick, the plate in c), the
upper nodal lines of the ring "spill over" the edges (comparison with the Niewczyk experiments
suggest that the back qualitatively is somewhere between steps b and d, i.e. a much too thick plate).
Thus there is at least a partial agreement between our experiments and the examples by Hutchins. The
deviations may stem from the fact that we are comparing a spruce top plate with a maple back plate.
Increasing the cross stiffness much, with the ribs for instance, gives the top plate two modes
corresponding to the third mode of step b the way it is shown and the upside down version. c.f. fig.
5.18b. The ring mode divides into two resonances.
5.9 SUMMARY: TUNING OF THE TOP AND THE BACK PLATE

This chapter has been more of a research character than earlier, as we are at present in the area of
research. It is difficult to give accurate rules for the best properties of a free top and back plate.
Therefore typical properties have been presented together with principles for tuning, i.e. principles for
how the resonances can be affected.
5.10 KEY WORDS
Resonance, frequency, nodal lines, resonance no 1, 2 and 5, the ring mode
5.11 APPENDIX FORMULAS AND CALCULATIONS

As a preparation for the physics experiments that the inclined violin maker might wish to carry out, the
formulas and calculations for the determination of material properties are given below. For these
calculations we introduce the bar length l, thickness t, and width b. Furthermore we introduce the
elasticity modulus E, the mass M and the density and the = 3.14.
FORMULAS:
a) Density of the wood the bar is made of:
M
blh
b) First resonant frequency of a bar with free ends:
1 E
F = h l2
(exact formula F = 1.028 )
c) If the first resonant frequency, weight and dimensions of the bar were measured, one could
calculate the elasticity modulus E =
l4
1 l3 2
2
F
=
M
F
h2
b h3
d) Specific vibration sensitivity SV =
1
blh 1
=
M 2 F
SM
e) Peak level RN = 20 log(
F
SV )
B
e-Bt . If the bandwidth B was measured, one could calculate the decay time T60 of
ln 1000 1
the free vibration T60 =
*
B
Note, the value of T60 is valid only for the bar or plate whose resoance delivered the B value.
f) Reverberation
NUMERICAL EXAMPLES
To give a feeling for material properties, usefulness of methods and formulas, some numerical
examples are presented in the following.
Example 5.1. The density of wood can be calculated by dividing the mass by the volume. A spruce
bar weighs 1.4 g and a maple bar 2.0 g. Both are 3 mm thick, 10 mm wide, and 100 mm long. What is
the density of the spruce and the maple, respectively?
Solution: with equation a

Mass of the spruce bar 1.4 g = 1.4/1000 kg
the volume is 100 mm x 10 mm x 3 mm =
= 100/1000 m x 10/1000 m x 3/1000 m = 3/1000 000 m3
density (mass in kg / volume in m3) =
= (1.4/1000 kg)/(3/1000 000 m3) = 466 kg/ m3
Calculated in the same way gives the density of the maple is 666 kg/m3.
Example 5.2. The elasticity modulus of wood can be calculated from weight, resonance frequency,
length, thickness, and width of a bar. Two bars of spruce cut along and across the grain (see fig. 5.9)
have the resonance frequencies 1710 and 390 Hz, respectively. Corresponding values for similar
maple bars are 1200 and 540 Hz, respectively. The bars have the same weights as in example 1. What
are the elasticity modulus in the four cases?
Solution:
A little calculation from the frequency formula above (the c equation ) gives the elasticity modulus as
spruce bar along (longitudinal)
15.2 GPa
spruce bar across (radial)
0.79 "
maple bar along (longitudinal)
10.1 "
maple bar across (radial)
2.2 "
(15.2 GPa = 15.2 x 1000 000 000 Pa = 15 200 000 000 000 Pa)
Example 5.3. The internal friction is measured in form of bandwidths. Examples of values for the
four bars (Example 5.2) are given below in the first column.
Solution:
The formula for the decay gives a decay time (-60 dB) of the values listed below in the second column
spruce bar along (longitudinal)
spruce bar across (radial)
maple bar along (longitudinal)
maple bar across (radial)
11.4 Hz 0.19 s
8.5 " 0.26 "
14.5 " 0.15 "
9.6 " 0.23 "
The decay times 0.15-0.23 sec are very short compared to that of a room, approx. 1 sec.
5.12. REFERENCES:
1. Carleen Hutchins: The Acoustics of Violin Plates, Sci Amer 245 no 4 1981, pp. 126-135.
2. Carleen Hutchins: Plate Tuning for the Violin Maker, Catgut Acoust Soc Newsletter no 39
1983, pp. 25-32.
3. Carleen Hutchins: Note for the violin maker in free plate mode tuning and plate stiffnesses, CAS
Journl, Vol.1, No.3, May 1989. p. 25.
4. Erik Jansson, Jesus Alonso Moral and Jakub Niewczyk, Experiments with Free Violin Plates, J
Catgut Acoust Soc 1 no 2 1988, pp. 2-6.
5. Nils-Erik Molin, Lars-Erik Lindgren and Erik Jansson: Parameters of Violin Plates and Their
Influence on the Plate Modes, J Acoust Soc Amer 83, 1988, pp. 281-291.
6. Erik Jansson and Nils-Erik Molin: On Tuning of Free Violin Plates, J Catgut Acoust Soc 1 no 3
1989, pp. 27-30.
7. George Bissinger and Carleen Hutchins: Tuning the Bass Bar in a violin Plate, CAS Newsletter
No.26, Nov.1976, pp. 10-12.
8. Ion Paul Beldie: Chladni patterns and Resonant Frequencies of violin Plates, InstrumentenbauZeitschrift, Vol.23, Feb.1969, No.2, pp.168-174 (in German).
9. Ion Paul Beldie, Measuremet of Resonant Frequencies of Violin Plates in the Tuning Process,
Industria Lemnului, Vol.16, No.4, 1965, pp. 141-147. (in Romanian)
10. Daniel Haines: The essential mechanical properties of wood prepared for musical instruments,
CAS Journal, Vol.4, No.2, Nov.2000, pp.20-32.
11. Franz Jahnel: Die Gitarre und ihr Bau (in German), Verlag Ds Musikinstrument, Frankfurt am
Main, 2nd edition 1973.
ACOUSTICS FOR
VIOLIN AND GUITAR
MAKERS
Erik Jansson
Chapter VI:
The Function, Tone, and
Tonal Quality of the Guitar
Fourth edition 2002

Index of chapters
Preface/Chapter I
Sound and hearing
Chapter II
Chapter III
Sound and the room
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX

Chapter 6 Applied Instrument Acoustics
THE FUNCTION, TONE AND TONAL QUALITY OF THE GUITAR
6.1 Construction of the guitar
6.2 Resonances of the guitar
6.3 The function of the guitar
6.4. Summary
6.5. Key words
6.6 Quality determining properties
6.7 Construction and acoustical properties
6.8 How to make the best guitar
6.9. Summary
6.10. Key words
Jansson: Acoustics for violin and guitar makers p 6.2
Chapter 6.
THE FUNCTION, TONE AND TONAL QUALITY OF THE GUITAR
INTRODUCTION
As a guide for this chapter on the acoustics of the guitar six questions have been set up:
1. What is a guitar?
2. What properties are built into the guitar?
3. How does the guitar work?
4. What is quality?
5. How do the different construction details influence the acoustical properties?
6. How to make the best guitar?
The questions are answered as well as possible in the following. But let us first look a little on the
acoustical fundamentals for the function of the guitar. And as the guitar string cannot be
separated from the guitar, this introduction contains a short repetition on the acoustics of the
guitar string.
A guitar tone contains a spectrum of partials. One effect of the number of partials is the timbre
effect of smoothness versus roughness. For a spectrum of one to four partials all played tones
sound smooth. If the number of partials are increased to six the played tone attains some
roughness. The perceived difference smooth to rough can be explained by properties of our
hearing. This is an example of how we can predict perceived qualities from acoustic
measurements.
But let us look further into the tone of the guitar. Three diagrams, the snapshots of spectra of a
note of the sixth string (an octave above the open string fundamental 165 Hz) are shown in Fig.
6.1. The three diagrams show the spectrum just after plucking, 0.2 and 0.4 sec later. We see here
that the uppermost "snapshot" contains 14 visible partials of different levels. The second
spectrum contains 9 partials and the third 7 partials. If we look a little closer, we can see that the
level for the different partials decrease at different speed, the lower five partials decrease
approximately 3 dB in 0.2 sec, the following 5 partials 10 dB and the higher four 15 dB.
A guitar sound can be synthesised, but not by only synthesising the partial spectrum (of the
string) in Fig. 6.1. Care must also be taken of the partials of the guitar body. Let me point out
another detail. If we look a little closer we can see that the sixth and eleventh partials have very
low levels - two obvious minima are to be found here. I shall later return to these minima and
explain what they derive from.
The player can select point of plucking along the string, direction of plucking and way of
plucking. But each selection will give a different spectrum and a different character of the played
tone.
Figure 6.1 Analysis of a real guitar tone
Figure 6.2. Effects of different plucking directions.
Figure 6.3. The production of the guitar tone (in principle)
We have seen that a musical tone consists not only of one single frequency component but a
number of frequency components, partials. Every partial corresponds to a specific mode of the
string vibration, a string resonance. The lowest partial, the fundamental corresponds to a
resonance with nodes at the ends and an antinode in the middle. In the second partial the string
vibrates with nodes in the ends and in the middle. Halfway between the nodes there are
antinodes. The two vibrations can be demonstrated by looking at the guitar string. To enhance
the second resonance the octave flageolet is played.
The following fundamental relation is valid: A partial can not be excited at the positions of its
nodes. The minima in Fig. 6.1 correspond to plucking close to the nodes of the sixth and 11th
partials.
Another plucking effect can be used, see Fig. 6.2. If the string is plucked perpendicular to the top
plate a strong but short tone is obtained, in principle as in the uppermost frame. If the string is
plucked parallel with the plate a long but weak tone is obtained. A more normal plucking at an
angle directed towards or away from the top results in a guitar tone as sketched in the lowest
frame and is best described as consisting of two parts. In the first part the vibrations
perpendicular to the top dominate and in the later part the vibrations parallel with the plate. In an
intermediate phase both parts contribute which result in a soft transfer from initial to the later
part.
6.1 CONSTRUCTION OF THE GUITAR
The guitar consists of six strings stretched over a wooden box (the corpus) elongated with a neck.
When a string is plucked the string starts to vibrate. The vibrations are coupled to the body via
the bridge and the vibrations of the body set the surrounding air into vibration, which gives the
guitar tone we hear, c.f. Fig. 6.3.
Let us look a little closer at the construction of the guitar, see Fig. 6.4. The back plate, has strong
cross bars. There are also such strong cross bars underneath the top plate under the fingerboard
and just on the opposite sides of the sound hole. This favours the top plate vibrations in the lower
part of the top plate, below the sound hole. Therefore we somewhat arbitrarily call this part the
"the free top plate part".
Two examples of the construction of two guitar top plates are shown somewhat more in detail in
Fig. 6.5. Again we see the strong cross bars under the fingerboard and one strong cross bar on the
other side of the sound hole. The "free" part is made stiffer by the transverse bridge, sometimes
combined with extra stiffening underneath the top, and mainly lengthways by thin braces. Often
slightly slanted, an extra crossbar can be found at the sound hole, see Fig. 6.5b.
Figure 6.4. The construction of the guitar - an example (after Sloane)
Figure 6.5. Examples of different constructions of the guitar top plate: common simple construction (left) and typical
handmade Spanish construction (right).
Figure 6.6. Typical measures for the classical guitar.
The measurements of a guitar vary moderately, see Fig. 6.6. The neck length equals half the
string length. Guitars may look different but still the external measures are rather similar. Note
that the bridge is positioned approximately halfway between the sound hole and the lower end,
i.e. approximately in the middle of the "free top plate part". The width and length of the "free
part" are approximately the same. The bracing system may vary considerably, positions, number
and dimensions. A most interesting question is: What do these differences do to the tone?
Figure 6.7. Function of the guitar, in principle (after Christensen)
Figure 6.8. For comparison with different loudspeaker enclosures a) open baffle, b) open back baffle, c) closed
baffle, and d) bass reflex baffle (after Cohen).
6.2 RESONANCES OF THE GUITAR

