Fretting Effect on the Fundamental Sound Frequency of Sape

Abstract

Sape is one of the well-known string traditional musical instruments in Sarawak, Malaysia. It was normally played in a form of ritualistic music to induce trance but now gradually became a social instrument to accompany dances and for entertainment. Therefore, there is a growing interest in this instrument. Unfortunately, it cannot be found easily in the market. Among the possible reasons were proper guidelines that could be found in fabricating the instruments and therefore very few know how to make it. This paper presents a specific investigation on the effect of the fundamental frequency when the instrument is fretted. It was found that the fundamental frequency increased as the fret number increased. The fundamental frequency produced by each fret can be calculated using the formulated Fundamental Frequency (FF) equation and Gradient Harmonic Frequency (GHF) equation. On the other hand, the fretted string length is observed to be inversely proportional to the fundamental frequency production. The correlation is best represented by the power equation following the general equation 𝑓 0 = 𝛼𝑙 𝑛 −𝛽 . The correlation derived in this paper can be used as a guideline for a sape maker in the fabrication process. It is hoped that this study can generate more interest in the local traditional musical instruments to preserve the valuable local cultural heritage.

Borneo lute ‘sape’: The frequency spectrum and time frequency analysis (TFA)

“…The study can be a reference for the sape player and manufacturer. Most researchers have studied the frequency characteristics of the sape instruments (Wong et al 2017(Wong et al , 2022Wong and Dayou 2019). A typical musical tone is made of many harmonics.…”