Characterization and modelling tools for bow making

Frédéric Ablitzer (1) , Jean-Pierre Dalmont (1) , Nicolas Dauchez (1, 2)

1 LAUM - Laboratoire d'Acoustique de l'Université du Mans
2 LISMMA - Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Mécaniques et des MAtériaux

The aim of this work is to supply bow makers with dedicated characterization and simulation tools. As the possibility to tighten the bow and evaluate its behavior comes at the end of the making process, a tool helping the maker to validate conception choices earlier would be usefool. To this purpose, a model of bow taking into account prestress and geometric nonlinearity is developed. A {non-destructive} method for determining mechanical properties of the stick and hair is proposed. The needed equipment is affordable and easily transferable in a workshop. Once the bow properties determined, the model is able to predict the static behavior of the tightened bow and allows to calculate bow properties that are difficult to measure directly. The interest of the developed model and experimental method with regards to bow making are discussed.

Mots clés: musical acoustics; bow; bow making

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]

Frédéric Ablitzer, Jean-Pierre Dalmont, Nicolas Dauchez. Characterization and modelling tools for bow making. Acoustics 2012, Apr 2012, Nantes, France. ⟨hal-00811271⟩