The fundamental construction of the guitar is thus an air volume enclosed by walls, see fig 6.7
top. The top has a part , the "free part" which is more easily set into vibration than the other parts.
In the top plate there is also a large hole, the sound hole. The construction is basically the same
as a rather advanced loudspeaker construction, the bass reflex enclosure, c.f. Fig. 6.8. The
properties of the guitar, this several hundred years old bass reflex enclosure, are mainly
determined by the top plate and the air volume resonances.
But the guitar has a back plate too, which can vibrate, i.e. we have the much more complicated
system, top plus volume plus back resonances to take care of. Experiments on this complex
system have shown (c.f. Fig. 6.7 bottom) that the back can supply prominent resonances to the
guitar body.
Figure 6.9. Top plate resonances recorded with hologram interferometry. The closed rings (fringes) connects lines of
equal vibration in the same way as lines of equal altitude are connected in a topographical map. Resonant
frequencies at a) 185 Hz, b) 285 Hz, c) 460 Hz, and d) 510 Hz, and e) 645 Hz. (guitar top made by G. Bolin,
interferograms by Molin and Stetson).
It has been shown that the two resonances are present by vibrating the guitar with a small
vibrator or a loud speaker. As the frequency of the vibrations are slowly increased, similar to
glissando, one can clearly hear the so called Helmholtz resonance or A0 and thereafter the first
top plate resonance. If the glissando is continued to higher frequencies higher resonances will be
heard. The vibration patterns of the higher resonances can be demonstrated with a rubber
membrane stretched over a set of sides for the guitar. Small pieces of cork are spread over the
membrane. The membrane is set into vibration by a small vibrator. For a glissando the "first top"
resonance will first be seen thereafter the second, the third etc. All show up at a specific
frequency, their resonant frequency and they all show different patterns. The nodal patterns
remind us of the patterns found for a real guitar top (measured with hologram interferometry, see
Fig.. 6.9)
Figure 6.10. Vibrations of a guitar body with neck (by E Meinel)
The guitar neck may also vibrate. The neck vibrations can cooperate with the body vibrations, c.f.
Fig.. 6.10.
In Fig. 6.9 it is shown that the lowest resonance of a guitar top plate has one vibration antinode (a
"hill"). The following resonance has two antinodes and a vertical nodal line in between. The third
resonance has two antinodes with a horizontal nodal line at the bridge, the fourth has three
vibration antinodes with two vertical nodal lines, and the fifth has four antinodes with two nodal
lines in a cross through the bridge. We have thus shown that there are many resonances in the
free part of the top plate. These resonances are important for the tonal quality. It can be seen that
except for the first top plate resonance, the vibrations tend to be small at the bridge and large
outside the bridge. In addition we have earlier shown that the guitar tone consists of several
partials, which are important for the tonal quality.
If the plate resonances are compared to the string resonances, similarities are to be found
regarding the position of antinodes and position of antinodes, see Fig. 6.11. The top plate
vibrations can be said to be a combination of string vibrations along and across the top plate.
Figure 6.11. String and plate resonances.
Figure 6.12. Air resonances at 370 , 540, 760, 980 and 1000 Hz - positions of pressure antinodes (thick lines),
pressure nodes (dashed lines), white and shadowed areas mark phase of motion - the same marking for in phase and
different marking for antiphase.
Figure 6.13. The production of the guitar tone including the feedback (in principle)
An air volume like the one of the guitar has many resonances too, see Fig. 6.12. These air
resonances can play an important role and co-operate with plate modes. To be able to use the
construction of a guitar to an optimum a monitoring of the co-operation between resonances is
important. The lowest resonance is especially important. The lowest air resonance can be
demonstrated with a small loudspeaker inside the guitar. With a glissando tone a strong
maximum is heard at the frequency of the air resonance, but also higher air modes may be heard.
6.3 THE FUNCTION OF THE GUITAR
Let us look more in detail at the co-operation between the strings and the guitar body, see Fig.
6.13 marked by the arrows pointing to the right. On plucking, the string is set into vibration and
thereby the top plate too. But the top-plate vibrations can also react to the string vibrations. This
reaction (feedback) has been marked with an arrow pointing to the left. The main road is though
from left to right. Too much reaction gives a wolf note - too little means a weak tone (the electric
guitar without amplifier).
Figure 6.14. Deformations of the guitar top plate Measured (with hologram interferometry, double exposure) for
different string forces: parallel with the top plate along the bridge (force 1 N, upper left), perpendicular to the top
plate (force 0.5 N, upper right), along a string (force 2 N, lower left) and torsion of a string (one revolution in the
middle of the third string, lower right).
Let us continue a little theoretically, to show how one can use the resonances to explain what
happens in the guitar body. We have earlier (in chapter 2 on resonances), explained the relations
between resonance vibrations, normal modes, frequencies and bandwidths. For resonances of the
top plate the same relations are valid. The resonances can be heard by tapping the top plate with
damped strings.
Figure 6.15. Definition of initial level and initial level fall.
The string and the guitar's top plate co-operate in the following way, c.f. Fig. 6.14. The string is
pulled from equilibrium in different ways and gives rise to three partial forces. The partial force
parallel with the plate gives a deformation reminding us of resonance no 2, c.f. Fig. 6.9. The
partial force perpendicular to the top plate gives a deformation corresponding to resonance no 1.
The increased tension of the string at the plucking gives a deformation corresponding to
resonance no 3. It can be seen that the top plate is most sensitive to the forces directed
perpendicular to the top plate and the least sensitive to the forces directed along the string. This
indicates that the string vibrations perpendicular to the top plate are the most important for
setting the plate into vibration.
An experiment to find how the guitar influences the tone was conducted by Graham Caldersmith
and the author. For the experiment two measures were defined: initial level, i.e. the level just
after plucking, and initial level fall, i.e. the decay of the level during the first second, c.f. Fig.
6.15. Three chromatic scales on each string were recorded.
Let us see how the initial level varies with different pitches, frequencies for single partials
(acoustically the analysis must divided into single partials as partials of different frequencies are
treated differently). We can see that the initial levels marked with the different bars mark a softly
bending line, see Fig. 6.16a, with maxima and minima.
We continue by looking at the initial level fall at different frequencies for the single partials (here
also the analysis must be made of single partials for the same reason as given above), see Fig.
6.16b. We can here see that the initial level fall marked with the different bars again mark a
softly bending line with minima and maxima.
In Fig. 6.16c a recording is shown of the sound resulting from driving the bridge with a small
vibrator and a "glissando tone" (the frequency response), which should predict the level of
partials at different frequencies (pitches). We can see that the level of radiation as a rule varies
greatly from one frequency to another - we can see marked peaks with valleys in between. What
does this mean? Let us try to find some relations!
Figure 6.16. From measurements on a guitar a) initial levels, b) initial level falls, c) sound radiation (in one
direction), and d) vibration sensitivity.
First trial: If we place Fig. 6.16a on top of Fig. 6.16b no relations are found (the two softly
bending curves indicated by the two set of bars do not follow each others).
Second Trial: If we place Fig. 6.16b up-side-down on top of Fig. 6.16a, we can see that the two
sets of bars indicate a similar curve. This implies that the initial level and the inverse of the initial
level fall tend to follow the same curve. We have found a relation between initial level and initial
level fall.
Third trial: Place now Fig. 6.16c on top of the Fig. 6.16a and the up-side-down Fig. 6.16b. Again
we see something. The sound radiation response predicts fairly well the initial level and the upside-down initial level fall. This means that the properties of the guitar tone can be tied to the
properties of the guitar body. This is nice but not as surprising as it may look. The sound
radiation peaks overestimates the initial levels but underestimates the initial level falls, though.
Figure 6.17. Force from string vibrations and sound.
Figure 6.18. Time history of sound levels for the same tone of a high quality guitar (HQ) and a medium quality
guitar (MQ).
It is very difficult to measure the sound radiation like that shown in Fig. 6.16c and it demands an
anechoic chamber. The same information is obtained by measuring the vibration sensitivity, see
Fig. 6.16d. To measure the vibration sensitivity has the great advantage that it could be made in
an ordinary room.
Thus the string vibrations predict the properties of a guitar, see Fig. 6.17. This is demonstrated
with the analysis of the tone of a high quality guitar. We see that the sound level curve and the
force level curve follow the same course. Further it can be seen that the start levels are the same
for the string forces but that the quickly decaying tone gives a higher initial sound level. I
believe much of the secret with the quality of a guitar is shown with the presented material.
In Fig. 6.18 we can see that a tone with high initial level may in spite of faster decay give a tone
of longer duration also for a fairly low level of the reverberant sound in the room. This indicates
that one guitar can be good for fast loud music but less good for slow soft music.
6.4 SUMMARY - THE FUNCTION OF THE GUITAR
In this part the construction of the guitar has been described, its function and its built-in
properties. Properties of played tones have been related to properties of the guitar.
6.5 KEY WORDS:
Resonances, frequency responses and vibration sensitivity, initial level and initial level fall.
Chapter 6.
6.6 QUALITY DETERMINING PROPERTIES
The results from three large investigations, one by Jrgen Meyer, one by Bernard Richardson and
one by the author form the sources of information to the second part of this chapter. The author,
in his investigation on guitars and their quality, asked: what is the most important properties of a
concert guitar. The answers showed that the "tonal strength" of the guitar should be the most
important. When asked, all guitar players answered that volume, carrying power, strength etc. are
desirable. Tone length and timbre should be the second most important, as six gave answers
relating to these properties. Further results are presented in table 6.1.
Table 6.1. The most important properties of the guitar (3 of 9 means that three of nine guitar players gave this
property as important)
1. Attack
3 of 9
2. Carrying
9 of 9
3 Dynamic range
3 of 9
4. Eveness
5 of 9
5. Timbre
6 of 9
6. Timbre plasticity
4 of 9
7. Length of tone
6 of 9.
Further an informal listening test (with trained listeners) with five guitars was conducted, which
gave the results presented in table 6.2. The three handmade Spanish guitars (no 1 to 3) were
perceived as better than the factory made Swedish ones (no 4 and 5) both in music performed live
and recorded. The order was slightly changed between the Spanish ones though.
Table 6.2. Quality order of five guitars (how well do the guitars sound, thirteen and nine guitar students SMH)?
rank
1
2
3
4
5
music recorded music live

guitar no 2
guitar no 3
1
1
3
2
4
4
5
5
RESULT: TRAINED LISTENERS ARE LIKELY TO JUDGE THE QUALITY OF A GUITAR

