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ACTA ACUSTICA UNITED WITH ACUSTICA
Vol. 95 (2009) 901 914
DOI 10.3813/AAA.918221
Erwin Schoonderwaldt
KTH-Computer Science and Communication, Dept. of Speech, Music and Hearing, Lindstedtsvgen 24,
100 44 Stockholm, Sweden. schoondw@kth.se
Summary
The string player controls variations in spectral content mainly via bow velocity, bow-bridge distance and bow
force. Many combinations of the bowing parameters inuence the pitch noticeably as well, in particular close
to the upper bow-force limit in the Schelleng diagram. The inuence of the bowing parameters on the spectral
content and pitch were studied systematically by use of a monochord and a bowing machine. Bow force was
found to be by far the most dominant parameter determining the spectral centroid. Bow-bridge distance and bow
velocity serve essentially as indirect control parameters of spectral content by giving the player access to playable
areas with high or low bow forces in the Schelleng diagram. Clear areas of pitch attening could be distinguished
below the upper bow-force limits in the Schelleng diagrams, conrming the role of pitch attening as a practical
bow-force limit in playing. The conditions for anomalous low frequencies (ALF), S-motion and other, higher
types of string motion were analyzed, and it was shown that secondary waves might play an important role in
their creation.
PACS no. 43.75.De
String vel.
monicity of the string results in an increase of playing fre-
quency when bowed due to the balance of reactive pow-
ers [21]. Simulations and measurements indicate that pitch
attening is especially prominent at high bow forces and
T1
large bow-bridge distances, and might impose a practical
Time
upper bow-force limit in normal musical performance be-
low the raucous regime [22, 23]. A second purpose of the (b)
0 1/T1 [Hz]
current study was to make an accurate mapping of the vari-
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40 2.8
(a) String velocity
(a) 2.6 String vel. (comp.)
20 String displacement
2.4
String vel. [dB]
0 2.2
fc [kHz]
2.0
-20
1.8
-40 1.6
1.4
-60
(b) 1/30 1/22 1/16 1/11 1/8 1/6
0 -6 dB/oct. Rel. bowbridge dist, (log)
Modified [dB]
-20 3.6
(b) Sawtooth
Square
3.4 Square (comp.)
-40
3.2
-60
fc [kHz]
3.0
(c)
0 -6 dB/oct.
2.8
Disp. [dB]
-20 2.6
-40 2.4
1/30 1/22 1/16 1/11 1/8 1/6
Rel. bowbridge dist, (log)
-60
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Frequency level (octaves) Figure 3. (a) Comparison of spectral centroid versus from si-
multaneous measurements of string velocity (compensated and
Figure 2. Compensation of string-velocity spectrum. (a) String- uncompensated) and string displacement close to the bridge
velocity spectrum, and curves to be subtracted; (b) resulting (vB = 10 cm/s, FB = 419 mN, all shown points represent
compensated spectrum; (c) measured string-displacement spec- Helmholtz motion). (b) Eect of compensation on spectral cen-
trum close to the bridge (vB = 10 cm/s, FB = 419 mN, = troid applied to spectra of synthesized rectangular waves (ideal
1/11). The fundamental frequency (octave 0) was 293 Hz (open Helmholtz motion) at the same values of .
D string). The dashed vertical lines indicate the upper limiting
frequency (10 kHz) in the calculation of the spectral centroid.
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2.8
Bow force (rel. 1 mN)
716
2.6
350
2.4
171
2.2
84
2
(c) 15 cm/s (d) 20 cm/s
3000 1.8
1466
1.6
Bow force (rel. 1 mN)
716
1.4
350
1.2
171
1
84
0.8
1/30 1/22 1/16 1/11 1/8 1/6 1/30 1/22 1/16 1/11 1/8 1/6
Rel. bowbridge dist, Rel. bowbridge dist,
Figure 4. Mapping of the spectral centroid on Schelleng diagrams (both axes in logarithmic scale) at four bow velocities. The thick
lines indicate the tted bow-force limits according to Schellengs equations [4]. The axis represents a range of bow-bridge distances
from very close to the bridge (11 mm = 1/30) to the ngerboard (55 mm = 1/6).
