The stick-slip bow interaction self-limits and adapts energy to the drain.

Evidence

In the violin, the bow and the string have a strong, non-linear interaction. When moving in one direction, the bow sticks to the string and moves it in the same direction until the tension of the string forces the string to retract and to stick to another position on the bow. The frequency of this repeated stick-and-slip effect depends on the resonances of the string. The movement of the bowing position of the string thus resembles the shape of the sawtooth wave (Equation (3.9) on page 46). From the point of view of modelling, this reminds us of the woodwind and brass instruments, where the excitation is continuous and non-linearly coupled and synchronized to the resonator. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 670 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Resonance connects to the balance between power input and frictional loss; A bowed string alternates constant-velocity grip with rapid snapback motion; Bowed string motion is a stick-slip effect producing a sawtooth wave — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 670 (+1 more)

Related

• Bowed string motion is a stick-slip effect producing a sawtooth wave (similarity 0.94)
• Bowed strings alternate between stick and slip motion (similarity 0.93)
• A bowed string vibrates as a traveling kink, not as smooth standing waves (similarity 0.92)
• Bow stick-slip generates a sawtooth Helmholtz wave with rich harmonics (similarity 0.84)
• Bowed strings sustain high harmonics indefinitely while plucked strings lose them quickly (similarity 0.84)
• A violin string clamped between steel walls would radiate almost no sound (similarity 0.83)
• A bowed string drives the bridge with a sawtooth waveform (similarity 0.82)
• A bowed string alternates constant-velocity grip with rapid snapback motion (similarity 0.82)
• A bowed string moves in two straight segments joined at a moving corner (similarity 0.80)
• Bowing forces stiff-string partials into perfect harmonic alignment through phase-locked entrainment (similarity 0.80)
• Bowing forces errant sharp violin partials into phase-locked even spacing. (similarity 0.79)
• Stick-slip friction from rosin drives the violin’s sustained oscillation (similarity 0.78)
• String vibration is driven by changing force direction, not changing tension (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• A bowed string alternates constant-velocity grip with rapid snapback motion #expands (0.90)
• Bowed string motion is a stick-slip effect producing a sawtooth wave #corroborates (0.88) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 670
• Resonance connects to the balance between power input and frictional loss #exemplifies (0.85)
• Bowing sustains a string at its fundamental natural frequency with high efficiency #expands (0.78)