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Stranded strings are less prone to pitch changes after being installed.
There are at least two possible reasons. The first is that the strings are
made of many fine strands of plastic and the polymer chains are
necessarily forced to be straighter. The other is that the strands are
placed in tension during the manufacturing process and may undergo
some plastic deformation before shipment. Photo 1 shows a low E
string partially unwound to reveal the stranded core.
A guitar is tuned by stretching the strings using geared tuning
machines. Photo 2 shows the headstock of a classical guitar with the
universally-used worm gear tuning machines. The gear ratio is typically
14:1. The translucent strings on the right side of the headstock are the
solid, higher pitch strings. The wound, low pitch, strings are on the left
side of the headstock.
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The guitar is tuned by changing the pitch of the strings with the geared tuners. The fundamental frequency of an
ideal string is given by a simple relationship.
f =
1 T
2L
(1)
Where L is the length of the string, T is the tension and is the mass
per unit length. Frequency is, thus, proportional to the square root of
the tension [5].
Classical guitar strings are generally supplied in sets of six with three
being monofilament and three being stranded, wound strings. Table 1
shows the frequencies and string types for classical guitars.
String
1
2
3
4
5
6
Note
E
B
G
D
A
E
Frequency
329.6
246.9
196.0
146.8
110.0
82.4
Type
Plain
Plain
Plain
Wound
Wound
Wound
A. Test Fixture
The fixture is of a very simple design as shown in Photo
3. The load-carrying beam is of hard maple and much
stiffer than a guitar. The goal was for deformation of the
fixture to be negligible.
The string was attached to one end with a screw and
washer and passed over a steel saddle as shown in
Photo 4. There is a shallow groove cut into the top of the
nut to prevent lateral motion of the string. As in
conventional guitar nuts, the groove is at an angle to the
horizontal so that the high end faces the pulley. This is to
form a good end condition for the string.
The point of the fixture was to load the string with a
constant force rather than imposing a fixed strain, as with
geared tuners. Thus the string was passed over a pulley
and supported a weight. It is particularly important that
the pulley turn freely, without any binding. Photo 5
shows the setup.
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The pulley was made from a nylon sleeve through which a -20 bolt was passed. The diameter of the sleeve was
kept small (around 8mm) to form a clear end of the string. A shallow groove was cut into the sleeve to keep the
string aligned. The groove was wider than the strings to prevent binding. The portion of the bolt supporting the
spacer was smooth, with no threads. The spacer slipped easily over the bolt with no interference. The nylon
resulted in a very low coefficient of friction and the pulley spun freely over the bolt. We could find no indication of any
binding of the pulley. Photo 6 shows the string under load.
It is worth noting that the fixed weight means that the strings were not tuned to any specific frequency. Since the
string was free to stretch and the tension was constant, the simple expression in Equation (1) suggests that the
frequency should be approximately constant, even in the presence of visco-elastic creep. Since the length of the
string increases slightly with time and its mass doesnt change, the mass per unit length could be assumed to
decrease slightly. The effect would be a very slight increase in the frequency of the string over time. The observed
behavior, however, did not conform to these assumptions.
B. Frequency and Strain Measurements
Because the frequency and strain measurements were made by high school students as part of a class, the
procedure was simple and, we think, robust. The string was plucked by hand to induce vibration. String motion was
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observed using a dynamic microphone placed very close to the string. At very short distances, a microphone
essentially measures velocity of the radiating surface. Photo 7 shows the microphone near the string.
The microphone was connected to a PC sound card and the fundamental frequencies of the strings were identified
using a program called Soundcard Scope (http://www.zeitnitz.de/Christian/scope_en).
Measuring strain over short distances can be difficult, particularly on a light structure like a string. To avoid this
problem, two widely separated reference marks were put on the strings so that distance between them could be
easily measured with a steel ruler mounted on the fixture. Using this method, changes in distance between in the
reference marks were relatively easy to measure and strain was then calculated using the definition of strain,
=L/L.
C. Argon Testing
We tested some of the strings in an argon atmosphere to see whether eliminating oxygen changed the observed
behavior. To do this, the fixture was placed in a large cardboard box that had been coated to reduce permeability.
Corners and edges were taped and the box was slightly pressurized so that any leakage was outward. A rubber
glove was mounted in the side of the box so that the string could be plucked without having to open the box.
