Predicting the effects of bracing pattern modifications on acoustic guitar soundboards
Yvan Giro, Jean‐Loïc Le Carrou, Angela Vincenti, Sophie Dartois, Romain Viala, Benoît Navarret · 2024
Wood has always been a material of choice for the manufacture of many musical instruments.Specifically, softwoods such as spruce (Picea spp.) are common for stringed instrument soundboards.However, manufacturers are faced with multi-causal shortage (silviculture policies, diseases, climate change, etc.).This context has been driving the search for alternatives such as lesser used wood species or composite materials.Can a soundboard's material and shape be optimally substituted so that the instrument's acoustic features remain identical ?An "Orchestra Model" flat-top guitar is considered in this study, as it is a representative of the typical steel-string guitar.This study's aim is to predict the effect of modifying properties of this soundboard on its vibratory response, in prospect of optimizing the geometry of soundboards made out of alternatives to spruce to reproduce the acoustic response of a given reference.To this end, a numerical model based on the finite element method is proposed and compared to experimental data measured on actual soundboards.