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Private member DiscussionDesign and Testing

Testing Mandolin Top Wood Billets

For my current mandolin build, I set out to answer 2 questions: 1. Whether to use physical deflection or frequency analysis to measure stiffness, and 2. How well can I measure wood quality in rough sawn form? (T. Gore says it needs to be planed smooth and rectangular for frequency analysis.) I have 4 different topwood species available for my current build: California Sitka, Englemann, Lutz, and Coastal Redwood. The billets range from 37…

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Hello Neil, I also measure wood properties when I build mandolins and what you did is very similar to what I have tried, so I'd like to share some thoughts and comments. From my engineer point of view,…
Private member DiscussionDesign and Testing

Deflection vs. Frequency for measuring flexural modulus

I've been testing all my top and bracewood to find the best combination of stiffness and density, optimize plate thickness, etc. I started with Nicoletti's spreadsheet which calculates both stiffness and density, but since I was also testing deflection, I decided to compare the flexural modulus using that method (with the formula from T. Gore's book) on the same plates and bracewood. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble getting a satisfa…

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Hello Neil, as you rightly pointed out, they are all in reasonable range for the species, but do not perfectly correlate (at least, not all of them). In my experience, the deflection method is is not v…
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