The spectral centroid was calculated as rst two lobes of the theoretical envelopes coincided well
M with those of the measured envelopes. At higher frequen-
fs k=1 k |X(k)| cies the energy was low (typically 30 dB or more relative
fc = , (2)
N M
|X(k)| to the fundamental), and the mismatch had a negligible in-
k=1
uence on the spectral centroid.
where |X(k)| the amplitude (compensated spectrum), k
the frequency bin index, fs the sample frequency, N the In Figure 3a the spectral centroid values of the com-
FFT window size, and M the upper limit of the summation pensated and uncompensated string-velocity spectrum are
(M < N/2, upper limiting frequency fs M/N). The DC compared to those of string displacement close to the
component (k = 0) was not included and an upper limiting bridge as a function of . As seen, the compensation ef-
frequency of 10 kHz was applied (indicated in the spectra fectively removed the increasing trend of the spectral cen-
in Figure 2). troid with decreasing , rendering it comparable with the
In order to evaluate the compensation method, checks centroid of the string displacement. The compensation
were performed measuring the string displacement close method was also tested on synthesized signals correspond-
to the bridge (about 3 mm) using an optical sensor and the ing to ideal Helmholtz motion, conrming that the trend in
string velocity under the bow simultaneously. The string fc was eectively compensated for (Figure 3b).
displacement close to the bridge is representative of bridge
force, as the latter is determined by the transverse deec- For the synthesized signals, the compensated string-
tion angle of the string at the bridge. The resemblance velocity spectrum underestimated fc by at most 200 Hz,
between the compensated string-velocity spectrum (Fig- especially at small values of . This can be mainly ex-
ure 2b) and the string-displacement spectrum (Figure 2c) plained by the clipping of the compensation envelope
was very good for the rst 4.5 octaves (rst two lobes). (20 dB at the rst node), reducing compensation eect
At higher frequencies the compensation caused small ar- at frequencies close to the nodes. In the vicinity of the rst
tifacts. In this region the lobes of the spectral envelope of few nodes this results in underestimated harmonics, which
measured string velocity were wider than those of the the- is reected in the centroid. However, a smaller limiting
oretical envelope, leading to a mismatch. In general the value entails the danger of overcompensation at higher
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f =2.15 kHz (a) f =2.06 kHz (b) f =1.35 kHz (c)
c c c
0
10
Power [dB]
20
30
40
50
60
10 f =1.38 kHz f =1.64 kHz
c (d) fc=1.49 kHz (e) c (f)
0
10
Power [dB]
20
30
40
50
60
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Frequency level (octaves) Frequency level (octaves) Frequency level (octaves)
Figure 5. String-velocity spectra (compensated) for six bowing parameter combinations in the Schelleng diagram at vB = 10 cm/s
(Figure 4b). The position in the Schelleng diagram is indicated in the lower-left corner of each panel. Panels (a)-(e) are examples
of Helmholtz motion, (f) represents multiple-slipping motion. To facilitate comparison panels (a), (b), (d) and (e) form a square in
the Schelleng diagram. The spectral centroid values fc are indicated by thick vertical lines. Estimates of the roll-o frequencies are
indicated by the arrows. The theoretical 6 dB-per-octave slope for theoretical Helmholtz motion is indicated by a thin solid line. The
vertical dashed lines indicate the position of the rst node in the sinc-like spectra of the original string-velocity signals. The fundamental
frequency (octave 0) was 293 Hz (open D string).
node positions, leading to larger artifacts, especially for with a loop of thin copper wire until it broke. Pitch was
larger values of . measured in the late stage of decay of the vibration (typi-
For the measured spectra, the centroid of the compen- cally after about 0.3 s), when the string displacement was
sated velocity spectra tended to be slightly higher than small and the pitch had stabilized. The reference frequen-
that of the displacement spectra. This was due to a lower cies obtained by plucking were typically 1.0 Hz lower than
contribution of the lower harmonics in the compensated those obtained with the reference bow stroke. The dier-
string-velocity spectra compared to the displacement spec- ence can be attributed to an increase in eective tension
tra. The eect could probably be attributed to an inhomo- of the bowed string due to the amplitude of vibration and
geneity of the magnetic eld, which might have lead to a static deection under inuence of bow force and net fric-
slight distortion of the signal at large amplitudes of vibra- tion (see Appendix). The dierence between plucking and
tion. bowing references was compensated for.