WELL AT A LISTENING TEST.
Tones from the open strings and their octaves were recorded on tape for guitar 1 and 4 for
listening tests. The tones were presented in pairs for the subjects and the subjects were asked to
judge which tone was the strongest, sounded the best and was the longest. The results are
summarised in Fig. 6.18. The tests showed that it was rather simple to make the judgements and
that non-trained listeners gave judgements with good agreements. The results for the tone lengths
are somewhat unpredicted as the tones were physically of identical length by "electronic cutting".
RESULT: AT COMPARISONS OF TWO TONES DIRECTLY AFTER EACH OTHER, ALSO
NON-TRAINED LISTENERS CAN EASILY JUDGE DIFFERENCES.
Figure 6.18. Results from three simple listening tests with tones of two guitars: How much
stronger is (18 guitar students), how much better timbre has (5 members of Dept Speech
Communication and Music Acoustics), and how much longer tone has (7 department members)
guitar 1 than guitar 4?
Figure 6.19. Long time average spectra for a high quality (1) and a medium quality (4) guitar.
Tones from recorded music was analysed in form of average spectra over a long time, see Fig.
6.19. Thereby it was found that the better guitar had a higher level up to 3 000 Hz. Within this
frequency range the less good guitar had a noticeably lower level below 200 Hz and above 400
Hz.
Meyer has conducted listening tests and measured properties for 15 guitars. The listening test
with recorded music showed that the quality order between the guitar depends somewhat on the
played music. The variations are moderate though. The guitars seem to group into three quality
classes, see Fig. 6.20.
For the 15 guitars also the sound radiation was measured. Three resonances (corresponding to our
A0, T1 and T3) were analysed in detail. Thereby it was found
Figure 6.20. Quality ordering of guitars A through P (1 is the highest and 0 the lowest quality) for different pieces of
music no 1-4, no 4-6 and all 1-6 (from Meyer).
Figure 6.21. Average spectra at filtering experiment. The total areas below the curves show non filtered, the
shadowed area the high pass filtered and the white area the low pass filtered average spectrum.
that the third resonance (our T3) was the most important: it should have a high level and a narrow
bandwidth. Further it was found that the second resonance (T1) should have a high level. The
first resonance (A0) should have a high level too. In addition A0 should have a large bandwidth.
Meyer also analysed the levels averaged over wide frequency bands. He found that the level
should be high between 80 and 1000 Hz to give a full sound, the level should be high between 1
000 and 3 000 Hz to give brilliance and clarity (a level that is too high gives a harsh tone
though). For the playing of chords a high level above 3 000 Hz is good. This high level affects
the tone just after plucking. A suitably high level in this range gives a clear and incisive tone but
a level that is too high gives a too harsh tone.
The importance of different frequency regions can be studied with filtering and listening
experiments, see Fig. 6.21. The filtering to give only components above 4 kHz demonstrate that
there is only plucking sounds here. The sound filtered to give components only below 2 kHz
sounds dull and hollow. With the sound filtered to below 500 Hz dull and "revelling" tones with
indistinct attacks are heard. The sound filtered to above 500 Hz sounds clear but very thin.
RESULT: TOO STRONG PARTIALS AT LOW FREQUENCIES GIVE DULL, HOLLOW
TONES WITH INDISTINCT ATTACKS. THE HIGH PARTIALS GIVE THE TONE
CLARITY, ESPECIALLY AT THE ATTACKS, BUT GIVES A THIN TONE IF THE
LOWEST PARTIALS ARE TOO WEAK. THUS A BALANCE OF SEVERAL FACTORS
SHOULD GIVE THE BEST INSTRUMENT.
6.7 CONSTRUCTION AND ACOUSTICAL PROPERTIES
For the guitar maker it is valuable to know how different construction details influence different
properties of the guitar. Therefore the vibration sensitivity was measured for a guitar top plate
after several steps of construction, see Fig. 6.22. The figure shows that the vibration sensitivity is
little changed, possibly it is increased somewhat at high frequencies by the braces and increased
somewhat at low frequencies after the top is glued to the sides.
The bridge influences the vibration sensitivity strongly. The vibration sensitivity decreases much
when the bridge is glued on. From this fact we can draw the conclusion that the bridge should be
one of the most important construction elements of the top plate. In a following step, a thinning
of the top plate edge gave a pronounced influence but the width of the glue joint gave little. The
experiments show that the bridge make the vibration sensitivity decrease the most; approximately
5 dB at 200 Hz, 10 dB at 500 Hz and more than 20 dB above 1 000 Hz. Meyer has experimented
with different shapes of the bridge and found that a bridge without "wings" gave the best result.
The resonance frequencies for the top plate at different steps of assembly with sides and back, see
Fig. 6.23. Again it is to be found that the large changes occur when the bridge is glued to the top
(only in this step are most connecting lines sloping, not vertical).
Figure 6.22a. Vibration sensitivity for a top plate in different steps of production: uppermost frame) vibration
sensitivity averaged for free top without bracing (dotted lines), for free top plates with bracing (dashed lines), and
top plates with bracing and sides (full lines); (second frame) vibration sensitivity for free top without bracing, (third
frame) for free top plates with bracing , and (lowest frame) top plates with bracing and sides lines.
Figure 6.22b. Vibration sensitivity for a top plate in a guitar body in different steps of production: summary
(uppermost frame) of top without bridge (dashed lines) and with bridge (full lines), (second frame) vibration
sensitivity without plates with bracing and sides but without bridge, and (lowest frame) as above but now for top
plate with bridge (c.f. Fig. 6.22a).
Figure 6.23 The shift of resonant frequencies at different construction steps for a guitar body, from the top glued to
the ribs (the uppermost line) to the completed guitar (the lowest line). Circles mark resonant frequencies and the
vertical lines (mainly) connect the same modes in the different steps (after Richardson and Roberts).
Figure 6.24. The bridge of typical factory made guitar and of handmade Spanish guitar.
RESULT: According to the measurements presented the most important part of the guitar body is
the bridge.
As the bridge is likely to be one of the most important parts of the guitar let us look a little more
in detail at the bridge. A guitar bridge looks as shown in Fig. 6.24, i.e. a high middle part to
which the strings are fastened and over which the strings are stretched. The bridge has two
lower "wings" on the sides. Factory made bridges seem to be considerably higher and more rigid
than handmade Spanish bridges.
Figure 6.25. The bending of the top plate along the bridge line for different forces: for forces parallel (1 N) with the
bridge and perpendicular (0.5 N) to the top (uppermost left frame - triangles and squares respectively),
perpendicular (0.5 N) to the top plate on treble side (second left frame), and perpendicular to the top plate on the
bass side (lowest left frame), c.f. Fig. 6.13.
The bending of the top plate with and without the bridge for the mode with four antinodes in the bridge line, and for
the mode with six antinodes (right frames after Richardson and Roberts).
When the guitar string is plucked, it is pulled aside and thereafter left to vibrate freely. When the
string is pulled aside it will exert forces on the bridge and on the top plate. Thereby the top plate
is deformed as is shown in the left side of Fig. 6.25. Only when a middle string is plucked
perpendicular to the top plate, the top plate is deformed symmetrically. When plucked
perpendicularly to the top plate besides the central line, the top plate tends to flip up at the nearby
bridge "wing". This is one demonstration of the cross-stiffening effect by the bridge.
The bridge has a marked stiffening effect on the top plate and thus affects the vibrations greatly,
see Fig. 6.25 right part. For the two resonances with deflections as shown in the figure their
resonant frequencies increase from 439 Hz to 622 Hz, and from 666 Hz to 1029 Hz, which
corresponds an increase in plate thickness from 3 to 4.5 mm. For a heavy bridge the frequency of
the first top plate resonance may decrease - the weight can give a larger contribution than the
stiffness increase.
RESULT:
THE BRIDGE GIVES A WEIGHT INCREASE BUT ABOVE ALL A STIFFNESS INCREASE OF THE
TOP PLATE. FOR LOW FREQUENCIES THE WEIGHT EFFECT MAY DOMINATE (A0 AND T1). FOR HIGHER
FREQUENCIES THE STIFFENING EFFECT DOMINATES AND IS VERY LARGE.
Figure 6.26. Calculated modes for a guitar top plate ordered after the number of antinodes (marked with plus and
minus signs for phases of vibration and nodal lines as point dashed lines (after Richardson and Roberts).
A better knowledge of how other construction details influence the properties of the bridge is
necessary. Richardson and Roberts have therefore conducted a large series of computer
calculations (with finite element modelling) for a guitar top plate fastened at its edge. The top
plate for which the calculations were made is sketched in Fig. 6.5a. As a start the plate thickness
was set to 2.9 mm, the cross bars were 14 mm high and 5 mm wide, and the braces were 4 or 5
mm high and 5 mm wide. There was no bridge on the top. Calculated vibration modes are
presented in Fig. 6.26. The modes are ordered as sketched in Fig. 2.13, i.e. after the number of
antinodes horizontally and vertically.
Figure 6.27. The effect of the crossbars and top plate stiffness on the resonant frequencies (from Richardson and
Roberts).
Richardson and Roberts say that the wood stiffness varies the most across the grains and
therefore the effect of a 50 % reduction in this stiffness was calculated, see Fig. 6.27. The
calculations predicts a dominating frequency shift of up to half this value (25 %) for the
resonances mainly oriented across the grains (modes with antinodes horizontally), which is in
agreement with theoretical prediction. In a second step the influence of the cross bar height was
calculated. The calculations show that the crossbars should give a large influence at least for the
low resonances which are oriented mainly longitudinally (modes with few antinodes in the
vertical direction).
Similar computer calculations were made for different thickness and brace heights, see Fig. 6.28.
The figure shows that a thickness reduction from 3.1 to 2.1 mm results in a large influence on the
resonance frequencies. The measurements by the author shows that a reduction of plate thickness
influences the level of the vibration sensitivity rather little and that the thinning along the edge
does the most.
In guitar making the braces (the fan bars) are usually considered to play a major role and a large
amount of different arrangements can be found.. It is therefore of great interest to calculate the
influence of the braces as Richardson and Roberts have done. Their calculations show, however,
that the braces influence the resonant frequencies of the top plate little, not as much as changes in
the top plate thickness. Possibly the braces give a slightly higher vibration sensitivity level than
without braces for frequencies above 500 Hz (from the authors experiments).
Figure 6.28. Influence of top plate thickness and height of braces on the resonant frequencies - vertical lines indicate
no change, leaning lines a change (from Richardson and Roberts).
Meyer has found in his extensive investigations using mirror symmetrical and fan shaped
bracings that a maximum of seven braces should be used, they should be positioned far away
from the centre line except for one brace along the centre. Increased number of braces improves
the evenness of the response at the price of a weaker tone.
RESULT: A THINNER TOP PLATE GIVES NOTICEABLY LOWER RESONANT FREQUENCIES BUT THE
LEVEL IS LITTLE INFLUENCED. THE THICKNESS ALONG THE EDGE SEEMS TO BE THE MOST
IMPORTANT. THE BRACES (THE FAN BRACING) SEEMS RATHER TO BE A FINE ADJUSTMENT.
6.8 HOW TO MAKE THE BEST GUITAR?
What answer can we find to this most important question? A recipe can unfortunately not be
given, the question is much too difficult. The information presented gives, however, some clues
to what is likely to be the best choice for experimenting in optimising a construction or a design.
In answer to our question of desirable properties for a concert guitar, we found that a strong, long
tone with colour were the most wanted properties. Analysis of played guitar tones showed that a
higher level was also perceived as advantageous. A balance between different frequency ranges
does seem to be needed: sufficient level between 80 and 1 000 Hz for a full tone, a high level
between 1 000 - 3 000 Hz for brilliance, the right level in the initial part for frequencies above 3
000 Hz for an incisive tone. Too high a level in the low frequency range gives a dull tone and
too high a level in the high frequency range gives a clear but thin tone. Listening tests have
shown that a stronger tone sounds longer without necessarily being so.
The guitar is not only top, sides, back and a volume. For an optimal design co-operation between
these and other parts are demanded. Antoine Chaigne has shown with synthesized guitar tones
that the dominating resonances in the vibration sensitivity curve can influence the perceived
quality, i.e. more than 15 resonances below 1 000 Hz. This means that the maker cannot hope to
be able to tune all noticeable resonances separately.
The experiments and calculations presented have shown that the bridge has the largest influence
on resonant frequencies and vibration sensitivity levels. The thickness of the top plate seems to
be the second most important, especially along the edges, and the width of the fastening is less
important than the thickness. The number of braces should be few and they should be fairly
strong. Many braces give eveness but at the price of a weaker tone. Small internal friction in
sides, back and neck seems also to be desirable. For low frequencies single resonances play a
major role and the maker must at least intuitively be able to tune some resonances relative to
others ( but not to the same frequency). The resonance T1 should be tuned in relation to the
resonance A0, and the resonance T3 in relation to the resonance A1. Good properties at high
frequencies should be determined rather by the general construction than the tuning of single
resonances.
MAIN RESULT: THE EXPERIMENTS SUGGEST THE FOLLOWING
DIFFERENT PARTS - BRIDGE, TOP PLATE THICKNESS AND CROSS BARS.
ORDER OF IMPORTANCE FOR
The conclusion from the (experimental) experience of the author is thus to start with a fairly rigid
but light construction (back, sides, neck and cross bars), a fairly thin top plate the properties of
which primarily are adjusted by means of the bridge and thereafter edge thickness and braces. A
good knowledge of the possibilities of bridge adjustments should be most valuable. In the
opinion of the author a high handicraft skill and a good feeling for the material must be
developed before experimenting after the sketched lines.
6.9 SUMMARY - THE TONE AND TONAL QUALITY OF THE GUITAR
In this part we have tried to relate tonal properties to resonance properties. Further the effect of
different construction details on the resonant properties have been described. Finally the
information have been summarised in suggestions for profitable areas of experimenting in new
constructions.
6.10 KEY WORDS
Carrying power, timbre, duration, resonant frequencies, resonance levels, bridge, top plate
thickness, cross bars and braces.
ACOUSTICS FOR
VIOLIN AND GUITAR
MAKERS
ERIK JANSSON
Chapter VII:
The Function of the Violin
Fourth edition 2002

