Quote:
Originally Posted by Victory Pete
I appreciate science and Wiki pages but I believe that my assertion is correct. If a flat relatively flimsy soundboard is prestressed upward into an arc and then forced to stay in that arc by being glued in place, it will be stiffer. I say flimsy because the guitar which had the flat soundboard moved more from string pull making its action too high now.
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An arch will resist deformation under load more than a flat structure. That isn’t because it is pre-stressed. It is because of the geometry.
Concrete (and stone) is relatively weak in tension. Modern Concrete structures are often pre-stressed to compress the concrete, reducing or eliminating tension within the structure when under load. By contrast wood is often weaker in compression than in tension.
The architecture of Ancient Greece predated knowledge of the arch as a structural element. Much of their architecture was a result of the limits in strength of straight stone columns and beams.
A guitar top has so little arch as to provide very little added stiffness. The arch in acoustic guitars is mostly for decreasing damage due to humidity changes.