Spectrograms...

Rick Turner said:

The original Highlander coaxial pickup that I helped to develop started off as a passive sonar sensor. Hunt for Red October, and all that...

Click to expand...

Hi Rick

My Breedlove has a Highlander IP-2 pick-up and consistently receives praises for the amplified sound. It is great. I also have an IP-2 on another Breedlove and that does not well. Strange. No matter, I just love the Highlander PU!!!

Cheers
Chief

I always thought the same uke sounded different, when different people played it. Some hold it close to body, some use straps, some folks are big some are small, the attack on the strings is different, hand size, finger size, etc all appeared to me to contribute to the sound characteristics of a uke. So a graph of the sound wouldn't necessarily be that useful. But maybe it would.

For those of us who build, it's more about replicating good results on a reliable basis. If we can measure one way or another and understand how to manipulate the thickness, bracing, etc. to achieve a certain response, we're ahead of the game. This is, of course, what experienced luthiers do in the tap and scratch mode. It's just that the human senses are used as the measuring devices.

Rick Turner said:

The original Highlander coaxial pickup that I helped to develop started off as a passive sonar sensor. Hunt for Red October, and all that...

Click to expand...

I thought they would hang Tom Clancey after I saw the movie lol. He was scary accurate on so many things and my debrief on discharge after 20 years as a sonar tech led me to believe much or most of his data would remain classified forever lol.
Rick I feel there is no machine that can evaluate an instruments sound or feel that the maker is the true artisan that controls that with his/her experience and senses.
Our engineered sensors can perhaps tell us something of the result but not the whole. It certainly didn't take a machine to assist in making a strat and it still cannot be reliably recreated. We are still not certain what all caused the resultant sound.
its one thing to make an AC Cobra but another to make an instrument that sings to your ears and heart. But that said i'd take the cobra lol.