Index of chapters
Preface/Chapter I
Sound and hearing
Chapter II
Chapter III
Sound and the room
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX

Chapter 7. - Applied acoustics
THE FUNCTION OF THE VIOLIN
Part 1: PROPERTIES BUILT INTO THE VIOLIN
7.1. Construction of the violin
7.2. Resonances of the complete violin body
7.3. Resonances of the free top plate, the free back plate and the asembled body
7.4. Summary
7.5. Key words
Part 2: INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT PARTS

7.6. The sound post
7.7. The bridge and the varnish
7.8. Vibration sensitivity and radiated sound
7.9. Summary
7.10. Key words
Jansson: Akustik fr fiol- och gitarrbyggare sid 7.2
Chapter 7.
APPLIED ACOUSTICS - THE FUNCTION OF THE VIOLIN
First part: PROPERTIES BUILT INTO THE VIOLIN
INTRODUCTION
We shall now talk about the function of the violin and especially about the
properties, which are built into the violin body. First I shall give a short
description of the construction of the violin and how I measure its function. As an
example a typical measurement of a Stradivarius violin is given. The properties built
into the violin will be described by means of the acoustical building blocks, the
resonances, their vibrations and the vibration sensitivity (mobility) of the assembled
violin body. Previously in chapter 2, resonances have been discussed, in chapter 5
properties of the wood and the tuning of resonances. We have also talked about
the fundamental function of the guitar body in chapter 6. The knowledge gained
previously shall be used in explaining the function of the violin body. Thus we shall
start with a description of the construction of the violin. Thereafter we shall continue
with resonances of the complete violin body. Finally we shall discuss resonances of
the free top plate, the free back plate, and the assembled body
7.1 CONSTRUCTION OF THE VIOLIN
The violin can be regarded as having two main parts (as the guitar):
1) the acoustic amplifier, the violin body, and
2) the strings and the devices for holding the strings such as the neck with tuning
pegs, the tailpiece, and the bridge.
The main outline of a violin looks is sketched in Fig. 7.1. The different measures
vary little, especially the measures from nut to top plate edge (130 mm) and that
from the nut to the bridge (327 mm). These measures are necessary, otherwise the
violin does not "feel" right for playing. The bridge is positioned at the notches of
the f-holes, at 195 mm from the upper top plate edge (on a line between the notches
in the f-holes). Note that the bridge position thereby is approximately halfway
between the upper and lower edges of the body (195/356). The waist (the Cbouts) is necessary for the playing of the first and 4th strings (the bow must not
touch the edges). Hereby the arching of the top plate and the bridge height play
important roles too. The outward bends above and below the C-bouts are called the
upper bouts and the lower bouts, respectively.
Figure 7.1 Typical geometrical

measures of a violin in mm
Figure 7.2 Typical weights of violin parts
The total weight of a violin including chin rest has been found to be typically
450 g, cf. Fig. 7.2. The 450 g is, however, probably a little high, and a total weight
of 400 g seems reasonable to aim at. The top plate, the ribs and the back plate make
up for a total of half the weight. Chin rest, tailpiece and fingerboard make up a third
of the total weight.
The acoustical amplifier, the body, is made of three main parts, c.f., Fig. 7.3. The
top plate is made of spruce and made arched (a shell), has two f-holes, and is
strengthened by the bassbar and supported by the soundpost. The edges of the top
plate are glued to the maple ribs with six blocks, the upper block, the lower block
and the four corner blocks. To the other side of the ribs the back plate of maple
(also made arched, a shell) is glued. The sound post is squeezed in between the top
and back plate, and its position can be adjusted if necessary.
Figure 7.3 Outline of the violin seen from top, and sections seen from the side and the bottom end;
bridge B, f holes F, top plate TP, ribs R, sound post SP, back plate BP, and bass bar BB.
The main function of the violin is the following. The player sets the string into
vibration by means of the bow. The vibrating string produces a vibration force on
the bridge, which is transmitted via the bridge to the top plate and thereafter to the
complete violin body. The vibration force sets the complete body into motion.
The vibrations of the violin body set the surrounding air into vibration, which
results in the violin tone we hear. The acoustical amplifier, the violin body gives
two types of amplification. First the vibrations of the strings (with small area) result
in the vibrations of the body walls (with large area). The violin body acts as an
effective sound radiator for sound relative to that of the strings. The phenomenon is
the same as stirring a cup of coffee - it is difficult with a tooth pick but with a
spoon it is no problem. Secondly the resonances of the violin body give extra
amplification at specific frequencies.
Figure 7.4. Force transformation of the bridge. A horizontal force in transformed into a couple of
Vertical forces at the bridge feet.
Figure 7.5. Measuring the acosutical properties, bridge vibration sensitivity of a violin by means of
impulse excitation (D string damping, H impulse hammer, M magnet, and C electrical coil).
Figure 7.6. Bridge vibration sensitivity of a Stradivarius violin ( "suspected" most important quality
measures P1, P2 and BH).
A Stradivarius violin is generally assumed to be the best when it comes to violin

quality. A natural question arises: How does a Stradivarius violin look acosutically?
What is it that gives the acoustical quality? How can one make a similar violin? We
shall work step by step trying to find answers to these questions. To find the answer
to the first question the acoustical properties of a Stradivarius violin must be
measured. The measurents must give a meaningful frequency response without any
danger for the violin. Just to hold an art-object (and utility article) like a violin
insured for several millions of Swedish crowns can make you nervous. At our
department we have developed the following method of measurements which meets
the demands, see fig. 7.5.
1) The violin is placed horisontally on top of two feltcovered supports. The
supporting points are in a plane and the lower supporting approaches the
supporting in playing.
2) The resonant vibrations of the strings are damped to avoid extra complications
(in the last version damp wedges of rubber between neighboring strings are used
except for the A- and E-string damped by cloth against the fingerboard). In the
soundproduction chain from string vibrations via bridge vibrations, body
vibrations and sounding tone it is only the bridge that offers a meaningful and
easily available measurement point. The bridge is furthermore a part frequently
replaced.
3) A small supermagnet 3/100 g is waxed at the bridge corner and the bridge
vibrations (velocity) generates a voltage in a small electrical coil at 1.5 mm
distance. The bridge (and the violin resonances) are excited by a small impulse
force hammer in a pendulum arragement. By using a mechnanical impulse
problems with electrical disturbances at the coil are avoided.The hammer has a
built-in force tranducer.
How does a Stradivarius violin look acoustically? Well, as the vibration sensitivity
curve in fig. 7.6. The upper frame shows the level curve (i.e. vibrations divided by
driving force) at each frequency and the lower frame shows the phase (the time lag
between excitation force and resulting vibrations) also at each frequency. The
Stradivarius violin belongs to the Jrnker foundation At the first glance the curves
look very complicated and not at all as the friendly curves within 3dB usually
shown for loudspeakers and microphones. From measurerments of other
Stradivarius violins we know that the curves are typical.
In cooperation with the Jrnker foundation (Dr. John Huber) we have been able to
measure the vibration sensitivity of about 25 violins of soloist quality. From the
measurements of these violins we have found three properties as suspected for
quality in the first approximation, see fig. 7.6. These are the peaks P1, P2 and the
Bridge Hill BH. P1 is between 400 and 500 Hz, P2 beween 500 and 600 Hz and
the BH, here a gently smoothed (not peaky) hill with a maximum between 2 and 3
kHz. The Stradivarius violin has also a peak at about 1 kHz not included in our first
set of suspected quality parameters. The level of the P2 peak is higher than the P1
peak. The BH maximum is level with the P1 peak. At P1 and P2 there are large and
clear phase changes. At the BH maximum there is a smooth phase change (not a
step) but still close to 180 degrees. Our working hypothesis is that P1, P2 and the
BH are the main parameters to determine the quality of a violin (in technical terms
we are measuring mobility, which will show single resonances effectively).
Figure 7.7. Top plate vibrations at the fundamental resonance of a violin photographed by means of
hologram interferometry (rigidly clamped at upper corner blocks and chin rest, from Jansson, Molin
and Sundin).
7.2 RESONANCES OF THE COMPLETE VIOLIN BODY

