Reconstruction of piano hammer force from string velocity

What is it about?

It is always difficult (and sometimes even impossible) to directly measure the hammer force against a piano string. In this paper we present, for the first time, an alternative method for deriving the piano hammer force from measurements of the string velocity. The string velocity is measured with a non-contacting electromagnetic device. Based on the string wave theory, appropriate filters are designed for recovering the hammer force with great accuracy.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

This method can be used, for example, on historic instruments, without altering the existing hammer mechanism.

Perspectives