Some intersting..er.. "science"

[Richard Brekne]

                      In 1984, Professor Joseph Nagyvary at Texas
A&M
                      University, a specialist in biophysics and
biochemistry,
                      announced a recipe for recreating Stradivari's
varnish: Boil
                      one pound of shrimp shells in powerful lye for
24 hours,
                      strain it through cheesecloth, then rinse the
residue thoroughly
                      with water and dissolve it in vinegar until it
attains a syrup-like
                      consistency. This, he contended, would
duplicate Stradivari's
                      varnish, which Nagyvary believes was made
mostly of chitin,
                      the polymer found in the bodies and wings of
insects. (Shrimp
                      shells also contain chitin.)

                      In 1986, Nagyvary claimed that a microscopic
fungus
                      growing in the wood used by Cremonese violin
makers was
                      responsible for their special sound. Long
soaking of the logs
                      from which the violins' wood came made it
especially
                      receptive to the particular qualities of
Stradivari's varnish, he
                      said. On the other hand, in 1988, William
Fulton, a retired
                      aerospace engineer and now secretary of the
Violin Society
                      of America, suggested that wood destined to be
made into
                      violins should be subjected to ammonia fumes
for several
                      weeks to duplicate an eighteenth century
smokehouse
                      treatment.

                      In 1991, Mayne R. Coe, a retired organic
chemist in Jupiter,
                      Florida, received U.S. Patent 5018422 for what
he believed
                      was the secret to Stradivari varnish: tung
oil. He claimed Italy
                      started importing tung oil around the time
Stradivari and other
                      violin masters in Cremona began establishing
their
                      reputations. He cited other research that
suggested the violin
                      makers colored their varnish with a red dye
called dragon's
                      blood resin, extracted from the rattan fruit
from India....

                      You get the idea.


Grin..


--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no