The violin body works somewhat differently than the guitar body but has still the
same fundamental function. The top-plate vibrations at the fundamental resonance
of a violin clamped at three points are shown in Fig. 7.7.
The figure shows three major effects:
1. The vibrations dominate in the left part, i.e., on the bass bar side and close to the
bridge foot at the bass bar side.
2. The soundpost acts as a support and gives a nodal line in the top plate at the
nearby bridge foot.
3. The vibrations have maximum amplitude (antinode) at the edge of the left f-hole,
i.e., the f-hole efficiently cuts a part of the top plate free from its edges.
Figure 7.8. Typical top and back plate vibrations (left pair) - the first air resonance at 275 Hz (A0,
the Helmholtz resonance, the air tone) and (right pair) - the fundamental resonance at 460 Hz
introduced above in Fig. 7.7 (from Alonso Moral and Jansson).
Thus the bridge in this resonance rocks around its foot at the sound post side. It
is a seesaw motion of the top plate, which is supported by the soundpost. A small
shift of the soundpost in the left or right direction results in a large change in the
seesaw properties of the top plate.
In fig 7.8 simultaneous vibrations of the top and the back plate are shown. At the
frequency of at 460 Hz mainly the top but also the back plate is moving. The
motions of the two plates are at one moment towards each other and at the next
away from each other. Thus the violin body swells at one moment but shrinks in
the following. At the lower resonance A0, the Helmholtz resonance, the two
plates move mainly in the same way. The A0 resonance works as an empty plastic
bottle - when squeezed, air is pressed out and when released air is sucked into the
bottle. The motion of air is maximum at the resonant frequency of the hole-volume
resonator.
Figure 7.9. Examples of resonances limited to the back plate (from Alonso Moral and Jansson).
But similarly to the guitar there are higher resonances both in the top and the back
plate of the violin. In fig 7.9 higher back-plate resonances are shown. The three
leftmost resonances are made up by two, three and four antinodes in the lower part.
The following resonance has three antinodes along the body and the other two
combinations of antinodes along and across the plate. Each of these resonances can
give amplification effects.
Figure 7.10. One-dimensional body resonances (from Alonso Moral and Jansson).
But there are also other kind of resonances, cf. fig 7.10. In the lowest resonance at
185 Hz, the whole violin vibrates as a bar with antinodes the tailpiece end, the
scroll and in the center. The resonance has thus two nodal lines one close to the
bridge and another one in the upper part of the neck. In a following resonance at
285 Hz the violin was found to work in a similar way, but now the neck with the
finger board are the main vibrating parts. Modal analysis has shown that there is an
additional nodal line in the position of the upper block for this resonance.
There are further resonances in which the top and back plates move as a unit, as the
upper and lower sides of a thick plate but presently the author regards these as of
second order importance and has chosen to omit these.
Figure 7.11. Typical mobility curve with vibration modes indicated at some of the lower resonance
peaks (from Alonso Moral and Jansson)
As was said earlier (chapter 4 second part) the bowed string drives the bridge with a
force of sawtooth shape. This means that forces from the string are mainly
transferred in form of repetitive impulses. The effect of an impulsive force have
been investigated in co-operation with the Lule University of Technology (Molin,
Whlin and Jansson). The result of such measurements are shown in fig 7.12 the left
part. The weight of a small pendulum was arranged to hit the bridge in parallel with
the upper edge of the bridge. The deformation of the violin body was measured at
different times shortly after the hitting. In the interferogram top left we can see that
the top is deformed at both bridge feet and via the sound post also the back plate. In
the cross-section figure bottom left the deformation has been sketched (much
exaggerated). The motion of the top and back plates is rather different for the
impulsive force than the motion of the 460 Hz resonances in Fig. 7.7. For the
impulsive force the top plate moves in oppsite directions at the bridge feet. For the
constant-frequency driving the top plate motion is mainly limited to the bass bar
side and the sound post acts as a fixed fulcrum under the seesaw motion of the top
plate.
FIGURE 7.12 Deformation of the top plate 0.125 ms after an impulse hits the bridge along its upper
edge (top left), the vibration deformation of 460-H-resonance (top right), sketch of deformations
(much exaggerated to show clearly) of the violin seen in cross-section for the impulse excitation
(bottom left) and extreme positions in the 460-Hz- resonance (bottom right, from Jansson and
Molin).
7.3. RESONANCES OF THE FREE TOP PLATE, THE FREE BACK PLATE,
AND THE ASSEMBLED BODY
The properties of the acoustical building blocks, the resonances, can vary
considerably. The properties of resonances measured in a large number of different
violins are shown in fig 7.13. Furthermore the resonant frequencies, and the
bandwidths are given.
It should be pointed out that there are other ways to analyse the resonances of a
violin, modal analysis for instance. This method has been used by Marshall and the
vibration patterns found deviates in some cases from the presented ones. These
deviations implies that one must be very cautious when measuring and interpreting
vibration modes. It is correct to say that the main character of our 460-Hz-mode is in
agreement with the result of the modal analysis measurements. Recent measurement
with our optical methods have confirmed previous results and therefore I have
chosen to present only our results.
Figure 7.13. Summary of resonant frequencies, tones, and bandwidths for the lowest air mode A0
(270 Hz), the 460-Hz-resonance (average here 420 Hz), a thick plate resonance (average here505
Hz), and the BH-resonance (average 2.7 kHz), assembled violins, from Alonso Moral and
Jansson).
J. Alonso Moral has conducted a well controlled experimental series with tops,
backs and ribs which were made under Carleen Hutchins control. Alonso Moral
selected three tops, three backs and three sets of ribs - one set soft, one average and
one stiff. Thereafter they were combined in a total of 12 violins in an experimetally
efficient way so that he could evaluate the influence of the top, back and ribs
independently. The results of his experiments are shown in fig 7.14 and in table 7.1.
In the analysis the ring mode, i.e. the free plate mode number five, was chosen to
represent the properties of the free plate. The influence of the ribs was found to be
small.
In the fig 7.14 is shown how the properties of the assembled violins were influenced
by the properties of the free top and free back plates. The figure is rather complex
and a very detailed description is needed for a complete understanding, but the most
important parts can be understood by the following simplified description.
The figure have three parts. Each part contains four frames. In the upper left frame
the relation between frequencies of the free top plates (their fifth resonances, the
ring modes) and those of the A0 of the assembled violin is plotted. In the upper right
frame the relation between levels of the free top plates (their fifth resonances, the
ring modes for a specific driving) and those of the A0 of the assembled violin is
plotted.
In the lower left frame the relation between frequencies of the back top plates (their
fifth resonances, the ring modes) and those of the A0 of the assembled violin is
plotted. In the lower right frame the relation between levels of the back plates (their
fifth resonances, the ring modes at a specific driving) and those of the A0 of the
assembled violin is plotted.
In the middle part the four frames show the relations between free plate properties
and those of the 460 Hz modes and in the lower part the four frames frames show
the relations between free plate properties and those of the thick plate mode at 500
Hz.
The crosses in Fig. 7.14 mark measurement points and the straight lines show the
relation between the assembled violin properties and the free plate properties. If the
line is leaning 45o there is a strong dependence. If the line is leaning less or more
there is a weaker dependence. A horizontal (or vertical) line means no dependence.
The relation between the A0 resonance and the free plate resonances are shown in
fig 7.14, top part figure. We see that there is no dependence between the
frequencies, the lines are closely horizontal. Between the levels of the free top and
the assembled violin A0 there is a strong dependence, the line is leaning close to
45o. This means that a high resonance peak of the free top plate resonance resulted
in a high peak for the A0 resonance. For the back plate there is a moderate
dependence, i.e. a lower level for the free back plate peak should result in a slightly
higher A0 peak.
FIGURE 7.14 TOP PART WITH FOUR FRAMES: (upper left frame) Relation frequency shifts free
top plate mode five to frequency shifts of violin resonance A0, (upper right frame) relation level
shifts free top plate mode five to level shifts of violin A0, (lower left frame) relation frequency shifts
free back plate mode five to frequency shifts of violin resonance A0 (lower right frame) relation level
shifts free back plate mode five to level shifts of violin A0, MIDDLE PART FOUR FRAMES, the
same relations for free plate modes and the 460 Hz mode, and LOWER PART, the same relations for
free plate modes and for a thick plate mode (from Alonso Moral).
Corresponding analysis for the assembled 460 Hz resonance showed that it was
strongly dependent on the properties of the free top plate, see fig 7.14 middle part. A
free top with high mobility level and a high resonance frequency resulted in a high
resonance frequency and a high peak level for the assembled 460 Hz resonance.
The back plate did not influence the properties of the assembled 460 Hz.
resonance
In the same way it is shown that the resonant frequency of thick plate resonance is
weakly dependent on the free top and back plate frequencies, see fig 7.14 lower part.
The levels of the free plates influenced the levels of the thick plate resonance peak
somewhat more. A higher level of the top plate gave a higher level, while a higher
free back plate resonance gave a lower level thick plate resonance peak.
TABLE 7.1. The dependence of A0, 460-Hz, and Thick plate on the properties
of the free top and back plates otherwise as Fig 7.13 (1 for maximum dependence,
large or smaller than 1 less dependence, from Alonso Moral).
RESONANCE
A0
460 Hz
Thick plate
TOP
Frequency/Level
0/+1.3
-0.6/+0.7
+0.2/+0.5
BACK
Frequency/Level
0/-0.3
0/0
0.2/-0.4
ADJUSTMENT OF TOP AND BACK PLATE THICKNESSES
Generally, poor violins have plates which are too thick. Therefore they are often
thinned to improve the tone quality. The result of 8 violins before and after such
adjustment is shown in fig. 7.15. It can be seen that it is mainly the levels of the
peaks that have changed. Only the frequency of the 460 Hz resonance has been
shifted.
FIGURE 7.15. Shifts of resonant frequencies and mobility with tonal adjustment (8 violins), filled
circles with single line crosses mark average and spread before and open circles with doubled line
crosses mark average and spread after adjustment.
THE IMPORTANCE OF F-HOLES AND THE THICKNESS

A series of experiments were conducted to test the importance of the f-holes and the
thickness distribution of the top plate. The f-holes gives the A0 resonance but also
the middle part of the violin top is allowed to move more freely. From the tuning of
free tops and backs we have learnt to influence these properties, but still we cannot
say from this how the assembled violin properties are affected. To examine the
influence of the f-holes and the thinning of the top plate, three experimental violins
were made. The first violin had its sound holes in the ribs. Step by step a slit was
sawn along the f-hole positions, see fig 7.16a. After every step the violin was tested
by playing and the mobility was measured, see table 7.2 and fig 7.16a. The test
playings and the measurements could be made very fast as the work was made with
the strings tuned all way through. Thereby the tonal quality changes could be judged
accurately and no uncertainties were introduced by variations in the atmospheric
conditions.
TABLE 7.2. Comments by test player at the cutting of f-holes, c.f. fig 7.16a.
STEP
0
1
2
3
4
QUALITY SHIFT
moderate
small
large
large
TONE QUALITY
very bad, bass especially
bad but now a violin tone
better but shrill
much better, no catastrophy now
slightly damped but longer tone
The results of these experiments showed that the long part of the f-holes, along the
fibres (1), should have less influence than the relatively short cuts across the fibres
(2, 3 and 4 the vibration sensitivity curves are normal, but not as clean as the
Stradivarius ones).
TABLE 7.3 Comments by test player at the thinning of top plate, c.f. fig 7.16b
STEP
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
QUALITY SHIFT
moderate
small
moderate
moderate
moderate
small
TONE QUALITY
full tone with substance
stronger tone, better timbre
worse and bad
better, now a musical instrument
better, timbre slightly Italian
better, more power
-
The second and third violins were made with 0.5 mm too thick top plates. The tops
were thinned step by step on the outside. The violins were tested by playing and the
mobility was again measured after each step. The fingerboard was screwed to the
neck and could rapidly be removed. As the thinnings were made on the outside of
the top plate, again several steps could be made rather fast, in some cases even
without detuning of the strings. The results for the third violin are summarised in
table 7.3 and fig 7.16b. The results of the experiments (violin 2 and violin 3 taken
together) showed that a thinning in area 6 gave a small change while a thinning in
areas 4 and 5 gave noticeable changes. The results indicates that the tuning of the
"ring mode" (cf Fig. 5.20 and 5.21) of the free plate is a reasonable and important
procedure as the same areas seems to beare the most important ones for the
assembled violin. Another interesting observation was made. Violin 1 (fig 7.16a)
had a marked BH (the hill between 2 and 3 kHz in the mobility curve) while violin 3
(fig 7.16b) had not. Why - is just now a hot question.
Another interesting observation was made during the experiments. The E- and Astrings were fair in the beginning but the D- and G-strings were awfully bad. After a
few steps the G-strings improved. Somewhat later the D-string improved. A few
steps more the D-string improved but the G-string became less good. Thus the
balance between G- and D-strings indicates when a violin is the best. No change of
strings were made. It is believed though that the result is independent of strings.
Figure 7.17. Influence on the P2-peak by back plate stiffness and soundpost position
The properties of the Stradivarius violin, fig. 7.6 (and soloist violins, fig. 7.12),
indicates that the P2-peak is very important (poor violins have in general a weak P2
peak and the holding for playing damps P1 more than P2, cf Fig. 8.9). Experiments
with impulse excitation, fig 7.12 indicates that the back plate and the sound post in
combination makes this peak Earlier experiments indicated that the back plate is
most important for the P2 peak. Therefore new experiments were made with a too
thin back plate stiffened by external cross bars. The results are shown in fig. 7.17
The figure indicates that the back plate stiffness sets the frequency - lowest for 0%
height and highest for 100% height. The figure also indicates that the soundpost
position sets the peak height f for shift closer to the f-hole and m for closer to the
centerline. A softer back plate gives a lower frequency. The peak height is increased
by moving the soundpost towards the centerline.
7.4 SUMMARY - PROPERTIES OF THE VIOLIN BODY
The fundamental properties of the violin body in form of resonances have been
demonstrated in the top plate, in the back plate, the bridge and the complete
assembled body. At low frequencies the resonances of the whole body dominate
except for the 460 Hz resonance and the air resonance. With increasing frequency
a large number of top and back plate resonances will dominate the body vibrations
of the violin. At high frequencies the bridge will give a major contribution. The
sound post gives a large asymmetry at low frequencies and the f-holes give in
addition to the air tone an effective release of a part of the top plate from the
stiffening effects of the ribs at low frequencies.
7.5 KEY WORDS:
Top plate resonances, back plate resonances, body resonances and the bridge hill
(the BH-peak).
Chapter 7
Second part: INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT PARTS
INTRODUCTION
In this part we shall introduce the influence of different parts, We start with the
sound post, a very small part but acoustically a most important part. We continue
with the bridge resonance and the varnish both their influence acoustically
somewhat exaggerated Finally the vibration sensitivity (mobility) and radiated
sound of very good violins will be presented.
Figure 7.18. Vibration patterns at peaks P1 resp P2, with soundpost (upper row),and without
soundpost (lower row, both with constant frequency driving, Saldner et al).
7.6. THE SOUNDPOST

