sound bites
You're running workshops for a new system of guitar-making. What is it exactly?
Concert guitarist Rene Mora Domenici:
'It was invented by physicist Juan Menduina. It's a mathematical system of constructing an instrument with the stress on the harmonics. The instrument records very naturally - you don't have to clean up any undesirable frequencies that microphones tend to exaggerate.'
How are these effects achieved?
'While the guitar is hollow inside, the inside surface of the instrument is supported by bracing - wooden struts that give the instrument strength to counteract the high tension created by the strings.
'Guitar-makers have for centuries experimented with this strutting to achieve the best possible sound: pure, clean, projecting, and reliable tuning. Most of these experiments were just that, mostly based on the makers' intuition, experience, and through trial and error.
Menduina has identified the characteristics of a wave form that creates the most pure sound on a musical instrument. These characteristics have to do with strengthening the octaves. He has also discovered that straight strutting interferes with the production of pure harmonics and the overall sound quality and created strutting that is curvilinear.'
Rene Mora Domenici workshop, tomorrow, 7.30pm, Music & Drama Institute, 16/F Dotcom House, 128, Wellington St, Central. Inquiries: 2526 1499
