Effect of sound adjustment processing on the vibration behavior of cymbals

Abstract

Cymbals are thin domed plates used as percussion instruments. When cymbals are stuck, they vibrate and radiate sound. Cymbals are made through spin forming, hammering, and lathing. The sound radiated from a cymbal depends on its vibration characteristics that are determined by the shape and dimension. The hammering produces plastic deformation on the cymbal's surface, generating residual stresses throughout it. Although the vibration characteristics are changed by the hammering to adjust cymbal sound, the effect of the hammering on the cymbal sound is not clear. In this paper, we reveal the effect of the hammering on the vibration and the sound radiation characteristics. The stress distribution within the cymbal produced by hammering is reproduced by thermal stress analysis and the change in natural frequency of the modes are calculated by the vibration analysis with the stress distribution. The change (i.e., increase or decrease) in natural frequency for each mode is explained by the stress and modal strain energy distributions.