In fig. 7.18 it could be seen that the violin without soundpost is symmetric in both
top and back except a moderate asymmetry for the top in P2.With sound post all
vibration patterns are asymmetic except the back at P2. The vibration pattern of the
back plate is moderately changed by the sound post. The soundpost introduces a
much larger asymmetry than the bassbar. The soundpost enforces a line of little
motion (the frequency of the resonances are also changed with the sound post).
The vibration sensitivity (the mobility) of the bridge is very dependant of the sound
post, see fig. 7.19. Without the soundpost a resonance dominates at approx 550 Hz.
With sound post both P1 and P2 can be found but now the BH dominates in this
setting. The frequencies of BH and the P2 seems to be little changed by the sound
post but the levels considerably.
The position of the soundpost affects the timbre of a violin. When the soundpost is
placed closer the bridge the timbre is sharper, further away it is softer. When the
soundpost shifted towards the centerline the timbre turns darker and when the
soundpost is moved towards the nearby f-hole the timbre becomes lighter. This can
also be concluded from shifts in vibration sensitivity of a violin, see fig 7.20. In
these experiments the soundpost was moved a large distance ( 5 mm) to guarantee
that the influence of soundpost position dominated over minor uncontrollable
variations of the violin properties. It is easily seen that with the soundpost closer to
the bridge the BH-peak was attenuated, but it increased with the soundpost moved
away. The level of the P2-peak increased much (+ 10 dB) when the soundpost was
moved towards the centerline and decreased when the soundpost was moved away
from the centerline (-10 dB, two soundposts of different lengths, but still stiff
compared to thetop plate, must be used in this experiment). The resonant
frequencies were less clearly shifted. The experiment indicates that P2 is most
important for low frequencies and BH for high.
Figure 7.19. Vibration sensitivity (level and phase for a violin (St Niewczyk 1992), with and without
soundpost (impulse driving).
Figure 7.20. Soundpost position, vibration sensitivity and timbre (impulse driving Niewczyk and
Jansson
7.7. THE BRIDGE AND THE VARNISH

In fig. 7.4 the fundamental function of the bridge was introduced a transformation
of a horisontal force from the string to a couple of vertical forces at the bridge feet.
The function of the bridge is similar to the case with a horizontal push of a person
which results in a couple of forces vertical - between the feet and floor. But the
bridge is not completely rigid but has a built-in resonance. This corresponds to a
motion of the human body above the waist, see fig.7.21. Corresponding bridge
resonance is at 3 kHz with the bridge on a non-moving support.
Figure 7.21. Illustration of the bridge resonance.
Figure 7.22.. Left curve vibration sensitivity of a bridge on a Stradivari violin and right curve the
same bridge on a new violin (St Niewczyk 1992)
Figure 7.23. Tuning of the bridge resonance, remove material at a and the resonant frequency is
increased, remove material at b and the resonant frequency is decreased.
A natural question is. How does the BH look for a good old violin? The difference
between a new and an old soloist violin is shown in fig. 7.22. The Stradivarius violin
has a gentle BH-peak but the new violin a pointed BH-peak allthough the same
bridge was set on the two violins. The peak properties are thus much dependant of
the violin body and not the the bridge only. It was decided to keep BH label for the
hill being a combination of Body Hill and Bridge Hill.
The BH hides something more than the resonance of the violin bridge. But what that
is the question? A definite answer is still missing but it seems to be related to top
plate properties in combination of the bridge. Except from the minor pointed peak in
the broad BH-peak the resonance of the violin bridge seem to be of minor
importance, see fig. 7.24. A normal bridge with a built-in resonance at 3 kHz and a
special bridge with its resonance at 7.6 kHz gives in large the same BH peak.
The resonance of the violin bridge can easily be tuned, see fig 7.23. The indicated
rules are as can be expected from fundamental physics (cf chapter 2).
Figure 7.24. The BH and the bridge normal bridge 3.0 kHz resonant frequency (thin line) with
cursor circle and special bridge without waist 7.6 kHz resonant frequency (thick line) vibration
sensitivity on a violin (St Niewczyk, impulse excitation).
Figure 7.25 A violin - unvarnished and varnished, respectively (sweep-tone measurement).
A popular saying is that the Stradivarius varnish is the secret of Stradivarius. This is
generally not believed by the makers through. The vibration sensitivity of a violin
before and after varnishing is shown in fig 7.25. The violin varnish was applied
much too thickly. The peaks of the curves were more pointed before the varnishing.
The other changes should stem from adjustments of soundpost and bridge. Informal
testplaying before and after varnishing indicated that the varnish made the violin
sound more dull.
7.8. VIBRATION SENSITIVITY AND RADIATED SOUND
Dnnwald has developed a special driving system close to ideal to measure
radiation. He has measured radiation properties of a large number of violins. Typical
results are shown in fig 7.28 for three different groups of violins, see fig. 7.26. In the
upper frame the radiation curves of 10 old Italian violins have been drawn on top of
one another. In the middle frame curves of 10 master violin have been drawn and in
the lowest frame 10 factory made violins. In the curves we see the air resonance
peak to the left for all violins. For the old Italian violins we can see two clear peaks
between 400 and 600 Hz. For the other two groups of violins these two peaks are not
clear, only traces can be seen.. The large differences are at higher frequencies
though, i.e. above 700 Hz. The old Italian show a clear up-hill to a maximum at
2.5 kHz and thereafter a clear down-hill. The master violins have in large a
constant level above 700 Hz, while the factory violins have a maximum at 1700 Hz
and thereafter a downhill.
Our way to measure the vibration sensitivity of the bridge is practical but do our
curves predict the radiated sound? A comparison of the Dnnwald curves with our
vibration sensitivity curves show obvious similarities P2 higher than P1 and a
maximum with gentle BH-peak, cf fig 7.27. Similarities at other frequencies can
also be found, A0 level (between 200 and 300 Hz).
Stradivarius has never been surpassed as a violin maker. Is the varnish the secret?
Let us first look at P1 and P2. Answer: No P1 and P2 are mainly set by the top, the
back, and the wood properties. Standard varnishing should be of minor importance
here. What about the high-frequency criterion, the bridge hill? This peak is to a
large extent determined by the stiffness of the top plate at the bridge feet. The
ageing of the wood under influence of the varnish may be important here.
Relative Sound Level (25 dB range for each frame)

Figure 7.26. Sound radiation (transmission driving to sound) for different types of violins (sweeptone
measurements, from Dnnwald).
Figure 7.27. Sound radiation of 10 old talian violins (Dnnwald) and vibrations sensitivity of the
bridges of 10 soloist violins (Jansson and Molin).
7.9. SUMMARY:
In this part the influence of the free top plate and the free back plate on the
assembled instrument been discussed. Furthermore the influence of the top plate, the
thickness, the f-holes and tonal adjustment been summarized.
7.10. KEY WORDS:
Resonances and different violin parts
ACOUSTICS FOR
VIOLIN AND GUITAR
MAKERS
Erik Jansson
Chapter VIII:
The Tone and Tonal Quality of the Violin
Fourth edition 2002

Index of chapters
Preface/Chapter I
Sound and hearing
Chapter II
Chapter III
Sound and the room
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX

FUNDAMENTALS OF THE VIOLIN TONE
Part 1: THE TONE OF THE VIOLIN
8.1. Fundamentals of bow-string interaction
8.2. Bow- string-tone.
8.3 Tone spectrum
8.4. Summary
8.5. Key words
Part 2: ACOUSTICAL QUALITY MEASURES
8.6 The Catgut Acoustical Society and Carleen Hutchins
8.7 Peakiness and findings of J Alonso Moral
8.8. Averaged spectra (LTAS) and time function (WPT)
8.9. Summary
8.10. Key words
Jansson: Acoustics for violin and guitar makers page 8.2
Chapter 8.
THE TONE AND TONAL QUALITY OF THE VIOLIN
First part: FUNDAMENTALS OF THE VIOLIN TONE
INTRODUCTION
In this part fundamentals of the tone production of the violin will be presented, i.e.
the road from bow via the violin to the tone radiated in the room. It starts with
describing the interaction between the violin bow and the string. It continues with
presenting how bowing parameters affect the violin tone. Finally the spectrum of the
tone and limitations set by playing, by holding and by radiation properties of the
violin are presented.
8.1. FUNDAMENTALS OF BOW-STRING INTERACTION
The tone of the violin is generated by the bow pulled perpendicularly across the
string, see Fig. 8.1. The bow hair is in contact with the string at a certain distance
from the bridge, at the contact point. The bow is pressed against the string with a
certain force, the so-called "bow pressure". The bow is pulled across the string at a
certain velocity, the bow velocity.
Figure 8.1. Physical bowing parameters, bow force (bow pressure), contact point
and bow velocity.
The bow is pressed against the string with a carefully selected bow force (bow
pressure). When the bow is pulled across the string, the bow hair is attached
to the string at the start. The string is moved with the same velocity as the
bow, i.e. the bow velocity. This phase of motion of the string is called the
stick phase. When the string has been pulled sufficiently far from equilibrium,
it is torn free from the rosined bow hair and slides quickly back. This phase of
motion is called the slip phase. The string slips past equilibrium, is caught by
the bow hair and a new stick phase starts. The procedure is repeated
periodically, i.e. stick-slip-stick-slip-stick etc. The summed duration of a stick
and a slip phase is constant and sets the fundamental frequency of the played
tone. During the stick phase the string motion is slow and during the slip
phase it is fast. The string vibration under the bow, stick, slip, stick, slip, etc.,
is typically as shown in the upper part of Fig. 8.2. This vibration of the string
results in a sideways varying angle, small but still an angle variation at the
bridge. The angle variations at the bridge results in a saw tooth force at the
bridge, i.e. the Helmholtz-movement, a sawtooth curve. The saw-tooth force
has a spectrum as shown in the bottom of Fig.. 8.2.
Figure 8.2. String motion at contact point, angle variations of string at bridge and
string forces at the bridge (all three seen from above), and tone spectrum of bridge
force.
At low frequencies, i.e. a long period time compared to the time window of analysis,
a step is obtained at the slip. Thereafter in the stick phase the force of the string is
close to zero until the next slipphase. This time function is the best record of the
force signal and can be thought of as whip lashes repeated with constant time
intervals, see Fig. 8.3. At high frequencies, i.e. short period time relative the time
window of analysis, the forces of the string give a constant spectrum. The spectral
description is very good. The partials of the spectrum decreases to 1/2 (6 dB) at
every frequency doubling (octave).
Figure 8.3. (Upper part) At very low frequencies a step of the force is caused at
every slip and thereafter slowly varying amplitude. A short time window gives a flat
pulse spectrum at the step, no spectrum signal between steps, and (lower part) with a
time window long compared to the period of the force signal, the normal case, a tone
spectrum is obtained.
8.2. BOW-STRING-TONE
A violin player selects the bowing parameters with high accuracy, consciously and
unconsciously. The player selects bow velocity, contact point bow-string (bridgebow distance), the bow position and the force the bow is pressed against the string
(bow pressure), see Fig. 8.4. By means of the selection the "right" tone is obtained.
The selection is continuously changed for the best result.
Figure 8.4. A violin string is played with a bow. The player controls bow velocity,
bow position, bow distance to the bridge (contact point), and the force pressing the
bow against the string (the bow pressure).
But the violin player can not select the bowing parameters freely. For a specific
value of the bow velocity the "bow pressure" must be selected within a permitted
working range to obtain a proper violin tone, a Helmholtz motion, see Fig. 8.5.
Playing close to the bridge gives a brilliant but a tone difficult to control.
Figure 8.5. Allowed working range (shaded area) for bow pressure (the force
pressing the bow against the string) at different bow contact points (after Schelleng
1973).
.
But a player can play soft or loud. This is done mainly by increasing the "bow
pressure", see Fig.. 8.6. The spectra show that increasing from pp to mf it is mainly
an amplification of the partials. But with playing mf to ff it is mainly the strength of
the higher partials that is increased. This is a typical feature of our traditional
musical instruments. Playing louder is not a simple amplification. It is also an
increase of the strength of the highfrequency relative the lowfrequency partials. One
can hear if an instrument is played soft or loud independent of the loudness control
of the amplifier of the record player.
Figure 8.6. Spectral differences between pp, mf, and ff.

