Quote:
Originally Posted by Picker2
I really appreciate Andy’s extensive response and I thank you for asking permission to post it here. But a lot of what Andy writes does not make sense. Such as “undertones” at half the fundamental frequency of a string. Never heard of or read about them.
If I find time I might elaborate on Andy’s story and pinpoint the flaws. On the other hand, I might as well not.
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Oddly it makes perfect sense to me.
I've studied the complexities of sound produced by stringed instruments for a long time, and even though Andy Powers is using terminology that is sometimes more associated with layman's explanations the science is basically sound.
When you study the physics of sound it quickly becomes obvious that there's a lot more going on "under the hood" than what it appears from only having a cursory understanding of the complexities of sound produced from a stringed instrument.
When you start breaking down complex waveforms with techniques such as Fourier Analysis you begin to understand that each new harmonic of the primary tone has generated lower level frequencies that are sums and differences of each of the frequencies and harmonics, with those in turn generating even more partials and "sub-harmonics" of those frequencies generated as a result of the sums and differences of THOSE partials. It doesn't take long before all this gets way beyond the ability to grasp the mechanics easily. Then you have to figure out what the instrument itself is doing with those complex frequencies.
That's what Andy Powers is chasing, and his logic is firmly rooted in a good basic grasp on what may influence all this stuff happening behind the scenes. Make no mistake, this isn't something that it would be easy to tame the outcome of. I personally would suspect that a long history of experimentation by Andy Powers (and company) has resulted in a fortuitous, and possibly purely lucky, outcome.
Time, and feedback from a lot of players, will really tell if it's ultimately a "game-changer" or not. I'd be fairly skeptical, and I'm a huge Taylor fan.
I DO think it deserves a fair evaluation, and not the brush-off I've seen from some of the naysayers who might not give a fair chance to anything that may (or may not) improve the volume, tone, or robust design of the instrument that we all love so much.