Detection of coupled vibration modes of a

guitar resonance box

Cite as: Rev. Sci. Instrum. 90, 036105 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5054678
Submitted: 02 September 2018 . Accepted: 12 March 2019 . Published Online: 26 March 2019

Jian Chai, Bin Guo, Shuyu Liu, and Xiaomin Xiong

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Rev. Sci. Instrum. 90, 036105 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5054678 90, 036105

© 2019 Author(s).
 Review of NOTE scitation.org/journal/rsi
Scientific Instruments

Detection of coupled vibration modes of a guitar

resonance box
Cite as: Rev. Sci. Instrum. 90, 036105 (2019); doi: 10.1063/1.5054678
Submitted: 2 September 2018 • Accepted: 12 March 2019 •
Published Online: 26 March 2019

Jian Chai, Bin Guo, Shuyu Liu, and Xiaomin Xionga)

AFFILIATIONS
School of Physics, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guang Zhou, Guangdong 510275, China

a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: xiongxm@mail.sysu.edu.cn.

ABSTRACT
Guitar is a popular musical instrument, but the design mainly depends on experience because of its complex structure. Based on resonant
absorption mechanical spectra, a device has been developed to detect the coupled vibration modes of a guitar resonance box. The resonant
frequencies of the guitar string are measured, and its dispersion relations accord with theoretical calculation. Two resonant absorption peaks
at 81 Hz and 116 Hz have been found to be the coupled vibration modes of the resonance box of a guitar, which contribute to its acoustical
quality.
Published under license by AIP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5054678

The guitar is an important instrument,1–4 which mainly com-
poses of guitar strings and a resonance box. Since the guitar reso-
nance box plays the role of amplifying and sending sound, its vibra-
tion modes coupled with the guitar string may contribute to the
acoustical quality of the guitar.
Many methods such as holographic interferometry5,6 and laser
velocimetry7 have been applied in exploring the vibration modes
of the guitar resonance box. Finite element analysis8–12 and modal
analysis13–16 are used for numerical calculation. Most of the above
vibration modes of a guitar resonance box are uncoupled with the
guitar string, while the coupled vibration modes of a guitar reso-
nance box have not ever been studied. Therefore, new experimental
techniques need to develop to detect coupled vibration modes of a
guitar resonance box.
Xiong17,18 has developed the theory of resonant absorption
mechanical spectra and proposed that uneasily measured vibration
modes can be detected by other coupled vibration modes. In this
note, we construct a device to measure the response behavior of the
guitar string under alternating stress and apply the theory to study
the coupled vibration modes of a guitar resonance box. The exper-
iment results show that two other resonant absorption mechanical
peaks have been found which are attributed to the coupled vibration
modes of the resonance box.
As shown in Fig. 1, the guitar is fixed on the optical plat-
form and a small part of the guitar string (confined to 1 cm) is
in a constant magnetic field provided by a permanent magnet.
When an alternating current flows through the string, the small
part is subjected to an alternating Ampere force under the mag-
netic field. Because the Ampere force is proportional to the
current, the value of alternating stress can be obtained after
calibration.
A plane mirror (0.5 mm × 0.5 mm × 0.02 mm) attached
to the guitar string, a laser (UL5-1G-650, World Star Tech), and
a four-quadrant photocell (OP20-6, Otron Sensor) constitute a
tangential displacement measurement system of the guitar string.
Through the above system, we can obtain the signals of tangen-
tial displacements (strain) and the signals of alternating current
(stress). Then the signals of tangential displacements and alter-
nating current are filtered (OPA657, Texas Instruments) and dig-
itized by a 12-bit A/D board (DAQ2010, AD-Link); the phase lag
between the tangential displacement of the string lagging behind
the driving force is estimated from the fast Fourier transform
in LabVIEW.
We primarily analyzed the response behavior of a guitar string
under alternating stress, while it was uncoupled with a guitar res-
onance box. Shear complex modulus G of a guitar string can be
expressed as follows:19
G = G′ + iG′′ , (1)
′ ″
where G and G are the shear storage and shear loss modulus of
a guitar string, respectively, and i is the imaginary unit. The loss
factor of a guitar string can be expressed as tan Φ′ GG′ . An applied
′′

Rev. Sci. Instrum. 90, 036105 (2019); doi: 10.1063/1.5054678 90, 036105-1
Published under license by AIP Publishing
 Review of NOTE scitation.org/journal/rsi
Scientific Instruments

FIG. 2. Frequency spectra of relative amplitude of a guitar string.

