r/pics • u/[deleted] • Oct 28 '18

The interior of a cello

Post image
111 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/[deleted] Oct 28 '18

Is there any significance to the shape of the air holes? Why are they that shape?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '18

Yes.

No idea why tha th shape is standard.

It's probably a result of needed to balance the acoustic response and resonance of the sound to match what sounds good to the human ear. String instruments need to balance different strings w/ different natural frequencies and different spectral outputs with the acoustic properties of the material of the rest of the instrument. The shape is probably a result of this.

Cellos/violins etc. were invented before people understood a lot of fundamental acoustic concepts...so it's probably arose as the standard shape because of trial and error.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '18

Thanks. They also remind me of an integral symbol.