# Evaluation of the acoustic performance of a novelty cathodic protection system against guitar steel strings corrosion

## TL;DR

This study evaluates how an impressed current cathodic protection system helps prevent guitar steel strings from corroding due to human sweat, while monitoring the impact on sound quality.

## Contribution

The novelty lies in applying cathodic protection to musical instruments' steel strings and analyzing its effect on both corrosion and acoustic performance.

## Key findings

- Corroded guitar strings show increased harmonic content degradation.
- Impressed current cathodic protection significantly reduces corrosion effects.
- Acoustic degradation is less severe in protected strings compared to unprotected ones.

## Abstract

This work was conducted to establish the efficiency of an impressed current cathodic protection system for musical instruments’ steel strings in protecting them from corrosion caused by human sweat. To conduct this research, the harmonic content degradation of a guitar string subjected to different corrosion stages by artificial human sweat, with and without cathodic protection by an impressed current, was studied. String corrosion is characterised by not only the electrochemical technique of polarisation resistance, but also by weight loss by gravimetric measurements and FESEM microscopy. From the correlation between the acoustic and electrochemical results, it can be concluded that harmonic content degradation of guitar strings increases corrosion but is less significant in the strings protected by impressed current.