St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Applicability of the capstan equation to guitar strings

Thumbnail
View/Open
Groves_2019_Applicability_of_the_capstan_AoA_459.pdf (2.247Mb)
Date
01/07/2019
Author
Groves, Tom
Kemp, Jonathan Andrew
Keywords
Guitar
String
Friction
Saddle
Capstan equation
Bridge
MT Musical instruction and study
QC Physics
Acoustics and Ultrasonics
I-PW
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
The effects of friction were observed in electric guitar strings passing over an electric guitar saddle. The effects of changing the ratio of the diameter of the winding to the diameter of the core of the string, the angle through which the string is bent, and the length on either side of the saddle were measured. Relative tensions were deduced by plucking and measuring the frequencies of vibration of the two portions of string. Coefficients of friction consistent with the capstan equation were calculated and were found to be lower than 0.26 for wound strings (nickel plated steel windings on steel cores) and lower than 0.17 for unwound (tin plated steel) strings. The largest values of friction were associated with strings of narrower windings and wider cores and this may be due to the uneven nature of the contact between the string and saddle for wound strings or due the surface of the windings deforming more, encouraging fresh (and therefore higher friction) metal to metal contact. It is advised to apply lubrication under the saddle to string contact point after first bringing the string up to pitch rather than before in order to prevent this fresh metal to metal contact.
Citation
Groves , T & Kemp , J A 2019 , ' Applicability of the capstan equation to guitar strings ' , Archives of Acoustics , vol. 44 , no. 3 , pp. 459–465 . https://doi.org/10.24425/aoa.2019.129261
Publication
Archives of Acoustics
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.24425/aoa.2019.129261
ISSN
0137-5075
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2019 Polish Academy of Sciences & Institute of Fundamental Technological Research (IPPT PAN). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Description
Funding: Physics Trust Summer Scholarship from the School of Physics & Astronomy, University of St Andrews (TG).
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/18884

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter