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Description
Rosettes covering the sound hole are characteristic of traditional Greek long-necked string instruments such as the Cretan lute. Although rosettes are known to influence the resonance of musical instrument cavity, their vibrational and airflow effects remain insufficiently studied. This work numerically examines 27 typical Cretan lute rosette geometries using finite element modal and frequency-response analyses combined with steady-state computational fluid dynamics. All rosettes were modeled with identical material properties and dimensions to isolate geometric effects. FEM eigenfrequencies were verified against physics-based models, presenting a good agreement per mode (MAPE < 5%). Clustering analysis showed that vibrational behavior was primarily governed by perforation rates and ligament patterns which strongly controls airflow. Overall, rosette geometries tend to act as independent tuning factors for soundboard behavior.