Through prior research, our team discovered that there seemed to be a lack of reliable data available with regard to instrument and tonewood testing. We found a few primary testing methods that are often employed in testing musical instruments, namely Chladni testing, deflection tuning, and tap tuning, however we were unable to find much information on how reliable these testing methods are.
One of the primary goals of the research project was to try to test the reliability and usefulness of the aforementioned testing methods and to see if there is a correlation between the results gathered from each method. We also wanted to design and develop devices and procedures that would allow luthiers to quantify data related to the sound production of tone woods used in musical instruments. At the same time we wanted to make available a small database of results gathered using these tests on multiple instruments during various levels of construction.