Pitch estimation was done using YIN, an autocorre-
2.3. Pitch estimation lation-based algorithm [28]. In this algorithm the pitch es-
timate is rened to sub-sample resolution using parabolic
Before each measurement session, the string was tuned to
interpolation.
293 Hz, using Chromatia tuning machine software.1 Dur-
ing the sessions the tuning was monitored at regular in-
tervals using a reference bow stroke (vB = 20 cm/s, 3. Results
FB = 599 mN at 1/18, indicated in Figure 8d),
which provided stable, periodic Helmholtz motion. The 3.1. Spectral centroid
tuning measurements were used during the analysis stage 3.1.1. Schelleng diagrams
for compensation of small uctuations in tuning.
A mapping of the spectral centroid fc on four Schelleng
Measurements using high bow forces (>1 N) required diagrams from [4] (vB =5, 10, 15 and 20 cm/s) is shown in
attachment of additional mass to the bow hold of the bow- Figure 4. The tted upper and lower bow-force limits ac-
ing machine, which made the reference bow stroke di- cording to Schellengs equations are indicated with thick
cult to execute. In this case the tuning was monitored by lines. Within the playable region the spectral centroid var-
plucking the string, which was done by pulling the string ied between 0.8 kHz (large , low bow force) and 3 kHz
(small , high bow force). As seen, the spectral centroid
1 http://www.fmjsoft.com/chromatia.html depended mainly on bow force, whereas the inuence of
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fc [kHz]
tions. Below the lower limit the spectral centroid showed 1.5 350 mN
a tendency to increase, especially at lower bow velocities
(5 and 10 cm/s), due to multiple slipping.
1.0 100 mN
A selection of compensated string-velocity spectra at
(d)
vB = 10 cm/s used for the calculation of spectral centroid (e)
0.5
in Figure 4b is shown in Figure 5. It can be seen that for all (c)
2.0
dependent on bow force, and is clearly related with the
value of fc calculated with the nominal limiting frequency 419 mN
of 10 kHz. The data in Figures 5 and 6 indicate clearly 1.5
that the spectral centroid, as calculated according to equa- 100 mN
tion (2), can be used as a reliable comparative measure
1.0
of (modied) string-velocity spectra, at least within the 58 mN
Helmholtz region. 1/30 1/22 1/16 1/11 1/8 1/6
Rel. bowbridge dist, (log)
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Bow force (rel. 1 mN)
20
716
350
10
171
84 0
716
30
350
171
40
84
50
1/30 1/22 1/16 1/11 1/8 1/6 1/30 1/22 1/16 1/11 1/8 1/6
Rel. bowbridge dist, Rel. bowbridge dist,
Figure 8. Mapping of pitch level on Schelleng diagrams (both axes in logarithmic scale) at four bow velocities (Helmholtz motion cases
only). The thick lines indicate the tted bow-force limits according to Schellengs equations. Practical upper bow-force limits roughly
demarcating a region in which pitch attening exceeds 510 cent are indicated by dashed lines (the discrepancy between the actual
upper bow-force limit and the tted upper limit according to Schellengs equation is discussed in detail in [4]). Cases with pronounced
pitch attening beyond the range of the color scale are indicated by numbers in cents. The location of the reference bow stroke used as
a tuning reference ( = 1/18.1, FB = 599 mN, vB = 20 cm/s) is indicated by a viewnder (panel d).
Table I. Regression coecients (and their 95% condence inter- to have a negative contribution to the spectral centroid, i.e.,
vals) obtained from multiple regression analysis of standardized fc decreased slightly with increasing vB . This inuence
dependent (fc ) and independent (FB , vB and ) variables. The can be discerned when comparing the panels in Figure 4.
coecients indicate the relative contribution of the bowing pa- The results are in correspondence with expectations from
rameters to the spectral centroid. The value of the exponent used
studies by Cremer [7] and Guettler et al. [8].
for curvilinear transformation of bow force was = 1/3. The
coecient of determination of the regression was R2 = 0.89.
