I certainly neglected to mention banjos, which have no soundboard
bracing, and are LOUD, and the 8 string guitar of Paul Galbraith, made
by David Rubio, which has a tailpiece to hold the strings (I have no
idea what the internal bracing of that guitar is, but Paul Galbraith
states very clearly that increasing volume was a high priority in the
project). The point is that bracing, whether ladder or fan, that gives
strength to the top so that it does not come apart due to string
tension, suppresses vibration and thus volume and sustain. So the
bracing could be minimized if the bridge/top did not need to cary the
tension of the strings.
A. John Mardinly, Ph.D., P.E.
On Jun 30, 2019, at 8:09 AM, ido66667 <[1]ishdai...@gmail.com> wrote:
I don't think the main reason is the lack of frets. Fretless acoustic
guitars, nylon strings or not, are both fretless and plucked and
their
sound is decent, both with regards to tone and sustain.
On Sun, 30 Jun 2019, 16:59 Miles Dempster,
<[1][2]miles.demps...@gmail.com> wrote:
Violins, violas etc. don't have frets. When plucked (rather than
bowed) the string vibration is dampened by the soft fingertip at
the
stopped end. I don't think that the sustain depends significantly
on
how the bridge connects to the soundboard.
Miles
On Jun 30, 2019, at 9:01 AM, Edward Mast
<[2][3]nedma...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:
A good question, Dr. Mardinly. What one notices, though, is that
when violins, violas, cellos and string basses have their strings
plucked rather than bowed, the sustain of the note is short (string
basses doing by far the best, and violins doing the worst with
pizzicato - plucked notes). It thus seems to me that the method
of
having the strings stretched over a non-fixed bridge as they are
for
the bowed instruments, works very well for transmitting the
vibrations of the strings to the instrument when they are bowed,
and
not so well at all when they're plucked. The fixed bridges with
strings attached as on guitars, lutes, etc. seems to be the best
way
of transmitting the vibrations to the instrument when the strings
are plucked, rather than bowed.
A luthier's explanation of this would be welcome.
Ned
On Jun 29, 2019, at 3:50 PM, John Mardinly
<[3][4]john.mardi...@asu.edu> wrote:
Spot on explanation of what physics does to sound boards. The big
question that I have never had answered is why do plucked string
instruments have the string tension carried by the soundboard
itself, instead of having the string tension carried by the body of
the instrument via a tailpiece the way violins, violas, cellos and
string basses do?
A. John Mardinly, Ph.D., P.E.
To get on or off this list see list information at
[4][5]https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cs.dar
tmouth.edu_-7Ewbc_lute-2Dadmin_index.html&d=DwIBAg&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQ
usp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=VLPJ8OE-c_C6joGeE1ftlvxMmQPq9N6mpKZON
BRt90E&m=eqcReZc_h0V-oNUhDyGAxeTGNr5XaMO2xL6rAqw4bBk&s=E4t5dhShK6Htw
vMulobNgvr1D1t4_18SiOUonYqrSUE&e=
--
References
1. [6]mailto:miles.demps...@gmail.com
2. [7]mailto:nedma...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu
3. [8]mailto:john.mardi...@asu.edu
4.
[9]https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cs.dartmouth
.edu_-7Ewbc_lute-2Dadmin_index.html&d=DwIBAg&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n
1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=VLPJ8OE-c_C6joGeE1ftlvxMmQPq9N6mpKZONBRt90E&m=eqc
ReZc_h0V-oNUhDyGAxeTGNr5XaMO2xL6rAqw4bBk&s=E4t5dhShK6HtwvMulobNgvr1D1t4
_18SiOUonYqrSUE&e=
--
References
1. mailto:ishdai...@gmail.com
2. mailto:miles.demps...@gmail.com
3. mailto:nedma...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu
4. mailto:john.mardi...@asu.edu
5.
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cs.dartmouth.edu_-7Ewbc_lute-2Dadmin_index.html&d=DwIBAg&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=VLPJ8OE-c_C6joGeE1ftlvxMmQPq9N6mpKZONBRt90E&m=eqcReZc_h0V-oNUhDyGAxeTGNr5XaMO2xL6rAqw4bBk&s=E4t5dhShK6HtwvMulobNgvr1D1t4_18SiOUonYqrSUE&e=
6. mailto:miles.demps...@gmail.com
7. mailto:nedma...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu
8. mailto:john.mardi...@asu.edu
9.
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cs.dartmouth.edu_-7Ewbc_lute-2Dadmin_index.html&d=DwIBAg&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=VLPJ8OE-c_C6joGeE1ftlvxMmQPq9N6mpKZONBRt90E&m=eqcReZc_h0V-oNUhDyGAxeTGNr5XaMO2xL6rAqw4bBk&s=E4t5dhShK6HtwvMulobNgvr1D1t4_18SiOUonYqrSUE&e=
