Abstract
This paper describes the phenomenon called the inharmonicity for struck and plucked strings. Its spectral components consist of two inharmonic peak series: 'first partials' due to the elastic stiffness of a string and 'second partials'. Experimental tests for examining the mechanism of second partials were performed with a monochord string. The experiments suggest that second partials are those that have frequencies equal to the sum of two normal first partials. Further numerical simulations were done by nonlinear wave equations involving both longitudinal and transverse vibrations of large deflected string.
