The vibrations of strings are influenced by their end supports. As a result of non-rigid supports, energy can flow from the strings to the body of an instrument causing the string signal to decay faster than in the case of rigid supports. In electric stringed instruments featuring a neck and a fretboard such as guitars or basses, this mechanism can evoke effects of practical relevance at particular locations on the fretboard which players denote "dead spots". For a precise understanding of the causes of this phenomenon the vibrations of the bodies of electric guitars were measured. In addition, the energy transfer via the end supports of the strings was assessed using a straightforward experimental procedure. Emphasis was put on the measurement of the mechanical conductance under realistic playing conditions in situ. Experiments on electric guitars revealed that the conductance at the bridge is generally smaller than at the neck. As a rule, the neck conductance proves to be smaller in the fretboard plane than perpendicular to the fretboard. The out-of-plane neck conductance is suggested as a relevant measure for characterizing the end supports of the strings in evaluations of electric guitars and basses, in particular the phenomenon of dead spots. [References: 19]
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