3.2. The attening eect
Indep. var. Regression coe.
3.2.1. Schelleng diagrams
FB 1.0 (0.97, 1.03) Figure 8 shows the pitch level (in cent) of Helmholtz-
vB 0.1 (0.14, 0.09)
classied points in the Schelleng diagrams at four bow ve-
0.1 (0.07, 0.13)
locities. Pitch attening can be clearly observed when ap-
proaching the upper bow-force limit. Pitch attening was
more prominent at higher bow velocities, due to the higher
determined to be about = 1/3, leading to a maximum maximum bow-force limit. At vB = 5 cm/s pitch attening
value of R2 . did not exceed 26 cent, whereas at vB = 20 cm/s atten-
The obtained regression coecients are displayed in Ta- ing up to 77 cent (13 Hz) was observed. As suggested by
ble I. The results show clearly that bow force was by far the Schumacher and McIntyre [20, 22] pitch attening might
most dominant factor determining the value of the spectral impose a practical upper bow-force limit below the ac-
centroid, and that the contributions of vB and were much tual breakdown of Helmholtz motion. This is indicated by
smaller. The positive sign of the regression coecient of dashed lines in the Schelleng diagrams, which demarcate
indicates that there was a tendency of fc to increase with approximate regions in which pitch attening exceeded
increasing bow-bridge distance. Bow velocity was found 510 cent. The practical limit according to this criterion
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Vol. 95 (2009)
(a) 10 cm/s
= 1/11.2 (a)
vS
2097 147.9 103.9
147.0 148.0 103.8
1466 149.2 108.5
150.9
= 1/8.3 (b)
vS
(b) 15 cm/s
3000 106.2
148.3 149.2 106.1
Bow force [mN]
0 5 10 15 20 25
2097 149.2 151.0 T1 Time [ms]
269.3 151.1 154.3
1466 271.9 154.0
Figure 12. Typical examples of anomalous low frequency (ALF)
272.5
string-velocity waveforms with periods of about (a) twice and (b)
1025
three times the fundamental period T1 (indicated by the vertical
1/15.5 1/11.2 1/8.3 1/5.9
dashed lines). The bow velocity was 10 cm/s; and FB are indi-
cated in the panels. Nominal slip velocity vS (Helmholtz motion)
Figure 11. Overview of stable anomalous low frequencies (ALF) is indicated by dashed lines.
in the Schelleng diagrams at bow velocities (a) 10 and (b)
15 cm/s. The numbers indicate the frequency in Hertz. The
dashed ellipses indicate coherent regions of dierent types of
ALF: period doubling (about 150 Hz), period tripling (about = 1/7
100 Hz), and lowering by 1 semi-tone (about 270 Hz). The upper
String vel. [a.u.]
FB = 2508 mN
bow-force limits are indicated by solid lines. The frequency of
the D string in Helmholtz motion was 293 Hz. [In the Schelleng
v
diagrams shown in Figure 4 in [4], especially at vB = 10 cm/s S
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FB=3000 mN (a)
T1 T1
vS v
S
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 FB=1466 mN (b)
vS
the maximum bow force (at FB = 1466 mN) small additional
slip phases were observed (indicated by arrows), suggesting that
the triggering mechanism in (a) might be related to secondary
waves. Nominal slip velocity vS (Helmholtz motion) is indicated
by dashed lines.
0 5 10 15 20
Time [ms]
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The actual explanation for this increase lies in a coordi- reactive power balance rule as calculated by Boutillon [21]
nated change of bow force and bow-bridge distance; the for an A string (12 cent at = 1/11.1 and vB = 10 cm/s,
bow force normally needs to be increased as bow-bridge before breakdown) seems to be somewhat underestimated
distance is decreased, in order to stay in the playable re- in comparison with the values found here.
gion with some safety margins to the bow-force limits.
