Preview

The Physics of a Guitar

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
636 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Physics of a Guitar
Physics of a Guitar (Rough Draft) The guitar is the most played instrument in the music world. The oldest surviving guitar is thought to be made around 1776 in Italy by Gaetano Vinaccia. Though, the guitar looks like a simple instrument to construct or play there is a lot of physics behind the creation of it, from the strings to the air inside, the anatomy, and the sound spectrum. There are three types of guitars that are made: nylon acoustic, steel-string, and electric. Acoustic guitars produce sound due to a complicated interaction called coupling. Coupling refers to the interaction between two or more vibrating elements. It depends on geometry, sound frequency, and the materials that are used to make it.
There are 3 parts to how a guitar works: the strings, body, and the air inside. The pitch of the string vibrating depends in four things. If the strings are the vibration will be slower. The frequency can be changes by string tension by turning the pegs on the guitar. Also, the frequency depends on how long the string that is free to vibrate and finally the mode of vibration.
The body of the guitar is to transmit the vibration of the bridge into the vibration of the air. It needs a relatively large surface area for the vibration of both the bridge and air. The body of the guitar is usually made of spruce wood or a light springy wood and it’s about 2.5 mm thickness. The top plate is made so that it can vibrate up and down easily enough. Now, the inside of the plate has a series of bridges that strengthen the plate. Those braces will also affect the way in which the top plate vibrates.
The air inside of the body of the guitar is important, especially for the lower rang on the instrument. That air is also coupled effectively to the lowest resonance of the top plate. There is something called the Helmholtz resonance, which is due to the air at the sound hole oscillating. That is driven by the springiness of the air inside of the body. Air is springy, if

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ap 1 Lab Ex 25 Answers

    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Generally, high-frequency sounds are heard less clearly, but results depend on the loudness of each of the tuning forks.…

    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1951 he introduced a prototype solid-body instrument that would eventually be called the Telecaster® guitar. The Tele®, as it was often called then and still is today, was the first solid-body Spanish-style electric guitar to be commercially mass-produced.…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    the problem of a vibrating string such as that of a musical instrument was studied by Jean le…

    • 1680 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    • Gibson introduced the Les Paul model electric guitar, which was destined to become one of the most popular rock guitars of all time.…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mariachi Music Essay

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There are four main instruments used in Mariachi: the violin, the vihuela, the guitar, the guitarron, and the trumpet. The vihuela is made in Southwestern Jalisco by the Coca Indians. A thumb pick is used so that the five strings can create a high-pitched harmony along with a steady foundation that is the core of Mariachi. It has a very similar look to the guitar but with a convex back. The guitar and the vihuela play the same rhythmic…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Annotated Bibliography

    • 3729 Words
    • 15 Pages

    The first class (41) includes instruments which, when played, do not contain the vibrating air. The bullroarer is one example. These are called free aerophones. This class includes free reed instruments, such as the harmonica, but also many instruments unlikely to be called wind instruments at all by most people, such as sirens and whips.…

    • 3729 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Some guitars have more, others have less, but six is the most common. Now if we take each string and attach it to a person or thing, you get something like this: 1. Ruth. 2. Walter. 3. Travis 4.…

    • 1537 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bass compare and contrast

    • 978 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Warwick's body is made up of Alder, and is covered with a beautiful almond sunburst paint job. The neck is comprised of maple with the addition of ekanga veneers, which allow the player to move up and down the neck more quickly. On top of the neck is a rosewood fingerboard that is inlaid with brass frets. The pickups on the bass are two passive MEC jazz style pickups, which are controlled with 4 knobs. These knobs allow the player to control the volume, the tone, the neck pickup, and the bridge pickup.…