III. TEST RESULTS
Figure 2 shows frequencies measured from a monofilament nylon string as a function of time. For the first 20
minutes, the fundamental frequency is essentially unchanged. After that, however, there are two long cycles during
which the frequency exhibited a sharp jump followed by an approximately exponential decay. It is important to note
that they are not accompanied by a proportional change in strain. Strain increases monotonically after the first 20
minutes.
1.06
1.02
Normalized Frequency
Normalized Length
1.04
1.01
Normalized Frequency
1.05
1.03
1.02
1.01
1.00
1
0.99
0.99
0
50
100
150
Time (Minutes)
Figure 2 Normalized frequency, length vs. time for a
monofilament string.
200
50
100
150
200
Time (Minutes)
Figure 3 Monofilament flouropolymer string showed only
limited changes in frequency over time.
Successive tests on different brands and different types of strings established that this behavior is not anomalous. It
was found in strings from different manufacturers and in strings that had been ground by the manufacturer to reduce
diameter variation.
We observed some frequency cycling in monofilament strings made of a flouropolymer and sold as carbon strings,
though the effect was muted as shown in Figure 3. The strings are not made of carbon fiber as the name would
suggest. Rather, the manufacturers use the term because the polymer from which they are made contains carbon.
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0.995
Normalized Frequency
1.005
0.99
0.985
0.98
0.975
f2
f1
T2
2 L2
T1
2 L1
50
100
150
200
Time (Minutes)
1
2
(2)
Solid strings are generally extruded and there it is possible for diameter to change slightly along the length of the
string. At least one manufacturer used an optical inspection method to reduce the diameter variation in strings.
Another approach is to precision grind the extruded
strings to reduce diameter variation. Figure 5 shows that
1.02
this grinding process does not eliminate the frequency
cycling.
1.01
Normalized Frequency
1.00
0.99
0.98
0.97
0
20
40
60
80
Time (Minutes)
100
120
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1.02
1.01
Normalized Frequency
1.00
0.99
0.98
0.97
10
Time (Minutes)
100
fn =
n T
n Er
1+
2L
4 L2T
2
(3)
1
0.99
0.98
Normalized Frequency
1.01
0.97
0.96
0.95
0.94
0.93
V. CONCLUSIONS
0.92
0.91
50
100
150
200
Time (Minutes)
Figure 7 Testing in argon appears to eliminate frequency
cycling.
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A. Future Work
This testing series was originally conceived as an experiment for a high school physics class wanting to learn
research methods. Since the results were so unexpected, we are now working to repeat the results using more
sophisticated equipment. The fixture will be made of milled aluminum and the pulley will be a high-grade ball bearing
with a v-groove outer face. Frequencies will be recorded with an audio data acquisition system and an
instrumentation grade microphone.
VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to acknowledge the contribution of a group of Debbie Frenchs physics students at New Philadelphia High
School in New Philadelphia OH. In Alphabetical order, they are:
Joel Borton, Zakk Boyd, Joey Clark, Jacob Heslop, Thad Marshall, Ali Maus, Scott Mizer, Natalie Neidig, Alyssa
Norman, Chris Perrine, Ben Potts, Nick Roth, Courtney Spears, Austin Smith, Zach Troyer, Kelsey Willoughby, Luke
Yurich, Joe Zalesky
We also wish to thank Fan Tao at DAddario Strings for providing test samples.
VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. D.Martin, Innovation and the Development of the Modern Six-String Guitar, Galpin Soc. J. 51, 86-109
(1998).
2. P.M.Vilela, R.M. Moscosco and D. Thompson, What Every Musician Knows About Viscoelastic Behavior,
Am. J. Phys. 65, 1000-1003 (1997).
3. W. Browstow, Mechanical Properties, in Physical Properties of Polymers Handbook 2nd Edition, edited by
J.E. Mark (Springer 2006), Chap. 24, pp. 423-446.
4. H.F. Brinson and L. C. Brinson, Polymer Engineering Science and Viscoelasticity An Introduction, Springer
(2008).
5. M. French, Engineering the Guitar, Springer (2009)
6. R.W. Young, Inharmonicity of Plain Wire Piano Strings, J. Acoust. Soc. of Am. 24, No. 3 pp 267- 273
(1952).
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