Microprocessor-based instrumentation and 3D printing-based platform for the study of vibrating strings and characterization of electric guitar strings

The electric guitar is a musical instrument based on string vibration, that is well known by physics. This work presents the development of an experimental setup capable of verifying the vibrating string equation for electric guitar strings, by building an electric guitar prototype as well as a digital dynamometer prototype to measure guitar string tension. With the developed apparatus, it was possible to verify the relationship between vibrating string frequency and physical quantities such as length, tension, linear density and number of the harmonic associated with the string. Beyond the verification of the vibrating string equation, it was possible to characterize the guitar strings, as well as measure the differences between brands and types of strings. The methods were shown to be useful for academic study and can be applied in educational scenarios, or even in the musical instruments industry.