#Soundboard meaning skin

They transmit only the sounds that we perceive as round and mellow in a rich fashion.” For the higher frequencies, it does the opposite: it cuts them off…In other words, the soundboard is a “board that transmits vibrations,” while at the same time, it is in a certain sense, a “board that stops vibrations.” What makes the spruce family and especially Alaskan (Sitka) spruce, so highly valued as soundboard materials is that these species have the property of absorbing the higher overtones more effectively. So why is the soundboard made from wood? The answer is that, unlike metal, which amplifies both low and high frequency sounds in the same way, wood amplifies only the lower-frequency sounds. “If it were only a matter of loudly amplifying the sound produced when the hammers strike the strings, a metal plate would have been much more efficient. Yamaha makes a very interesting point that spruce not only produces lovely tones but also inhibits unwanted frequencies: Among the metals, iron, copper, and aluminium have been tried, but only experimentally the first results seem never to have warranted a continuous departure from the common practice.” ~ the common practice of using cone-bearing trees such as spruce. “Most woods and metals would serve as resonators, with varying degrees of efficiency. Interesting to note is the experimentation of other substances that were still being considered for soundboards.

I’ve been wading through a book from 1916 called “A Treatise on the Art of Pianoforte Construction” where the author gives an overview of piano making. Possibly taking the lead from violin and harpsichord makers which had existed for centuries, the soundboard material utilizes tone wood made from spruce due to its combination of elasticity for vibration and strength. Well over 100 years ago, spruce became the popular wood of choice for piano soundboards. This vibration from the board allows us to hear the piano, without which the string vibration would be but a whisper.

#Soundboard meaning skin

If you think of a skin of a drum where the rim is attached around the edges, so too the piano soundboard vibrates freely in the middle and the edges are affixed to the rim of the piano. While we casually talk about the soundboard being an amplifier, technically speaking an amplifier ADDS energy to multiply the sound source whereas a soundboard inherently transforms and radiates energy into sound waves. It’s the job of the soundboard to act as a transducer, transforming the vibrations of the strings into audible waves of sound.

The vibration of the strings, in turn transfers the vibration through the bridge to the soundboard. When doing research on pianos, what role does the soundboard play? After a key is struck on the piano, the hammer is activated to strike against the strings.