MÚSICA ORAL DEL SUR, Nº 16, Año 2019, ISSN 11388579279 Centro de Documentación Musical de Andalucía
Robert Mores
http://www.centrodedocumentacionmu
Replicas of musical instruments typically intend to preserve cultural heritage or to allow people to have a share in instruments with desirable historical or performance properties, such as rare instruments. Three physical copies of a pear-shaped guitar from Nicolás del Valle have been built in 2019, and these are briefly investigated in terms of some main acoustical properties. This short letter briefly reviews the issue of geometric versus tonal copies in the context of plate and instrument tuning, and the achievements in tonal copies, in particular in the market of violins. The three guitar copies are then evaluated. While metrics accuracy in the reproduction process seems to play a role, accuracy in the determination of wood properties and their impact to sound seems to play a less important role. However, these properties can cause noticeable acoustical differences.
Are replicas of Nicolás del Valle’s pear-shaped guitar from 1850 acoustically matching the original?
