Importance of inharmonicity in the acoustic Guitar

Audibility of inharmonicity in realistic acoustic guitar tones was studied through formal listening experiments. Test tones were synthesized using an FZ-ARMA model of acoustic guitar sounds, which allows accurate control of the inharmonic partials. Inharmonicity was detected fairly easily for the lowest strings if the plucking transient was left out of the sound, but much harder for the full sound with transient. Detection thresholds were measured for two pitches at the low range of the guitar. Mean thresholds were close to, though above, typical amounts of inharmonicity in the guitar. Implications to digital sound synthesis are discussed.