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Effect of back wood choice on the perceived quality of steel-string acoustic guitars

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Effect of back wood choice on the perceived quality of steel-string acoustic guitars. / Carcagno, Samuele; Bucknall, Roger; Woodhouse, Jim et al.
In: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 144, No. 6, 27.12.2018, p. 3533-3547.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

Carcagno, S, Bucknall, R, Woodhouse, J, Fritz, C & Plack, CJ 2018, 'Effect of back wood choice on the perceived quality of steel-string acoustic guitars', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 144, no. 6, pp. 3533-3547. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5084735

APA

Carcagno, S., Bucknall, R., Woodhouse, J., Fritz, C., & Plack, C. J. (2018). Effect of back wood choice on the perceived quality of steel-string acoustic guitars. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 144(6), 3533-3547. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5084735

Vancouver

Carcagno S, Bucknall R, Woodhouse J, Fritz C, Plack CJ. Effect of back wood choice on the perceived quality of steel-string acoustic guitars. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 2018 Dec 27;144(6):3533-3547. doi: 10.1121/1.5084735

Author

Carcagno, Samuele ; Bucknall, Roger ; Woodhouse, Jim et al. / Effect of back wood choice on the perceived quality of steel-string acoustic guitars. In: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 2018 ; Vol. 144, No. 6. pp. 3533-3547.

Bibtex

@article{b8ad20f8e06b4c408e2fa2ee90cd2772,
title = "Effect of back wood choice on the perceived quality of steel-string acoustic guitars",
abstract = "Some of the most prized woods used for the backs and sides of acoustic guitars are expensive, rare, and from unsustainable sources. It is unclear to what extent back woods contribute to the sound and playability qualities of acoustic guitars. Six steel-string acoustic guitars were built for this study to the same design and material specifications except for the back/side plates which were made of woods varying widely in availability and price (Brazilian rosewood, Indian rosewood, mahogany, maple, sapele, and walnut). Bridge-admittance measurements revealed small differences between the modal properties of the guitars which could be largely attributed to residual manufacturing variability rather than to the back/side plates. Overall sound quality ratings, given by 52 guitarists in a dimly lit room while wearing welder's goggles to prevent visual identification, were very similar between the six guitars. The results of a blinded ABX discrimination test, performed by another subset of 31 guitarists, indicate that guitarists could not easily distinguish the guitars by their sound or feel. Overall, the results suggest that the species of wood used for the back and sides of a steel-string acoustic guitar has only a marginal impact on its body mode properties and perceived sound.",
author = "Samuele Carcagno and Roger Bucknall and Jim Woodhouse and Claudia Fritz and Plack, {Christopher John}",
year = "2018",
month = dec,
day = "27",
doi = "10.1121/1.5084735",
language = "English",
volume = "144",
pages = "3533--3547",
journal = "Journal of the Acoustical Society of America",
issn = "0001-4966",
publisher = "Acoustical Society of America",
number = "6",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Effect of back wood choice on the perceived quality of steel-string acoustic guitars

AU - Carcagno, Samuele

AU - Bucknall, Roger

AU - Woodhouse, Jim

AU - Fritz, Claudia

AU - Plack, Christopher John

PY - 2018/12/27

Y1 - 2018/12/27

N2 - Some of the most prized woods used for the backs and sides of acoustic guitars are expensive, rare, and from unsustainable sources. It is unclear to what extent back woods contribute to the sound and playability qualities of acoustic guitars. Six steel-string acoustic guitars were built for this study to the same design and material specifications except for the back/side plates which were made of woods varying widely in availability and price (Brazilian rosewood, Indian rosewood, mahogany, maple, sapele, and walnut). Bridge-admittance measurements revealed small differences between the modal properties of the guitars which could be largely attributed to residual manufacturing variability rather than to the back/side plates. Overall sound quality ratings, given by 52 guitarists in a dimly lit room while wearing welder's goggles to prevent visual identification, were very similar between the six guitars. The results of a blinded ABX discrimination test, performed by another subset of 31 guitarists, indicate that guitarists could not easily distinguish the guitars by their sound or feel. Overall, the results suggest that the species of wood used for the back and sides of a steel-string acoustic guitar has only a marginal impact on its body mode properties and perceived sound.

AB - Some of the most prized woods used for the backs and sides of acoustic guitars are expensive, rare, and from unsustainable sources. It is unclear to what extent back woods contribute to the sound and playability qualities of acoustic guitars. Six steel-string acoustic guitars were built for this study to the same design and material specifications except for the back/side plates which were made of woods varying widely in availability and price (Brazilian rosewood, Indian rosewood, mahogany, maple, sapele, and walnut). Bridge-admittance measurements revealed small differences between the modal properties of the guitars which could be largely attributed to residual manufacturing variability rather than to the back/side plates. Overall sound quality ratings, given by 52 guitarists in a dimly lit room while wearing welder's goggles to prevent visual identification, were very similar between the six guitars. The results of a blinded ABX discrimination test, performed by another subset of 31 guitarists, indicate that guitarists could not easily distinguish the guitars by their sound or feel. Overall, the results suggest that the species of wood used for the back and sides of a steel-string acoustic guitar has only a marginal impact on its body mode properties and perceived sound.

U2 - 10.1121/1.5084735

DO - 10.1121/1.5084735

M3 - Journal article

VL - 144

SP - 3533

EP - 3547

JO - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

JF - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

SN - 0001-4966

IS - 6

ER -