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A study of the resonances of the violin is described. Magnetic pickups attached to the bridge of a violin (sans body) responded to the lateral motion of the strings to produce a signal used to excite a set of electrical resonances. The parameters, such as center frequency, bandwidth, and attenuation of the resonances were adjustable and by means of these variables a variety of tones were produced and presented to experienced subjects from the music world. Subjective evaluation of the various tones indicates that the preferred violin tone is produced when the resonance frequencies are irregularly spaced with respect to the harmonics of the string vibration and the bandwidths have values which achieve a 12-dB peak-to-valley differential in the resonance response curve. A theory of enhancement of tone quality by resonant filters is presented and the construction of an electronic violin is discussed.
Mathews et al. (Fri,) studied this question.