Science Takes Another Look at Strads (1 Viewer)

[Chu Gai]

http://www.livescience.com/othernews...treatment.html

Some examination of the reknowned Strads indicates they were likely chemically treated in contrast to other violins made at the time or for that matter now. The treatment though is postulated to have been done for insect and fungus control.

Of additional interest is the following quote from the article.

 

[KurtEP]

Interesting. I should do a blind test on guitars sometime, since my father has three. It would be interesting to see how well I could tell them apart, if at all.

 

[RobertR]

Very interesting about the blind testing. I had assumed that since musical instruments are sound producers, and not reproducers, that there would be noticeable differences, but it sounds like that's not necessarily true.

 

[Chu Gai]

It may have more to do with the skill of the violinist. Knowing you're playing a Strad just may give you a bit of a rush that you use to your advantage to play it to the best of your ability. I posted this on another forum Robert and someone mentioned an interesting article in the Sunday Science Times postulating very strongly that we've moved past the Strad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/sc...8d3e7f&ei=5070

 

[Garrett Lundy]

I have a Joshua bell recording where he uses a Strad, and damned if I can tell it apart from anything he uses in any other recording. (Yes, I bought Romance Of The Violin just because of the violin).

One of these days I was going to post a thread asking what I should be listening for.... but maybe its nothing?

 

[RobertR]

Thanks for the second link, Chu. That confirms my previous assumption--that different instruments do sound different. But old doesn't necessarily sound different or better.

 

[Chu Gai]

Tough call Garrett considering they're different recordings and what not. I assume in the first post the guy was listening to whatever are considered very competent examples of the instrument.

 

[KurtEP]

Great article, thanks for pointing it out. My father recently pointed out some carbon fiber guitars in a catalog he gets (although he isn't thinking of abandoning his Martins or his Taylor ). It'll be interesting to see where this goes.

 

[Chu Gai]

While you're at it, check out this article and make sure you go to the last page and play the musical clips of three, very different violins.
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtm...N_GRAPHIC.html