On the use of tonewood leftovers for the elastic constants estimation of musical instruments top plates

Estimating the elastic properties of tonewood is a crucial step when dealing with numerical models or when a specific target vibroacoustics response is desired for a new instrument. However, not always experimental measurements can be run on the real instrument soundboard. Soundboards leftovers might be used to estimate the plate elastic behavior. Various estimation methods exist involving measurement equipment and computational methods. This paper investigates the feasibility of using leftover pieces to estimate the elastic parameters of instrument top plates. First, consistency in the estimation of elastic constants is assessed under different experimental setups. The verification is then conducted by comparing vibrational patterns obtained by finite element models computed with the estimated elastic parameters to those of the actual soundboards. While consistent elastic properties can be estimated from tonewood leftovers, a single sample approach may not fully represent the material's overall elastic behavior, due to natural wood variability and challenges in establishing ideal boundary conditions. The need to define a tolerable error in the modal behavior between two musical instruments remains an open question for further research.