Simulations with a hyperbolic friction model predict
Furthermore, the spectral centroid was shown to in-
a threshold for the occurrence of the attening eect
crease with decreasing bow velocity. This observation,
[19, 23]. The measurements showed indeed that pitch was
along with the other results above, are in agreement with
rather stable over a wide range in bow force, and that the
a previous study [8], in which simulations were used to
onset of pitch attening occurred quite suddenly. How-
show that the observed eects were due to corner resharp-
ever, as the pitch of a bowed string is the net result of a
ening at the bow. Also reducing the eective width of the
balance between pitch-sharpening and pitch-attening ef-
hair by tilting the bow has been shown to have some eect
fects, it might be the case that a certain amount of pitch
on the high-frequency content, although smaller than the
attening is present across the whole range of bowing pa-
inuence of reducing bow velocity [31].
rameters, and that a threshold as such does not exist. The
latter description would be more appropriate when includ-
4.2. Pitch eects
ing a thermal dependence of friction in the model [32].
The pitch of a bowed string is dependent on the bowing
parameters via several mechanisms. Pitch sharpening oc-
curs due to string elongation, yielding an increase of eec- 4.3. Other types of string motion and the role of
tive string tension due to the transverse displacement, and secondary waves
due to inharmonicity [21]. The rst is mainly dependent
on the ratio vB /, and the second on the energy distribu- Beyond the upper bow-force limit dierent types of more
tion in the spectrum, which was shown above to be gov- or less periodic non-Helmholtz motion patterns were ob-
erned by bow force. The force of the bow on the string, served. Coherent regions of ALF were found in the Schel-
as well as the net displacement of the string in the bowing leng diagram with twice or three times period lengthening,
direction cause a further increase in string tension. These especially at bow velocities of 10 and 15 cm/s. At large
mechanisms give moderate pitch sharpening, and their rel- values of and FB , ALF with very long, more or less reg-
ative importance are dependent on two properties of the ular periods was found. These types of ALF were main-
string, Youngs modulus and bending stiness. In contrast, tained through triggering of the slip phase by transversal
the attening eect, caused by hysteresis of the frictional waves. Another peculiar type of ALF was found with a
interaction between the bow and the string, can give sub- pitch drop of about a semi-tone. The drop was too small to
stantial pitch changes, most prominently at high values of be explained by either transversal or torsional triggering
bow force and large bow-bridge distances [19, 20, 21, 23]. as described in [24], and a possible explanation is that sec-
The attening eect was clearly observed in the mea- ondary waves were involved in the triggering mechanism.
surements at high bow forces close to the upper bow-
Furthermore, cases of S-motion were observed, show-
force limit. The 510 cent attening limits, indicated in the
ing the typical characteristics described in [26]. In addi-
Schelleng diagrams (Figure 8), were found to be approx-
tion, an inuence on pitch was observed; the pitch was
imately parallel to the observed upper bow-force limits.
less attened in S-motion compared to the surrounding
The eect of pitch sharpening was much less prominent,
Helmholtz waveforms, or even sharpened, possibly due
but supported by several observations. First, in determin-
to the inuence of secondary waves on the friction force.
ing the tuning of the string, the pitch during late decay of
Also another case of period shortening was observed at
pizzicato tones was about 1 Hz lower than that of the ref-
high bow force, which seemed to be related to partial slip
erence bow stroke (the start of the plucked tone showed
phases induced by secondary waves.
a rapid decrease in pitch during the initial decay). Sec-
ond, pitch was shown to be signicantly sharpened at high The above observations suggest that secondary waves
ratios of vB / (blue columns in Figure 8c and d). Fur- might play an important role in the generation of higher
thermore, Figures 9 and 10 show that there was a weak types of string motion. The details of the triggering mech-
increasing trend of pitch with bow velocity and bow force anisms could only be resolved by simulations or more so-
below the onset of pitch attening. phisticated measurement methods than those employed in
The dependence of pitch attening on the bowing pa- the current study. However, it should be noted that exper-
rameters and vB as shown in Figures 9 and 10 were in iments with the bowing machine have revealed interesting
good qualitative agreement with predictions by Boutillon variations of waveforms and phenomena not previously
(cf. Figures 6 and 7 in [21]). The amount of pitch attening observed in bowed-string simulations. This could simply
also corresponded well with observations by Schumacher be due to that the relevant combinations of bowing param-
[23], who found values of 15 and 30 cent just before eters have not been explored before, or that the observed
breakdown of Helmholtz motion at bow velocities of 5 phenomena are dependent on irregularities in the friction
and 10 cm/s, respectively, on a D string (perlon) bowed characteristics at high bow forces, not included in the cur-
at = 1/10. The amount of pitch attening based on the rent simulation models.