When a car is started it accelerates up to the wanted velocity. Without an initial

acceleration no velocity can be obtained. The same is true for playing with a bow.
Initially the bow must be accelerated up to the wanted velocity. As the tone start is
crucial for a good tone the player must monitor the acceleration with high accuracy
for the perfect tone start, see Fig.. 8.7. The tolerance is only 5/100 sec for the
prolonged start and 9/100 sec for multiple slip start, if the tone start should be heard
as perfect. Starting with a low acceleration demands a low and very well controlled
bow force (bow pressure).
Figure 8.7. Typical allowed working range for perfect tone attack (range 2). Range
1 results in non-perfect "prolonged" attacks and range 3 in non-perfect "multiple
slip" attacks (after Guettler 2002).
8.3 TONE SPECTRUM
Let us again look at a comparison of radiation, of 10 old Italian violins, and the
bridge vibration sensitivity, of 10 soloist violins, i.e. two sets of the highest quality
of violins, Fig. 8.8. The similarities in spite of the two different ways of measuring
are obvious, i.e. in the P1, P2 and BH levels and frequency ranges. Unfortunately
there excists no measurement of radiation and bridge vibration sensitivity of the
same set of top class violins. Still it seems fair to draw conclusions, also for
radiation, of violins tonal properties from their vibration sensitivities of their
bridges.
The vibration sensitivity at the bridge of a violin can be measured under different
"boundary conditions" without external disturbances. The vibration sensitivity can
be measured for a violin freely suspended and held for playing, respectively (magnet
coil replaced with a miniature accelerometer waxed to the bridge). If the sound
radiation is measured in playing both the musician and the holding influences the
result. A comparison of a violin measured in our standard way and held rather hard
for playing is shown in Fig. 8.9. The P1 and P2 peaks are much influenced by the
holding. Influence is moderate at higher frequencies. A closer look shows that the
P1 peak is almost lost in the holding for playing. This is a further support that the P2
represents the main resonance of the violin.
Figure 8.8. Sound radiation (sound level, after Dnnwald) and vibration sensitivity
of bridge (mobility, after Jansson) of soloist violins.
Figure 8.9. Vibration sensitivity of a violin free on supports and held for playing
violinLeon Bernardel 1909 with cursor on P2.
8.4 SUMMARY
The correctly bowed string results in a Helmholtz motion at the bowing point, a
short slip-phase and a long stick-phase. The player must monitor the contact point,
the "bow pressure" (bow force), and the bow velocity with high accuracy,
especially with playing close to the bridge. For a perfect tonal start the bow force
and the bow acceleration must be accurately selected. Playing ff results in stronger
high partials and results in a perceived louder tone.
8.5 KEY WORDS
Slip, stick, contact point, bow velocity, bow acceleration, and bow pressure (bow
force).
Chapter 8. second part: ACOUSTICAL QUALITY MEASURES

INTRODUCTION
In this part properties of the played violin, its tone and its quality are introduced.
First the Catgut Acoustical Society is presented together with some major findings,
especially by Carleen Hutchins. Secondly results of tonal quality and violin response
properties, details as peakiness of the violin response curves by Mathews and course
properties as findings by Alonso Moral. Finally two methods of investigating
spectral properties (LTAS) and time properties (WPT), respectively, of played,
violin tones are presented.
SOUND LEVEL
8.6. CATGUT ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY AND CARLEEN HUTCHINS

Around Frederick Saunders, a physics professor at Harvard in USA, a group of
violin enthusiasts grew up and they called themselves facetiously, the Catgut
Acoustical Society. Today this group has grown out to some 800 members all over
the world. One of the methods used by Saunders was maximum sound level curves,
i.e. the sound level of each note a semitone apart played as loud as possible over the
complete range of the violin (these curves were somewhat unfortunately called
loudness curves, which with today's standard terminology is misleading). In Fig.
8.10 such sound level curves are shown for the average of five and for two single
Stradivarius violins (from Saunders: The Mechanical Action of Violins, J Acoust
Soc. Am, October 1937). The air resonance A0 was found at C sharp ca 260 Hz and
probably also the P1, P2 and BH as marked in Fig. 8.10. Saunders concluded there is
"main wood" resonance is just above the open A-string frequency.
A0
P1? P2?
-- BH ?--
FREQUENCY (Hz)
Figure 8.10. Sound level curves obtained from played tones (top frame) average of five Stradivarius
violins and (lower two frames) two of the Stradivarius violins separate (from Saunders).
Starting from the two resonant frequencies for A0 and for the "main wood
resonance" being close to the frequency of the middle two open strings of the violin,
Saunders, Schelleng and Hutchins designed a new family of violins, "The New
Violin Octet". The ordinary violin was acoustically rescaled into two new treble
instruments and into five lower tuned instruments. The instruments were made
possible to play by readjusting lengths, volumes and wood thickness. In the octet the
ordinary violin turned out to be too weak and therefore a new "Mezzo violin" with a
stronger tone was designed. This was obtained by increasing the size of the top and
back plates and decreasing the height of the ribs. The instruments are most
interesting from a timbre point of view as they are "acoustically normalised" to the
working range of the instruments. Especially the vertical viola, which has a timbre
and tone volume and which can be used as a solo instrument in the viola range
(Hutchins: Founding a Family of Fiddles, Physics Today, February 1967).
Figure 8.11. The new violin octet constructed Saunders, Schelleng and Carleen Hutchins and built
by Hutchins - string tunings and relative sizes for the big bass, the small bass, the new cello
(baritone), the tenor violin, the vertical viola (Alto), the mezzo violin, the soprano violin and the
treble violin (after Hutchins).
Carleen Hutchins has lately published results from investigations with violins and
violas of a new method (Hutchins: A Measurable Controlling Factor in the Tone and
Playing Qualities of Violins, J. Catgut Acoust Soc, November 1989). By means of a
small sound emitter inserted through one of the f-holes into one of the lower bouts
of the air volume and a small microphone through the other f-hole in the other lower
bout, the vibration sensitivity of the air cavity has been measured, c.f. Fig. 8.3. The
measurement is technically simple to make with no influence on the violin. The
vibration sensitivity has been measured for a number of violins and has been related
to their quality. A strong relation was found between the frequency separation
between two resonances, A1 and B1, and important quality properties of a violin,
see table 8.1 (A1 is the air resonance similar to A1 for the guitar, see Fig. 6.11, and
B1+ corresponds to the resonance at our peak P2).
Figure 8.12. Examples of vibration sensitivity curves with the new test method: The frequency
separation between peak A1 (at 485 Hz) and valley B1 (at 540 Hz) have been marked with a triangle
and the separation measured in Hz (after Hutchins).
Table 8.1. Frequency separation A1-B1 and typical tonal character for
corresponding instrument (from Hutchins, summary).
Frequency discrepancy Hz
> 100
70-80
60-70
50-60
Tonal character
very rough tone
bright and carrying
Bright, fine and carrying
solo instrument
Frequency discrepancy Hz
40-50
30-40
20-30
< 20
Tonal character
solo instrument
easy to play, not carrying
soft tone
soft and weak tone
Hutchins has also found that it can be advantageous to tune the free part of the
fingerboard of the frequency of the A0 resonance. This can be done by listening to
A0 with damped fingerboard and thereafter tune the fingerboard to the same
frequency with, damped A0. Unfortunately there is no published set of data on a
large number of violins suitable to test the Hutchins criteria on.
8.7. PEAKINESS AND FINDINGS OF J. ALONSO MORAL
The vibration sensitivity curve for a violin has many peaks and valleys. The
importance of the peakiness has been investigated with an electronic experimental
violin, see Fig. 8.13 (Mathews and Kohut: Electronic Simulation of Violin
Resonances, J Acoust Soc Am vol 53 no 6 1973). Thereby it was found that an even
frequency response like in the upper frame gives a peculiar insensitive violin tone,
but a moderate peakiness as in in the middle frame gives a more violin sounding
tone. Large unevenness as in the lowest frame gives a hollow tone. Thus it seems
that a violin should have the right amount of peakiness. Later experiments with the
same electronic violin have shown that a high level in the bridge hill range is very
important.
A similar type of electronic viola has been made for conventional use, see Fig. 8.14
(Gorrill: A Viola with Electronically Synthesised Resonances, Catgut Accost Soc.
Newsletter, no 24, Nov. 1975). A viola with damped top and back plate was
LEVEL
FREQUENCY (Hz)
LEVEL
Figure 8.13. Different peakiness used in timbre experiments (from Mathews and Kohut).
FREQUENCY (Hz)
Figure 8.14. Vibration sensitivity (mobility) curve for an electronic viola (from Gorrill).
provided with a pickup system similar to the one used in Fig. 8.13. An electronic
filter replaces the vibrating body and the sound is radiated via a loudspeaker in the
back of the viola. The electronic filter gives peakiness and broad hills similarly to
the vibration sensitivity of the viola, see Fig. 8.14. The instrument works well.
According to Gorrill the viola is not very sensitive to how it is adjusted in solo
performance and for playing together with piano. In the string quartet, it is very
important that the right amount of peakiness is adjusted for a good tonal quality.
Further the overall sound level must not be increased much, because this will make
the viola unacceptable in the traditional quartet music (the composers have evidently
tailored their music to fit the fairly weak viola tone and a removal of this weakness
gives the instrument limited use).
LEFT
RIGHT
Figure 8.15. Measurement positions for vibration sensitivity, left and right.
ACOUSTICAL MEASUREMENTS
As a summary of our early investigations at KTH, the main parts of an investigation

by J Alonso Moral are given (FIOL-80) with the important quality determining
parameters for the violins The results should be regarded as a step on the way to
determine the quality of a violin and not the final solution.
If a violin is set into vibration and the vibrations are measured at the driving point, a
measure of the vibration sensitivity (mobility) of the violin is obtained. In this
investigation the vibration sensitivity was measured at two positions on the bridge,
one at the G-string and the other at the E-string, see Fig. 8.15.
The vibration sensitivity can be measured with a tone of specific frequency (pitch)
and the vibration sensitivity at that very frequency is obtained. If the frequency is
slowly changed from 50 Hz to 10 kHz, then we can measure the vibration sensitivity
of the most important frequency range. This can be made automatically with
electronic devices and curves like the ones in Fig. 8.16a are obtained. This violin
was used as an example on a very good violin (it was lent to us before FIOL-80 and
the vibration sensitivity was only measured on the left side). Thus the vibration
sensitivity for 25 violins was measured in this investigation. Along the vertical axis
of the diagram the vibration sensitivity can be read for the frequencies along the
horizontal axis.
To avoid the influence from vibrating strings, the strings were damped with pieces
of foam plastic against the fingerboard. The violins were hung in rubberbands and
were thus isolated from external vibrations and resonances of the holding structures.
For the investigation, the tonal quality of violins submitted to the amateur violin
makers exhibition FIOL-80, were put at our disposal. Violins were selected
according to table 8.2.
Table 8.2. Violins selected from the FIOL-80 exhibition to the acoustical
investigations.
number of violins
tonal quality points
Class
10
7
7
72-62
60-50
48-32
I
II
III
IMPORTANT ACOUSTICAL PROPERTIES ACCORDING TO MEASUREMENTS
By looking at the vibration sensitivity (mobility) curve for the violin with Andrea
Guarnerius label, Fig. 8.16a, five peaks labelled A0, T1, C3, C4 and F are found.
This good violin has three strong and clean peaks marked T1, C3 and C4. The level
of these peaks we shall refer to as acoustical property 1.
Further we can see that these peaks are of similar height. The similarity in peak
height for these peaks should be referred to as acoustical property 2.
Other properties seemingly favouring the quality of a violin are indicated by the best
violin of the exhibition in Fig. 8.16b, in contrast to the not so good violin, Fig.
8.16c. The curve for driving at the left side (full line) and the curve for driving to the
right (dashed line) follow each other for the good violin above 1 kHz but not for the
less good one (for frequencies below 1 kHz. The vibration sensitivity is lower for
driving to the right than to the bass side). The similarity in course above 1500 Hz for
these two curves we refer to as acoustical property 3.
VIBRATION SENSITIVITY (10 dB/div)
FREQUENCY (Hz)
Figure 8.16. . Vibration sensitivity of a) a very good violin (measured earlier and only at the bass
side, F Ruggieri with label Andrea Guarnerius), b) the best violin of FIOL-80, and c) a less good
violin of FIOL-80. The vibration sensitivity measured at the bass side left is marked with a full
line and at the treble side with a dashed line (from Alonso Moral)
From the same diagrams (Figs 8.16b and 8.16c) a more marked level increase can be
found for the better violin for the driving at the left side. This acoustical property we
refer to as acoustical property 4.
ACOUSTICAL QUALITY POINTS AND TONAL QUALITY POINTS
In the preceding paragraph four acoustical properties were introduced, which are
likely to provide a measurement of the quality of a violin. These properties were
"weighted" by the acoustical measurements and compared with quality points given
by the test players. The result for the 24 violins from FIOL-80 is summarised in the
following.
The acoustical property 1 was weighted by the average height for the T1, C3 and C4
peaks for driving to the left. High level gives high points and this property should
correspond to a strong tone at low frequencies. The property correlates well with the
test players tonal quality points (correlation coefficient 0.53).
Property 2 was weighted by the summed level deviation of the three peaks from
their average. Small deviations give high points for this property. High points should
mean that the violin is evenly excited at low frequencies. It should correspond to
tonal evenness between notes in the low register of the violin (correlation coefficient
0.23 between property 2 and tonal quality points).
Property 3 was weighted by the similarity in level between 1500 and 3000 Hz for
driving to the left and to the right. Small deviations give a high point. The property
may predict the tonal evenness between different strings (correlation coefficient 0.17
between property 3 and tonal quality points).
Property 4 was weighted by the slope of the vibration sensitivity curves from 1500
to 3000 Hz, for driving to the left. A steep slope should result in a high point
(correlation coefficient 0.38 between this acoustical quality point and the tonal
quality points).
ACOUSTICAL EVALUATION
The relations between calculated acoustical quality points and the tonal quality
points of the test players are shown in Fig. 8.17. There is a good agreement with the
acoustical quality points and the tonal quality points, except for five violins.
The correlation between the acoustical quality points and the tonal quality points,
the five deviating violins excluded, is good (correlation coefficient better than 0.92).
ACOUSTICAL QUALIITY POINTS
Thus we have seen that the quality points derived from the selected acoustical
properties should be useful to predict quality of violins. This means that the
vibration sensitivity curves should measure important acoustical properties and that
the quality of a violin may be predicted from its vibration sensitivity curve.
Unfortunately, the very good violin, carefully selected by one of the top Swedish
violin players, was measured earlier and only at the bass side, an earlier standard
used.
TONAL QUALIY POINTS
Figure 8.17. Relation between tonal quality points and acoustical quality points circles with
numbers for well fitting violins, and squares with numbers for not well fitting violins. The F Ruggieri
violin marked with AG and the different tonal quality classes with I, II, and III.
AVERAGE LEVEL
AVERAGE LEVEL
FREQUIENCY (kHz)
FREQUIENCY (kHz)
Figure 8.18 Long-time spectra and played music (full lines the noted sample 2, 10 and 20 s,
respectively, dashed lines 100 s).
8.8. AVERAGED SPECTRA (LTAS) AND TIME FUNCTION (WPT)

It is well recognised that already after a few notes the player obtains a fair picture of
how a violin sounds. This is difficult to understand from physical point of view as
all partial tone spectra look different, even from the same violin. One way to attack
this problem is to filter the sound in a way that corresponds to our hearing and
average over a long time, long time average spectra (LTAS). In Fig. 8.18 it is shown
that the long time average spectra quickly give a "constant" picture. Long time
average spectra for 100 s is shown with a dashed line in the frames. Such spectrum
for 2 s, the full line in upper left frame shows some resemblance with the 100 s one,
the spectrum for 10 s and for 20 s show almost a perfect reproducibility of the 100 s
spectrum, see the following two frames in Fig. 8.18.
Also, with long time spectra groups of violins can be compared, see Fig. 8.19. Full
lines here correspond to the average spectra of 8 good violins, and the dashed line
represents the average of 7 less good violins. In the upper part of the frame the
difference between the two groups are shown. High levels for frequencies below 800
Hz, low levels around 1300 Hz, high at 2500 Hz and low level above 3500 Hz seems
to be good.
AVERAGE LEVEL 10 dB/div
Figure 8.19. Long-time spectra and quality. good quality (full line) and poor quality (dotted line).
Difference good-poor quality top curve. (observe the three "frequency scales" BARK, kHz and tone,
from Gabrielsson and Jansson).
With long time spectra and filtering the properties of the sound can also be
compared with the perception of the same sound, c.f. Fig. 8.20. Above 8 kHz there
is little sound energy, which thus should influence the timbre of the violin little.
Also partial levels above 4 kHz should give a moderate influence. The partials
above 2 kHz should, however, give a considerable influence on the timbre in
agreement with the picture shown in the middle frame (the shadowed area is
beginning to become rather large). The main influence should however come from
partials below 2 kHz. When you hear only partials below 1 kHz the tone is hollow
with indistinct tonal attacks (a little of this effect can be caused by the filter). With
more and stronger high frequency components, the tone becomes less hollow with
more clear attacks. Too strong partials at very high frequencies give a rattling sound.
If all partials below 1 kHz are removed it is still perceived as a violin although
violins with such a thin timbre do not exist. If all partials above 1 kHz are removed
one cannot recognise the tone as coming from a violin. A balance between different
frequency regions is thus important.
Figure 8.20. Long-time spectra and the influence of different frequency ranges on timbre (the Bark kHz relation is given in Fig. 8.19).
Also with long time spectra the properties of different strings can be compared and
can be characterised, see Fig. 8.21. The long time spectra of each of the four violin
strings are shown in the lower part of the frame. It can be seen that except for the
lowest hill the four curves closely resemble each other. Further it can be seen that
the G-string has the lowest level at high frequencies and that the partials vanish at
18 Bark. The levels became increasingly higher at high frequencies for the D, A and
E-string. This is shown even more clearly in the upper part of the figure where the
difference in spectrum for all four strings and the single strings have been plotted.
Figure 8.21. Long-time spectra and tones of different strings (the Bark - kHz relation is given in
Fig. 8.19, from Alonso and Jansson).
TIME FUNCTION - WPT

A simple synthesis experiment was made in which the initiating impulses and four
resonators are modelled as function of time, see Fig. 8.22. Result of the synthesis is
shown in Fig. 8.23. In the first line a period of the recorded tone and the
reverberation of the high-frequency resonance ("the bridge hill"). In the second line
the response to P1 and P1 plus "bridge hill". The synthesis is now much better.
Synthesis with P1, P2 and "bridge hill", the bottom line, makes fairly good synthesis
- although the high frequency ripples in the end of the period is missing. The 1000
Hz resonator changes the waveform somewhat but not much. Listening indicates
that the levels at the resonant frequencies and not the frequencies are the most
important. Furthermore it showed that the high frequency resonances dominates the
perceived timbre.
Figure 8.22. Tone synthesis in the time domain sketch of synthesis program
implemented in ALADDIN.
Figure 8.23 Result of tone synthesis in the time domain (upper row) one period of a
played tone and synthesis of BH-vibrations, respectively, (middle row) P1vibrations and P1- plus BH-vibrations, respectively and (bottom row) P1- plus P2plus BH-vibrations, and P1-, plus P2-, plus 1000Hz- and BH-vibrations,
respectively.
WPT-plot of
a played tone
BRIDGE VIBRATION
PERIOD NUMBER
TIME WITHIN PERIOD %
Figure 8.24. Time history of a violin tone (bridge vibrations, WPT-plot invented
and developed by F. Le Coustumer).
As a part of his "technical training" Frdric Le Coustumer developed the WPT
diagram, i.e. the Wave shape of a Period as a function of Time and the period
number, in a three dimensional drawing, see Fig. 8.24. The plot is of bridge
vibrations. To begin with the first period is plotted from 0 % to 100 % of period
time.. Thereafter the second period is plotted just behind the first (one step increase
in period number). The plotting is repeated over and over. It starts every period from
the x-value (0 %) and ends at x-value (100 %). The vibration is presented as the zvalue, the vertical axis. In the WPT-diagram of the bridge vibrations of a played
tone is shown in Fig. 8.24. The WPT-plot shows mountain ridges separated by
parallel valleys. Initially the impulse of the slip phase, the high leftmost ridge, is
seen followed by a highfrequency ripple, three minor ridges, a lowfrequency hump,
a broad and not so sharp ridge, and finally highfrequency ripple, two minor ridges,
before the periods end (100 %). The vibrations of later periods are larger than the
initial ones but the shape remains, the ridges and valleys are similar but more and
more clear. The period shapes are representative and varies little from period to
period.
8.9. SUMMARY
P2 (B1+) is the main resonance at low frequencies, but the BH should be at least
equally important. A specific peakiness is favourable. Synthesis in the time domain
is informative. The peakiness of the violin response curve is something positive.
High levels at low frequencies, low just above 1 kHz and high between 2 and 3 kHz
and low above 4 kHz are favourable for the violin tone.
8.10. KEY WORDS
P1, P2 and BH. Frequency ranges, peakiness, resonance peaks and level.

Acoustics For Violin and Guitar Makers

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Acoustics For Violin and Guitar Makers

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Dept of Speech, Music and Hearing

Sound and hearing

Resonance and resonators

Sound and the room

Properties of the violin and guitar string

Vibration properties of the wood and tuning of violin plates

The function, tone, and tonal quality of the guitar

The function of the violin

The tone and tonal quality of the violin

Sound examples and simple experimental material under preparation

Jansson: Acoustics for violin and guitar makers 1.2

Jansson: Acoustics for violin and guitar makers 1.3

Dept of Speech, Music and Hearing

Fourth edition 2002

Jansson: Acoustics for violin and guitar makers 1.4