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Rating: 
Summary: Misleading and completely worthless book
Review: I bought this book ...in hope to get some help in explaining basics of musical acoustics to my college-age kids in a systematic, organized manner. What a disappointment!In page 56 the author lists "Measured Values of Components of a Set of Guitar Strings".
One would expect a discussion about string inharmonicity as an explanation why partials of different strings have different frequencies while having the same fundamental' frequency. An utterly important and well known phenomenon is "responsible" for correct musical instruments recognition and perception is completely avoided in the text. Moreover, in the page 66 we found that "It is easy to verify ... that lopping off the higher frequency members of ...harmonics does not alter the perceived pitch of the sound". This statement is simply wrong: it is an established fact that the spectrum of the sound DOES affect the perceived pith. On the page 194 another treasure left me wondering what the author meant by "Compact, small, solid objects act somewhat as new sources of sound that originate new impulses of modified shape whenever an impulse is incident upon them". Here's more of the same amusing kind on the page 574:
"Brass instruments, particularly French horns, often "talk" to one another, so that the sound radiated by one of them enters the bell of its neighbor and thence joins in at the player's lips to influence the regime of oscillation." Tell this to a brass player! There're glowing phrase on the back cover of this book by Audio Amateur, American Scientist, Physics Today and Stereo Review. While the first and the last - now extinct - publications can be "forgiven" as being amateur indeed, the American Scientist's and Physics' credibility is drastically diminished in my eyes; it's hard for me to believe those magazines fell for this misleading and in many cases simply wrong, book.
As a whole, this Mr. Benade' creation is anything but "a landmark book in its field, hailed for its astonishingly clear, delightfully readable statement of everything of acoustical importance..." as stated on the back; rather this book is nothing more that a pathetic waste of paper.
Rating: 
Summary: Benade is One of the Greats in This field
Review: I studied with Dr. Benade, taking his course in musical acoustics, at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, some years ago. Dr. Benade was a brilliant and dedicated scientist in the area of musical acoustics, but he was highly opinionated and sometimes inflexible. He refused to accept, for example, that flutes could produce "whisper tones", a standard 20th Century player's/composer's technique which I have used many times in my compositions (and can perform myself on the flute). Nonetheless, this book is a very important book to read and own if you are interested in the fundamentals of the acoustics of musical instruments (not performing spaces as other reviewers have pointed out). This book was the text which Benade used to teach his courses. Add this to your collection of musical acoustics books...and be sure to include "Horns Strings and Harmony", Benade's earlier book, as well as the book by John Pierce and of course the book by Helmholtz.
Rating:
Summary: Benade is One of the Greats in This field
Review: I studied with Dr. Benade, taking his course in musical acoustics, at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, some years ago. Dr. Benade was a brilliant and dedicated scientist in the area of musical acoustics, but he was highly opinionated and sometimes inflexible. He refused to accept, for example, that flutes could produce "whisper tones", a standard 20th Century player's/composer's technique which I have used many times in my compositions (and can perform myself on the flute). Nonetheless, this book is a very important book to read and own if you are interested in the fundamentals of the acoustics of musical instruments (not performing spaces as other reviewers have pointed out). This book was the text which Benade used to teach his courses. Add this to your collection of musical acoustics books...and be sure to include "Horns Strings and Harmony", Benade's earlier book, as well as the book by John Pierce and of course the book by Helmholtz.
Rating:
Summary: A great book! A must for instrument makers.
Review: I think this book has taught me more about the instrument I make (uilleann bagpipes) and it does not even mention it. When it says fundamentals in its title it means it. you will get to the bottom of why instruments work in thye way they do and so improve yuor own acoustical design.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent introductory book without too much mathematics
Review: In my opinion, a wonderful work that introduces the principles of waves and vibrations, musical perception and instrument physics without too much mathematics. Specific chapters on violin, piano, clavicord and harpsichord, winds (brass and wood). Several references to guitar. The book is a little old, which shows in the references, but is an excellent text for self study. Most chapters have at the end a list of interesting experiments that one can perform. Overall a must first book if you are interested in the field.
Rating: 
Summary: Very outdated
Review: Of historical interest only, this book never was a comprehensive overview of musical acoustics, instead focusing on Benade's interests. Now, it is horribly outdated. Much interesting work is not in here...in fact there is no really top notch acoustics book with modern research available at this time.
Rating: 
Summary: Reasonably informative without much technical info
Review: This book, like practically all Dover science books, is a reprinted old book that does not incorporate any of the recent research in acoustics. For example, much research on acoustics as related to the design of a theatre is not in here. However, if you have a good grasp of fundamental physics (say, you took some good college physics classes but it has been quite a few years back), and now you just want to see how the physics you learned apply to the making of musical instruments, this book provides a nice overview.
Rating:
Summary: Reasonably informative without much technical info
Review: This book, like practically all Dover science books, is a reprinted old book that does not incorporate any of the recent research in acoustics. For example, much research on acoustics as related to the design of a theatre is not in here. However, if you have a good grasp of fundamental physics (say, you took some good college physics classes but it has been quite a few years back), and now you just want to see how the physics you learned apply to the making of musical instruments, this book provides a nice overview.
Rating:
Summary: An Outstanding Book, Designed to Make You Think
Review: While Benade's first book, "Horns Strings and Harmony", has some errors which he himself later acknowledged, "Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics" is one of the seminal books in the field. That doesn't mean that it is perfect in every respect, but it introduces a broad range of concepts in musical acoustics without the use of advanced mathematics, in a writing style that will appeal to the musician in addition to the scientist. The fine details of his theories regarding psychoacoustics, particularly pitch perception, have been challenged. But his general concepts are well accepted, and he presents them in a way that makes the reader think. His descriptions of experimental techniques (which generally aren't very complicated) have inspired me and others to repeat his experiments. Sometimes, results don't agree - that's when you have to think. Psychoacoustics relies on neurology and psychology, two sciences that, despite much brilliant work over the last 100 years, are still in their infancy. So, you can't judge his theories on psychoacoustics in the same light as his description of wave propagation, room modes, and perturbation functions in clarinets.
As a musician and an engineer, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in how music and physics intersect. This is not the book to answer all your questions - it is the book to get you started on asking the right questions.
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