Vibration and acoustic measurements of guitars with applications to luthiery, synthesis, and audio effects
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Integral to the music-making process is the instrument being played by the musician. Musicians are particular about their instruments, often searching long and hard for the sound they desire. Instrument makers regularly aim to build an instrument with a specific sound to support a given style of music or a player's preferences. However, the acoustic effects of these design changes are not well understood, and systematically testing the auditory effect of geometry or material changes with physical instruments is highly costly and time-consuming. This thesis explores methods designed to allow researchers and luthiers to more easily study design and material changes to instruments, providing a framework for auralizing the sound of an instrument that does not physically exist. Particular emphasis is placed on the acoustic guitar and its construction. Vibration and acoustic measurement methods for analyzing stringed instruments and their components are discussed. In particular, low-cost tools, such as impact hammers, accelerometers, and microphones, are presented, along with an augmentation of a laser Doppler vibrometer to perform scanning measurements. A purpose-built wood measurement device is presented with analysis to measure the internal material parameters of the wood. Simulated vibrational responses from finite element models are compared to the measurements with an optimization routine to predict the material parameters more accurately. A signal processing method is presented to process an electric guitar pickup to sound like an arbitrary virtual acoustic guitar. This method relies on the measured or simulated bridge admittance of the electric and acoustic instrument and provides an opportunity to study the sound of an instrument before it is constructed. Lastly, four studies into the guitar and its acoustics are presented. The first two focus on the construction process of acoustic guitars, the third looks at the influence of neck resonances, and the fourth explores the vibratory behavior of a resonator guitar. This thesis provides a framework for future studies into the construction and sound of stringed instruments, focusing on guitars.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2023; ©2023 |
| Publication date | 2023; 2023 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Rau, Mark Gregory |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Smith, Julius O. (Julius Orion) |
| Thesis advisor | Smith, Julius O. (Julius Orion) |
| Thesis advisor | Abel, Jonathan (Jonathan Stuart) |
| Thesis advisor | James, Doug L |
| Degree committee member | Abel, Jonathan (Jonathan Stuart) |
| Degree committee member | James, Doug L |
| Associated with | Stanford University, School of Humanities and Sciences |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Music |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Mark Gregory Rau. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Music. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2023. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/kx813bh3027 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2023 by Mark Gregory Rau
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