Abstract
There is no topic in guitar design more contentious or supported by more ambiguous data than sound quality. The quality of the sound produced by a guitar, often called tone or tonal quality, is obviously one of its most important qualities, but it may be the thing we know least about.
French’s Law: For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Bartolini W and Bartolini PA (1982) Experimental Studies of the Acoustics of Classic and Flamenco Guitars. Journal of Guitar Acoustics, 6
Gilbert J (1984) Intonation and Fret Placement. Soundboard 26–27
Byers G (2006) Classical Guitar Intonation, in Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Vol. 4 1994–1996. Guild of American Luthiers
Varieschi GU and Gower CM (2010) Intonation and Compensation of Fretted String Instruments. American Journal of Physics 78(1)
Elmendorp S (2010) It’s All About the Core – Or How to Estimate Compensation. American Lutherie 104 56–60
Gore T (2011) Contemporary Guitar Design and Build – Volume 1: Design
Magliari G and MacRostie D (2011) Beyond the Rule of 18: Intonation for the 21st Century Guild of American Luthiers 2011 Convention, Tacoma
D’Addario Web Site, http://www.daddario.com, last visited Aug 5, 2011
Earvana Web Site, http://www.earvana.com, last visited Aug 1, 2011
Buzz Feiten Web Site, http://www.buzzfeiten.com, last visited Aug 1, 2011
Personal conversation, May 2011
True Temperament Web Site, http://www.truetemperament.com, site last visited Aug 5, 2011
Lehman B (2005) Bach’s Extraordinary Temperament: Our Rosetta Stone. Early Music, 33(1), pp 3–23
Patoski JN (2008) Willie Nelson: An Epic Life. Little, Brown and Company
Jaroszewski A, Rakowsky A and Sera J (1978) Opening Transients and the Quality of Classical Guitars. Archives of Acoustics 3(2) 79–84
Orduña-Bustamante F (1992) Experiments on the Relation between Acoustical Properties and the Subjective Quality of Classical Guitars. Journal of the Catgut Acoustical Society 2(1) 20–23
Bruné RE (2004) Eight Concerns of Highly Successful Luthiers. American Lutherie 79 6–21
wood handbook, Green DW Winandy JE and Kretschmann DE, Wood Handbook – Wood as an engineering Material, Forest Products Lab 1999 FPL-GTR-113 Forest Products Lab
Benedetto R (1994) making an Archtop Guitar. Centerstream Publishing
Stetson KA (1981) On Modal Coupling in String Instrument Bodies. Journal of Guitar Acoustics, 3: 23–31
Johnson R (2010) Why Do Guitars Sound better as They Age? Acoustic Guitar
Hutchins CM (1998) A Measurable Effect of Long-Term Playing on Violin Family Instruments. Catgut Acoustical Society Journal, 3(5) pp 38–40
Inta R, Smith J and Wolfe J (2005) Measurement of the Effect on Violins of Aging and Playing. Acoustics Australia 33(1)
Somogyi E (2009) The Responsive Guitar. Luthiers Press
Gore T (2011) Wood for Guitars. Proceedings, 161st Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America
Dick Boak, private correspondence
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
French, R.M. (2012). Sound Quality. In: Technology of the Guitar. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1921-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1921-1_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-1920-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-1921-1
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)