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Design of A Classical Guitar2
Design of A Classical Guitar2
Design of A Classical Guitar2
There is a fundamental difference between a classical guitar and a violin in the way the sound is
produced. In both instruments the energy of the vibrating strings has to be transported via the
bridge to the soundboard. However finger picking the guitar strings leads to a short excitement of
the strings, where in the case of a violin the energy is more or less continuously added by the fiddle
stick. In the case of a violin the vibration of the strings brings the bridge into a movement,
perpendicular to the top. Some people describe the same phenomenon for a guitar but in fact it is
the wriggling movement of the bridge that gives rise to the waves in the soundboard of the guitar.
In designing a guitar understanding this difference is of primary importance.
Because the wriggling movement of the bridge is the main way the soundboard is excited the
dimensions and the other characteristics of the bridge of a guitar play a radical role in the design.
Because of the limited energy of separate notes of the guitar string every bit of energy should be
used to generate the sound we want to hear. But unfortunately the efficiency of that process is low:
for a "standard" classical guitar only 5 to 7% of the energy in the string is converted into sound
waves. It will be clear that one of the main challenges in the construction of a guitar is to look and
fight for every possible improvement of that efficiency. Prevention of every useless loss is a must.
The soundboard forms the vibrating membrane, which makes the music. The waves, introduced in
the soundboard should on one side dispose their energy by introducing airwaves, but on the other
side fade away slowly to show the desired sustain for the pitch involved. As for the bridge this asks
for a piece of wood, that is very light, but with enough strength not to be deformed by external
forces it is subjected to.
As in life it is good to go for the best in both approaches and instead of choosing one of the two we
will look for a combination of rigidity and flexibility of back and sides (see chapter The soundboard,
chapter The back and chapter The sides).
Vibration modes
For a good understanding of the construction principles as described in this article some basic
knowledge of possible vibration modes of the guitar top is needed. The traditional classical guitar
top vibrates in many ways, but some fundamental frequencies below 500-600 Hz are of prime
importance. These are the (0.0), (1.0), (0.1), (1.1) and (2.0) modes as shown in the image below.
These images of basic characteristic oscillations hold for a symmetrical top without sound bars
installed and will be used for some design steps in chapter Sound bars and chapter The back.
Interesting and useful background information on these vibration modes, their relationship and
effects on the guitar can be found in the references 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 23.
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