System for Measuring the Effective Length of Wind Instruments or Portions of Instruments
Earle L. Kent · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1963
In musical-instrument design, it is desirable to be able to accurately determine the resonance frequencies of an instrument. These measurements are expressed in terms of the length of a cylinder that will resonate at the same frequency. Portions of an instrument can be measured, as well as complete instruments. The system reported upon here is a refinement of a system reported upon earlier by John Webster. It produces accurate measurements that correlate well with the average results obtained when musicians play the instruments. It is especially helpful where subjective evaluations for research, design, and production purposes are confusing and time consuming.