A guitarist's perspective

Yesterday, I took Matt Gould, guitarist and faculty at PVCC through my show. He gave me some great feedback, very positive, and some great suggestions on how I might improve the acoustic qualities of some of my pieces.

For instance, this piece is one of four in the show with guitar strings as the main sound producing factor of the pieces. They are to be either plucked, strummed or struck with a stick to produce sounds similar to the hammer dulcimer, guitar, or koto. Matt helped me choose the various strings used for these pieces at AZ Music Co.
He pointed out that the bridge on a stringed instrument needs to be of a height and proximity to the attachment point of the strings so as to produce an extreme angle of the string downward to the attachment point. My bridges need to be raised higher and moved closer to the ends of the strings.
Also, he noted that the sound could be improved if there was a chamber seperate from the area the strings traverse, like on a guitar, violin, etc. The strings go across the body and their vibrations are magnified by the hollow, enclosed space underneath the strings.
He also suggested I make bridges that are arched, so a bow could be drawn across the strings individually as another option for playing them.
Since the show has been in place I have given many individuals and groups tours of the show showing how each piece is manipulated and explaining the concept behind each one. The response has been most gratifying and made all the work and anxiety worthwhile. The majority of pieces in the show came together at the very last minute as they required much assembly and the fabrication of metal support structures before I could determine any sound result. Fortunately, the majority of pieces are successful in my mind as far as how the sound generated is coupled with the visual and physical form.