Acoustics of the guitar at the National Autonomous University of Mexico

Abstract

Ongoing work in the field of Musical Acoustics (among other areas of interest) has been carried out at the Acoustics Laboratory at the Centro de Investigaciones Aplicadas y Desarrollo Tecnológico in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). This research began almost 15 years ago and although there have been times when no work was made, due to the effort involved in the characterization of the chambers at this laboratory and the development of other areas, some results are worth mentioning. In this paper the main work done in the laboratory in the field of musical acoustics, in particular, that related to the guitar is summarized. The topics studied so far deal with the objective and subjective evaluation of the sound of the guitar, the role of high frequency radiation, the string–body interaction and tuning problems, and the fretboard’s influence on the sound radiation, among other things. Most of this work has been published elsewhere, but the aim in this presentation is to give a general view of the work done by the Acoustics Laboratory, to the author’s acknowledge, the only group in México working in this area.