FIG. 1. The device of detecting the coupled vibration modes of a guitar reso-
nance box. The phase lag is estimated from tangential displacements (strain) and amplitude (ratio of strain to alternating stress) of a guitar string. The
the signals of alternating current (stress) with the fast Fourier transform (FFT) in loss factor of a guitar string can be obtained by numerical calculation
LabVIEW. from Eq. (6).
A guitar string has an apparent loss factor tanΦ (to make a dis-
tinction between coupled and uncoupled cases) when it is coupled
alternating stress is assumed to act on a point (x0 ) of a guitar string
with a resonance box in a real guitar. According to the theory of res-
with a length of L, which is represented with the Dirichlet function
onant absorption mechanical spectra, the apparent loss factor tanΦ
[on the right side of Eq. (2)]. The time-dependent equation of the
becomes21
string fixed at both ends can be written in the form of shear complex
tan Φ′ = tan Φ′ +
modulus,20 followed by the boundary conditions: A
, (8)
(ω2 − ω0 2 )2 + ω2 γ0 2
d2 u GFν d2 u
− = feiωt δ(x − x0 ), (2)
dt2 Eρ dx2 where A is the coupling constant between the guitar string and the
resonance box and ω0 and γ0 are the resonant frequency and the
u∣x=0 = 0, u∣x=L = 0, (3) damping of the guitar resonance box. When the forced vibration
iωt frequency of the guitar string approaches to ω0 , there appears a
where u, ρ, E, fe , F, ω, and ν represent tangential displacements,
resonant absorption peak in frequency spectra of the apparent loss
bulk density, Young’s modulus, alternating stress, tension at both
factor (resonant absorption mechanical spectra). Therefore, the cou-
ends, forced vibration frequency, and Poisson’s ratio of a guitar
pled vibration modes of a guitar resonance box can be investigated
string, respectively. We have
by detecting the resonant absorption mechanical spectra of a guitar
2Feiωt ∞ sin nπωx 0
sin nπx string.
u(x, y) = ∑n=1 L L
, (4)
L (ωn 2 − ω2 ) + i tan Φ′ ω2
√
nπ Fν
ωn = , n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 . . . , (5)
L Eρ

(ωn 2 −ω2 ) sin

nπx0
∞
nπx
sin
∑n=1 L
(ωn 2 −ω2 )2 +(ωn 2 tan Φ′ )2
L

tan τ = nπx0 , (6)

∑∞
nπx
ωn 2 tan Φ′ sin L
sin L
n=1 (ωn 2 −ω2 )2 +(tan Φ′ ωn 2 )2

⎛ ∞ ωn 2 tan Φ′ sin nπx

2
0
sin nπx ⎞
z2 = ∑n=1 L L
⎝ 2 2 ′
(ωn − ω ) + (tan Φ ωn ) ⎠
2 2 2

2
⎛ ∞ (ωn 2 − ω2 ) sin nπx 0
L ⎞
sin nπx
+ ∑n=1 L
, (7)
⎝ (ωn 2 − ω2 ) + (ωn 2 tan Φ′ )2 ⎠
2

where τ is the phase lag between alternating stress and strain, ωn is a

FIG. 3. The linear relationship between resonant frequency of a guitar string and n.
series of resonant frequencies of a guitar string, and z is the relative

Rev. Sci. Instrum. 90, 036105 (2019); doi: 10.1063/1.5054678 90, 036105-2
Published under license by AIP Publishing
 Review of NOTE scitation.org/journal/rsi
Scientific Instruments

guitar resonance box, we have changed the effective length of the

guitar string for different resonant frequencies and obtained the
resonant absorption mechanical spectra, as shown in Fig. 4(b).
Although the height of the two resonant absorption peaks is slightly
different, the resonant peak position and peak width are over-
lapped. It indicates that the resonance absorption peaks belong to
the coupled vibration modes of the guitar resonance box.
A device measuring the resonant absorption mechanical spec-
tra of a guitar string has been developed, from which the cou-
pled vibration modes of a guitar resonance box can be obtained
via the mechanical responsive behavior of the guitar string. There-
fore, it is appreciated that it is applied to the analysis of acoustic
characteristics of stringed instruments.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 10974259, 11274391,
11104357, 11404068, and 11874430.

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Rev. Sci. Instrum. 90, 036105 (2019); doi: 10.1063/1.5054678 90, 036105-3
Published under license by AIP Publishing