Another interesting point seems to be that aged wood having possible positive benifits in music instrument making perhaps is not so unreasonable a proposition after all. As wood gets older, according to proponents of this school, it becomes stiffer, lighter, looses some of its hygrophility (ie becomes significantly more stable in the face of changes in humidity), and displays lower EMC levels. One of the down sides is that it becomes more brittle. Evidently the velocity of sound through wood increases with these changes... ie aged wood will conduct sound at greater speeds then new wood. These seem to be the same kinds of characteristic changes embraced by a few companies around the world using new technology thermo treated wood in music instruments. They are able to register increased sustain qualities in instruments when compared to controll instruments made of untreated woods... or so they say. Who knows... :) Cheers RicB -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html
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