Very short strings begin to depart from the usual physical behaviour of 
stringed instruments. This is because the length of the string is no longer
"very large" in relation to its other dimensions. As such it starts to behave
more like a percussion instrument - that might be an area worth exploring.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the number of audible overtones for a
very short string is small. For a string with a fundamental of 6kHz, only 2
overtones will be heard - 3 if your hearing is at its peak. 

Good Luck,

Bob Douglas


>mark williamson wrote:
>
> Just a starting point - I'm not after perfection here - what I'm looking
> for is very short strings and harsh resonances - the Ukelele is such an
> offensive instrument. Part of my musical explorations at the moment
> is looking at the sounds of folk/traditional  music (not the content though)