Comparison of new and “dead” nylon guitar strings

Classical guitarists are troubled by nylon strings becoming “dead” after a short period (days or weeks) of intensive use. The problem is most severe for the lower three strings which are normally wire wound. New and “dead” strings have been studied under a variety of conditions in an attempt to determine the most evident measurable differences. The time decays of the different partials of the sound radiated from a guitar have been measured, but the interaction of the vibrating string with the guitar body and the difficulty of standardizing plucking and detecting conditions complicate the interpretation. To simplify and standardize the test conditions, the string is mounted on a steel beam with rigid supports. The vibrating motion of the mechanically plucked string is detected optically with a system similar to that used by Gough [C. E. Gough, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 75, 1770–1776 (1984)]. Measurements of vibration amplitude for different spectral regions as a function of time after the pluck and of the inharmonicity of the partials will be discussed.