The Canada Science and Technology Museum is shedding a new light on music with an exhibit showcasing fibre optic guitars.
“Optical Guitars: Sound and Light,” which opened Oct. 20, shows how fibre optic cabling can be used to create music from light waves on acoustic and electric guitars, based on the research of two Canadian scientists.
Optical fibres are hair-thin strands of glass, commonly used to send light signals in communications networks.
Hans-Peter Loock of Queen’s University developed an acoustic guitar that detects vibrations from the guitar’s body.
“I thought, ‘Hey, let’s demonstrate it through music, something everyone understands,’ ” Loock said in a press release.
When the instrument is played, the fibre optic sensor converts the vibrations into an electrical signal which produces a richer sound, according to the exhibit panel.
Raman Kashyap of the École Polytechnique de Montréal has restrung the guitar with six ‘strings’ of optical fibre. If the wires vibrate, Kashyap found they produce a distinctive light output, according to a museum panel.
