An objective method for determining soundboard material quality
Mark N. French, John G. Cherng · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2000
For a stringed instrument of the guitar or violin family, the dynamic characteristics of the soundboard are extremely important in determining the sound quality of the finished instrument. Since an exceptional instrument can be worth several tens of thousands of dollars, the importance of getting such a basic step correct are obvious. This paper describes our efforts to describe the desirable characteristics of a guitar soundboard blank using what is currently some of the highest quality test equipment available. Our goal is to provide objective standards that can be implemented in an industrial guitar-making process to help ensure the highest quality possible sound quality in the finished instruments. Formal modal tests on a range of soundboard blanks ranging from inexpensive ones intended for use by those just learning their craft to master grade blanks suitable for the highest quality instruments have been performed. The subjective ratings used to grade these blanks with objective test results are correlated.