Posted on 09/16/2009 10:58:41 AM PDT by BGHater
At the 27th “Osnabrücker Baumpflegetagen” (one of Germany’s most important annual conferences on all aspects of forest husbandry), Empa researcher Francis Schwarze’s "biotech violin" dared to go head to head in a blind test against a stradivarius – and won! A brilliant outcome for the Empa violin, which is made of wood treated with fungus, against the instrument made by the great master himself in 1711.
September 1st 2009 was a day of reckoning for Empa scientist Francis Schwarze and the Swiss violin maker Michael Rhonheimer. The violin they had created using wood treated with a specially selected fungus was to take part in a blind test against an instrument made in 1711 by the master violin maker of Cremona himself, Antonio Stradivarius.
In the test, the British star violinist Matthew Trusler played five different instruments behind a curtain, so that the audience did not know which was being played. One of the violins Trusler played was his own strad, worth two million dollars. The other four were all made by Rhonheimer – two with fungally-treated wood, the other two with untreated wood. A jury of experts, together with the conference participants, judged the tone quality of the violins. Of the more than 180 attendees, an overwhelming number – 90 persons – felt the tone of the fungally treated violin "Opus 58" to be the best. Trusler’s stradivarius reached second place with 39 votes, but amazingly enough 113 members of the audience thought that "Opus 58" was actually the strad! "Opus 58" is made from wood which had been treated with fungus for the longest time, nine months.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Thanks again, Global Cooling/Warming!
all those little fungi singing harmony can’t hurt.
Well, the author may know science, but definitely not history. The man’s name was Antonio Stradavari. The violin is a Stradavarius.
Bump for wife.
Which Strad was it?
Even among Stradivarius’ violins, there are good examples and not-so-good.
From the story, “The fungal attack changes the cell structure of the wood, reducing its density and simultaneously increasing its homogeneity.”
Lol. Are ya gonna be here all night?
LOL. You must have really meant to say "Global Cooling/Warming/Cooling/Warming/Cooling..."
I heard about this research sometime last year.
They took violin spruce (Alpine I think) and in a controlled environment introduced several types of molds and let it proliferate. I saw a photo of a sample and it was shrouded with this white colored felt. The caption explained that this was was the “split gill” fungus—perhaps the most common, and it’s what researchers determined was the best.
You can’t believe how thick the mystique of the Strad is among violin makers. For years they thought it was the varnish. There’s a scientist, Navygary, who claims to have discovered the secret every five years or so. Each time it’s different.
This research is good stuff: they found that the mold eats most of the Hemicellulose, a sugar like component with a strong affinity to water, and leaves a honey comb structure that is lighter, more stable but just as strong as the original .
Lighter tops are more responsive, strenth to mass ratio just like racing cars.
It’s speculated Strad and co. stored their wood outside. Before they got it the logs were probably floated part way to their destination and stored prior to purchase by the dealer. (Guild regulations barred luthiers from cutting they,re own) We think the mold was allowed to propagate for a few years. They weren’t doing this deliberately, just craftsman’s lore that wood needs to age.
Bad! Bad! Bad!
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