On Mon, Dec 24, 2012 at 10:46:05AM -0500, Paul Davis wrote: > the guy from the chicago symphony who makes carbon fiber violins still > seems to have all of his hair and digits, and i believe they are selling > reasonably OK. Interesting, didn't know about those. > a luthier i talked to in berlin told me that most of the magic of old > instruments isn't the techniques but simply the "physics" of what happens > to wood as it ages. the lignin changes its structure over long periods of > time, as do other components. he told me that the hardest part of becoming > a luthier is that it takes at least a decade to get your supply chain > established, a supply chain that lets you build instruments with wood that > has already aged for at least a decade. he said that the changes in the > wood structure continue for at least 100 years, but they become much > smaller with each passing decade. there is very little difference at all > between a 200year old violin and a 100 year old violin, but a huge > difference between one made today and one made 100 years ago, even if the > techniques are identical. > > i liked the guy a lot, his studio was beautiful and he had a degree in > physics and mechanical engineering from a major US university. i chose to > believe him :) Most luthiers will tell you the same thing. And indeed many of them today have an engineering or science degree. I see no reason for not believing it. The open questions are why and how this ageing seem to *improve* the sound. It could very well have the opposite effect... Ciao, -- FA A world of exhaustive, reliable metadata would be an utopia. It's also a pipe-dream, founded on self-delusion, nerd hubris and hysterically inflated market opportunities. (Cory Doctorow) _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
