We are dealing here with a topic that is kind of a popular topic these days, I see many people talking about it, and I would also say a very controversial topic. Some people among guitarists and guitar makers, dealers … give it a lot of importance, others less and others even not at all.
We even find people who go so far as to buy or not buy a guitar depending on what frequency the guitar is in.
And the question is : Is this correct? Does it make sense? Does it have that importance?
We will see that at the end of this video where I am going to give you my opinion on this issue.
The first thing we are going to see here is how to know the frequency of our guitar. Or in other words, the note our guitar is at once we hit the top of the guitar. Normally it is not on an exact note but in between two notes. That’s why when we say frequency we describe it more precisely.
In this way we find that we hear “this guitar is between F and F# or between G and G# or G# and A… etc.
There are several ways of knowing this. Some more precise than others.
A common way some people use is to tap the top of the guitar on the bridge area and at the same time you need to covering the strings of the guitar, you can do it with your hands, so that the strings do not sound and give frequencies you don’t want to come out. You just want the frequency the top is producing. And then you put a tuner in front of it to see what note the tuner tells us.
Another way we see people use is to sing a frequency in the soundhole area of the guitar. This way (I do it)
And we see that when the guitar reaches a frequency, let’s say that it vibrates with more intensity, that we notice the whole guitar vibrates and resonates when we reach that note. And that frequency where it vibrates most intensely is the frecuency to which our guitar is tuned. Then we repeat that sound produced by us in front of the tuner and find which note it marks.
But we may find that this method may not be very precise because by bringing our mouth closer to the rosette area we are already influencing in some way the frequency that comes out. Okay, this is not very precise but again it can give us an idea of around which note this guitar is in.
I already told you that there are several ways. One of the best and, let’s say, professional and more precise, would be using microphones and after tapping the top of the guitar and looking through softwares or hardwares specialized in measuring frequencies, then see what they tell us about it.
But I am going to tell you about a way that I use that I find for now perhaps the best way to measure it in a more or less quick way and within everyone’s reach. Without having to use microphones and specialized devices and computer softwares.
In the apps on our Android phones we find one app that is very interesting. It’s called Spectroid. And it gives us waves of the frequencies that are captured by this app when hitting the top of our guitar.
(Hit and show what it tells us in the app)
The interesting issue here is that it not only determines the guitar top frequency but also the frequency of the guitar’s air resonance.
And we can know it by the high peaks in the frequency waves that this app collects.
The first peak at around 100 shows the air resonance frequency, and the second peak at around 200 shows us the guitar top frequency.
Unfortunately, I think I am not wrong in saying that as of today this app does not exist on the Apple IOS platform. It is available only in the Android apps platform. And I also cannot tell you any similar app that provides this mediation with a certain quality. If you know it, it would be interesting if you told us about it in the comments of this video.
There are other frequency measurements in other parts of the guitar that some guitar makers in conversations with them take. In fact, I have come across some guitar makers who take frequencies from many parts of the guitar during the construction process.
Another that is quite interesting is also measuring the back of the guitar frequency. The wave peak of this frecuency will be around 250
Let’s do it on this guitar using this app that I’m talking about:
—————–Video
So let’s now go to the part about why we take these measures. Why may be interesting to know these frequencies that we have taken from our guitar?
Well, there are different reasons. One of them is that some guitar makers think that the relationship between the frequencies of the top, air resonance and back or simply between the top and back only or only a single frequency measurement of them can give a reason for problems may arise in a guitar, for example, about why some guitars have wolf notes that I already talked about them in another video in our Madera youtube channel.
Once again I tell you that it is a controversial issue and that I am not saying that I totally think for sure that this could be the cause of any problem of this type that a guitar may have. But I do tell you because yes, I have seen that some guitar makers take these measures also for that purpose.
As I say before Also some guitar makers take frecuencies measurements of pieces of woods they are going to use later on the guitar. For example the top when it is just a rectangular piece of spruce or cedar wood or the back panels too or even the bracing materials they are going to use for the guitar, they take the frequency of them for measuring wood properties.
Personally, for me it is interesting to take this measurement to determine a construction style and a character of the instrument and even also something related to its sound. If one guitar is around F# I can see one style of construction there and if another is at a higher frequency let’s say between G and G# I can see can be related to another style of construction and another character of the instrument.
But for me, and it’s important to say this, the frequency of a guitar does not determine the quality of a guitar.
Normally I see that guitars in which the guitar maker uses higher thicknesses of wood and therefore tend to be heavier, the frequency goes up to G, G# or even reaches A.
And others that use thinner thicknesses and are therefore lighter they tend to be around F#, F, and even between E and F. Some months ago for example I played a Marcelo Barbero from the 50’s that it was between E and F.
Curious to see that guitar makers who do not care at all about measuring the frequency of their guitars and who do not give it importance, all the guitars of this guitar maker are almost always around one frequency. This is why I say that you can see through it a construction style of the instrument.
As I said at the beginning of this video I have found guitarists, collectors etc … give so much importance to this that they even determine whether they are going to buy a guitar or not depending on the frequency these guitars have.
In my opinion this is wrong because I repeat the quality of a guitar I do not see that it is determined by its frequency. And even if you are looking for a character of sound or construction style, a guitar can always surprise you and be at a frequency that you believe is not going to have the character that you are looking for and then when you play it you do find it.
So to finish this video I repeat that it is a very controversial topic and that can give rise to very different opinions about its importance, whether it has it or not, and about what can determine this frequency measurement of a guitar.
