Mystery solved: Chemicals made Stradivarius violins unique.....
Answering a question that has lingered for centuries, a team of scientists has proved that chemicals used to treat the wood used in Stradivarius and Guarneri violins are the reasons for the distinct sound produced by the world-famous instruments
The conclusions, published in the current issue of Nature magazine, have confirmed 30 years of work into the subject by Joseph Nagyvary, professor emeritus of biochemistry at Texas A&M University, who was the first to theorize that chemicals – not necessarily the wood – created the unique sound of the two violins. Nagyvary teamed with collaborators Joseph DiVerdi of Colorado State University and Noel Owen of Brigham Young University on the project.
“This research proves unquestionably that the wood of the great masters was subjected to an aggressive chemical treatment and the chemicals – most likely some sort of oxidizing agents – had a crucial role in creating the great sound of the Stradivarius and the Guarneri,” Nagyvary says
http://www.physorg.com/news84029020.html
Maybe Gibson
et al also had/have a chemical treatment in their build process...? ?