    • 978 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Essay On Rockabilly

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Musicians would slap their instruments while they played to create a unique style and the roughness influenced later styles of rock and roll music. Different types of guitars and basses were used throughout this genres era. Once rockabilly died out, musicians tried to revive it in the 1970s and eventually rockabilly officially ended in the 1980s since classic rock and R&B was the new music genre craze at the time. The rockabillys aftermath caused the study of effects in technology. Mostly involving the electric instruments. The electric guitar was recognized slowly by popular music and was influenced by a man named Rickenbacker, who created a more amplified guitar. “So long before the early 1950s, when Leo Fender created his solid bodied Broadcaster and Gibson developed the Les Paul model, the electric guitar had begun a period of assimilation into vernacular musical styles. By 1954, electric guitarists had been influenced by the swinging low-string styles of Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, single-note solo passages by Hank Williams's Sammy Pruett, and the finger-picking styles of Merle Travis and Chet Atkins.” (C.Brewer). Rockabilly also influenced R&B music because the genre adopted the instrument and uses it as the main source for its…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Tidal Breathing

    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Once the bow starts playing on the strings it causes a vibration. Fingers play at specific points on the neck similar to…

    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Acoustic Guitar Essay

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages

    To allow for this occurrence, it needs a comparatively extensive surface area to generate enough momentum and push forth a feasible supply of air. The top plate of a guitar is usually made up of light, elastic wood, measuring about 2.8mm thick. Hence, it vibrates up and down pretty easily. On the inside of the plate, a series of braces/support are placed. This is done to ensure the strength of the plate itself. Despite the movement of the strings that tend to tolerate the rotation of the saddle, the plate must be kept flat. Acoustically, the back plate is deemed inferior for most frequencies. This is attributed to the fact that it is carried through against a player’s body. Concurrently, the sides of a guitar do not radiate much sound either for it does not vibrate in the direction perpendicular to the said surface.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pipa

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The body of the instrument is shallow, pear-shaped, and almost exclusively made of various kinds of smooth, valuable wood such as bamboo. The construction of the pipa is similar in many ways to the Western guitar, and is therefore not especially time-consuming. The back of the body is usually left plain, as it is unseen by the audience, but there are some specially-designed instruments, intended to be gifted at weddings or similar large events, that have intricate designs and murals carved into the back. (Example in bottom left photo.)…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Guitar Physics

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Next would be how you hold the guitar while sitting or standing. This is a very simple technique and very hard to do incorrectly. The back of the guitar will be flush against your midsection. If the guitar covers most of your torso, then it may be too big. If it is too big, it will be difficult to play smoothly.…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frequencies

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A sound wave is created as a result of a vibrating object. The object that is vibrating, is the source of the disturbance that moves throughout the medium. The object creating the disturbance could be the vocal cords of a person, the vibrating strings and soundboard on a string instrument, or the vibrating diaphragm of a radio speaker. If an object has the ability to vibrate, then it will produce sound. Almost every object when hit, struck, plucked, strummed, or somehow disturbed, will vibrate. The frequency or frequencies at which an object tends to vibrate when hit, struck, plucked, strummed, or somehow disturbed is known as the natural frequency of the object. If the amplitudes of the vibrations are large enough and if the natural frequency is within the human frequency range, then the vibrating object with produce sound waves that are audible. Every object has a natural frequency or set of natural frequencies at which they vibrate. The quality of the sound being produced by the vibrating object is dependent upon the natural frequencies of the sound waves produced by the object. The actual frequency at which an object will vibrate at is determined by a variety of factors. Each of these factors will either affect the wavelength or the speed of the object. Since frequency = speed / wavelength, a chance in either speed or wavelength will result in an alternation of the natural frequency. The role of a musician is to control these variables in order to produce a given frequency from the instrument that is being played. Consider a guitar as an example. The guitar has six strings, each having a density, a different tension, and a different length. The speed at which waves move…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mechanical Vibration

    • 9250 Words
    • 37 Pages

    Table of Contents 1) Introduction.............................................................................. 1.1 Background............................................................................ 1.2 Brief History of Vibration..................................................... 1.3 Basic Concept of Mechanical Vibration................................ 1.4 The importance of Mechanical Vibration..............................…

    • 9250 Words
    • 37 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics