Development and design of synthetic reeds for woodwind instruments

Graph Tech吉他实验室目前正在研究一种专有材料的潜力， 单簧木管乐器用合成簧片。初步调查，涉及 专业音乐家已经表明，这种材料有可能用于这一目的。 天然甘蔗芦苇的工作寿命短，在演奏前需要润湿， 芦苇和进一步影响性能随着时间的推移，从发霉和磨损，以及大的变化，在质量 尽管制造精度非常高。由于这些原因，芦苇行业对质量有很强的推动力 合成簧片，可以在声音、结构和几何形状上进行比较，更耐用， 在玩之前需要弄湿。拟议的研究项目将采用最先进的有限元 通过有限元分析（FEA）设计簧片几何形状和材料分配，可针对动态行为进行调整， 匹配“非常好”的簧片。与Graph Tech Guitar Labs合作， 用专用测试设备制造和测试，以验证预测的振动特性 的FEA。利用Graph Tech与音乐行业的联系，专业音乐家 将被要求提供对簧片性能质量的感官反馈。 木管乐器簧片在发声中的作用及影响音质的因素 生产是微妙的，并没有得到很好的理解，目前的项目将提供深入了解这些问题， 在这个过程中为Graph Tech提供经济效益。该项目的成功完成将 为Graph Tech Guitar Labs提供音乐行业日益增长的竞争产品。 目前，最好的合成芦苇的生产商都在加拿大以外的国家，即日本、法国和美国。 美国的在加拿大生产高质量的合成芦苇将有助于让加拿大拥有一个 在仪器市场和整个世界的更强的存在。

Graph Tech Guitar Labs are currently investigating the potential of a proprietary material to be used as a synthetic reed for single reed woodwind instruments. Preliminary investigations involving trials with professional musicians have shown that there is a potential of this material to be used for this purpose. Natural cane reed suffers from a short working life, the need to be moistened before playing which softens the reed and further impacts the performance over time from mildew and wear, and large variability in quality despite very high precision fabrication. For these reasons there is a strong push in the reed industry for quality synthetic reeds which can be made comparable in sound, structure and geometry, more durable, and without the need to be moistened before playing. The proposed research project will employ state of the art finite element analysis (FEA) to design reed geometry and material assignment which can be tuned for dynamic behavior that matches that of a "very good" reed. In collaboration with Graph Tech Guitar Labs the reed geometry will be fabricated and tested with purpose built testing equipment that will verify the vibration characteristics predicted by the FEA. Taking advantage of Graph Tech's connection with the musical industry, professional musicians will be asked to provide sensory feedback on the quality of the reeds performance. The role of the woodwind reed in producing sound and the factors which affect the quality of that sound production are subtle and not well understood, the current project will provide insight into those issues and provide an economic benefit to Graph Tech in the process. The successful completion of this project will provide Graph Tech Guitar Labs with a competitive product which is in growing demand in the music industry. Currently producers of the best synthetic reeds are based outside of Canada, namely in Japan, France, and the United States. Having high quality synthetic reeds produced in Canada will help to allow Canada to have a stronger presence in the instrument market and the world as a whole.