Decay Patterns of Harpsichord Strings
Robert W. Pyle, Theodore John Schultz · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1966
The decay of single-plucked harpsichord strings has been observed experimentally to be characterized in general by a fast initial decay relative to the ultimate decay rate. Although the higher modes of the string generally decay at faster rates than the lower, this does not account for the observed behavior. Rather, it appears that the impedance presented to the string by the bridge varies somewhat with the polarization of the string vibration, giving rise to at least two “fundamental” modes, two “second harmonics,” etc. The “fundamentals” differ very slightly in frequency and often substantially in decay rate. Observed decay patterns may be qualitatively explained by beats between nearly isochronous modes. This effect also appears to account for certain features of harpsichord tone quality. [Work sponsored in part by The Cannon Guild, Cambridge, Mass.]