On physical criteria for the selection of wood for soundboards of musical instruments

Abstract

In order to develop criteria for the physical evaluation of wood for soundboards of musical instruments, measurements were made of dynamic Young's modulusE′, static Young's modulusE, internal frictionQ ⁻¹ in longitudinal direction, and specific gravityγ for numerous species of broad-leaved wood. From the results obtained, including those of our previous paper on coniferous wood [1], it was found that the suitability of wood for soundboards could be evaluated by the quantity ofQ ⁻¹/(E′/γ), and that there were very high correlations betweenQ ⁻¹/(E′/γ) andE′/γ, and betweenE′ andE, regardless of wood species. Consequently, it becomes possible to select practically any wood suitable for soundboards by using the value ofE/γ, which can be measured easily, and it was derived that the relation betweenE′/γ andQ ⁻¹ of wood could be expressed by an exponential equation regardless of wood species.