aTU Dresden
bPacific Rim Tonewoods
Abstract :
Wood is one of the preferred materials for building stringed
music instruments. Because wood is a naturally grown
resource, there is large variability regarding material
properties. Therefore, luthiers select their tonewoods
carefully. In this project, listening tests were performed to
investigate whether the objective testing of physical
parameters of the tonewood help to make an
appreciable impact on the sonic quality of the resulting
instrument. Nine steel string guitars of the same model
were produced by the Taylor Guitar Company, with strict
control of all production parameters. The guitars varied
only in two parameters: the density and the modulus of
elasticity of the soundboard and bracewood, both made
of Sitka spruce. The variability was representative of the
range of the spruce wood currently produced by Pacific
Rim Tonewoods, a supplier of tonewood to the acoustic
guitar market. A short music sequence was used for
pairwise preference evaluation in a double-blind listening
test. The results suggest that, for this particular model (the
Taylor 814ce Grand Auditorium), low density and stiffness
of the guitar top have a positive impact on the overall
preference. More generally, the results underscore the
importance of integrating the design with physical
characteristics of the component wood.