Good Vibrations

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Kennethpauls
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Location: Ventura Beach, California

Good Vibrations

Post by Kennethpauls »

Joseph had mentioned to me in an email his discovery of playing the zither on top of a closed grand/baby-grand piano. The sound amplification, especially of deep bass tones, from the hollow wood center is quite wonderful.
I found, at the local college, one of the music rooms has a baby grand; it just makes my little concert zither sound huge and full and expressive.
The only problem is getting used to standing while playing. A different sensation.
Anyone else tried this?
KP
NutmegCT
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Re: Good Vibrations

Post by NutmegCT »

Believe it or not, I get a similar "increased resonance" by placing the zither on the closed lid of my clavichord. My zither doesn't have the "pin" feet attached.

The instrument, based on a 1740s clavichord, is very light and resonant itself, so the entire wooden case acts as an amplifying resonator.

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Tom in Connecticut
kenbloom
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Re: Good Vibrations

Post by kenbloom »

I got the same result when I played my zither on a large mahogany dining room table. I found the table at a yard sale and it became my work table in my studio. I wasn't concerned with the small punctures that the little feet gave the table. The sound was amazing! A big bass response and the volume was huge. Seems like a heavier wooden surface gives you more sound. I get a similar result with the various zither tables I've made. The ones with thin light surfaces are much weaker sounding than the one I am currently using which has a sycamore surface that is 3/4" thick.

Ken Bloom
Rudy Mueller
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Re: Good Vibrations

Post by Rudy Mueller »

Does anyone have a practical method for estimating the relationship between resonance and table construction, which we could use out here in the field?

Rudi
kenbloom
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Re: Good Vibrations

Post by kenbloom »

Hi Rudi,

What I have observed over the years is that a surface that is thicker and larger gives you more volume than thinner and smaller. Thickness seems to be more important than size. The table for my perfekta has great volume and bass end. Having an enclosed airspace doesn't seem to help. The woods that seem to work best are what I would call "soft" hardwoods like mahogany or sycamore. I have two tables with spruce tops and the sound is unimpressive. I have never found a good solution that was lightweight. You can see photos of my perfekta table on my Facebook page. if you'd like to see some detailed photos of the setup, send me an e-mail (kbloom1@triad.rr.com) and I'll be glad to send them to you. I'd post them here but I don't know how to do that.

Ken Bloom
Rudy Mueller
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Re: Good Vibrations

Post by Rudy Mueller »

Thanks Ken,

What I was thinking of, for example, was a meter which had output in decibels or watts/cm^2 or??, to permit "peer review".

Rudi
NutmegCT
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Re: Good Vibrations

Post by NutmegCT »

Rudi - you can use Audacity on your laptop (etc.) to measure decibels. Audacity is free, and uses the laptop's built in microphone. Also can use an external microphone. An advantage is that Audacity actually records the sound as well as measuring, so you can play it back and watch the decibel meter.

Of course, all the other parameters of measuring decibels would be an issue: how hard the string is plucked, for example.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

You can download Audacity on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

Tom
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