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Pitch attening was readily observed, reaching consid- where T the nominal string tension. Likewise, the static
erable magnitude when approaching the upper bow-force displacement due to the friction can be written as
limit in the Schelleng diagram (5080 cent at the highest
xB (L xB ) d FB
bow velocity and at large values of ). Pitch attening im- ystat = ,
poses a practical limit of bow force well below Schellengs L T
upper limit. An estimated upper practical bow-force limit where d the average dynamic friction coecient [7].
of 510 cent attening was found to follow the slope of The total momentary string displacement is obtained by
the upper bow-force limit well, but shifted down a factor superposition of the three triangular displacement compo-
23 in force. The attening limit was also found to be less nents, leading to two or three linear string segments, de-
strongly dependent on bow velocity than the upper bow- pending on the position of the Helmholtz corner, with a
force limit, resulting in larger areas of pitch attening in total length L . The momentary lengthening is obtained by
the Schelleng diagram at higher bow velocities. subtraction of the nominal string length L, and the total ef-
Beyond the upper bow-force limit raucous motion was fective lengthening L is obtained by taking the average
observed, as well as regions with nearly periodic mo- lengthening across one period.
tion. These were identied as anomalous low frequencies The change in tension of the string can be calculated by
(ALF), with doubling or tripling of the periods, and S- Hookes law
motion. Observations of an ALF motion with only a semi- L
tone lowering in pitch and a quasi-periodic motion with T = Y s,
L
period shortening characterized by large ripples indicate
the importance of secondary waves in triggering higher where Y the Youngs modulus and s the cross section of
types of string motion. the string. Using Mersennes law
In summary, the study shows that bow force is the main 1 T
control parameter in setting the high-frequency content in f= , (A1)
2L L
the string spectrum, inuencing the brilliance of the tone.
The maximum usable bow force is limited by pitch atten- where f the fundamental frequency and L the linear den-
ing. The players choice of bow-bridge distance and bow sity of the string, the relation between T and the relative
velocity has essentially an indirect inuence on the bril- change in frequency can be written as
liance, giving access to a suitable bow-force range within
the Schelleng triangle. T = (f /f )2 1 T, (A2)
or in cent
Appendix T = 2c/600 1 T. (A3)
Consequently, the increase in pitch level in cent c can be
A1. Estimation of pitch rise due to string calculated as
deection
T
c = 600 log2 +1 . (A4)
Due to the nite amplitude of vibration the eective length T
of the string is somewhat increased. Furthermore, the
string is statically deected in vertical direction at the bow- The unknowns left in the above equations (T and Y s) are
ing point when a nite bow force is applied, and there is a dependent on the physical properties of the string, and can
net static displacement in the bowing direction due to the be determined experimentally. Y s is a measure of the elas-
nite dynamic friction force. The total lengthening leads ticity of the string and can be determined by measuring
to an increase in eective tension T , and as a result the the change of pitch under inuence of a known change of
pitch of a bowed string is increased by a certain amount. length Ltuning by detuning the string. In the current study
this was done on a monochord, using a guitar tuning ma-
The peak displacement yH of a string in Helmholtz mo-
chine. The elasticity can be calculated as
tion at any point x along the string can be expressed in
terms of the bowing parameters vB and Ltot
Ys = T , (A5)
Ltuning
vB T1 (L x)x
yH (x) = , where Ltot is the total nominal length of the string from
2 L2 the tuning peg to the tailpiece (assuming that the tension
is equally distributed over the dierent parts of the string
where L the string length and T1 the fundamental period
(from Cremer [7], equation 3.17). The peak displacement after having tuned the string). T can be calculated from
due to the application of bow force at the bowing point xB the measured pitch change using equation (A2) or (A3),
can be calculated by and T can be calculated using equation (A1), after having
determined L . The linear density of the string L can be
determined experimentally from the mass of the speaking
xB (L xB ) FB
zstat = , length of the string.
L T
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