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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Jason,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>"Some experts, however, dispute the significance of the
study."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>-Journal reference: <I
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Nature</I> (vol
444, p 565)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I agree with the experts that dispute this study.
It's one thing to observe a variation in the composition of wood several hundred
years ago and compare it to a sample of a tree grown today. It is an
extraordinary leap to then impart some mystical and magical quality to this wood
or for that matter the varnish.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It is still another thing yet, to then draw any
conclusion from a comparison of a violin to a piano, the piano being strain
bearing. Just pluck a violin string. It makes a wonderful thunk we call
"pizzacato," and it is used with extraordinary and delightful effect by all the
masters; but it is the last type of sound I would want on anything resembling a
piano.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Cheers,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>Jude Reveley, RPT<BR>Absolute Piano Restoration, LLC<BR>Lowell,
Massachusetts<BR>(978) 323-4545</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jkanter@rollingball.com href="mailto:jkanter@rollingball.com">Jason
Kanter</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, October 23, 2008 12:29
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: The finite life of wood
grain</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)">
<DIV id=artHead
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 20px 0px; COLOR: rgb(102,68,153); PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">
<DIV id=artHeadline
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px"><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 13px">I may have
missed this piece of discussion in years past, but it seems relevant to
compare soundboards to violins. There is this research indicating that the
quality of Stradivari was due to chemical treatment of the wood prior to
manufacture. Of course piano soundboards are subject to much different
pressures and stresses than a violin, but is it not conceivable that treating
the wood might affect how it ages?</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV id=artHeadline
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px"><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 13px">Jason</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV id=artHeadline
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px"><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 13px"><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV id=artHeadline
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">
<H4 class=inline
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1.2em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">======from <SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 11px"><A
href="http://technology.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10686">http://technology.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10686</A><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 13px">===========================</SPAN></SPAN></H4></DIV>
<DIV id=artHeadline
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">
<H4 class=inline
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1.2em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Why
do Stradivari's violins sound sublime?</H4></DIV>
<UL class=notlist id=artdetails
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; LIST-STYLE-POSITION: outside; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; LIST-STYLE-TYPE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">
<LI
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">18:00
29 November 2006
<LI
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">NewScientist.com
news service
<LI
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Paul
Marks<SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"></SPAN>
<LI
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px"><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"><BR></SPAN>
<LI
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px"><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)">A wood preservation
technique was probably responsible for the exquisite sound produced by
violins of the 17<SUP
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 9px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">th</SUP>-century
Italian instrument makers Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri.</SPAN>
</LI></UL></DIV>
<P
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Chemical
analysis of wood shavings scavenged from two instruments while under repair
has given fresh clues as to their exquisite acoustics.</P>
<P
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Joseph
Nagyvary of Texas A&M University, US, used infrared and nuclear magnetic
resonance spectroscopy to analyse the chemical properties of the each
instrument's backboard - its largest resonant component.</P>
<P
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Along
with colleagues from Colorado State University, US, and Brigham Young
University in Utah, US, Navygary found that a chemical wood preservative used
in timber yards around Cremona in Lombardy, where both violin makers worked,
appears to have given the violins their signature sound quality.</P>
<H5
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Brutal
treatment</H5>
<P
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Navygary's
analysis of the wood shows that it has a different chemical composition to
maple grown in the region today. "The great Italian masters prepared their
wood by artificial means. The violin backs appear to have been brutally
treated with salts of copper, iron and chromium as wood preservers," Nagyvary
says.</P>
<P
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">It
is these salts, he suggests, that provided the mellifluous tone. Some metal
ions – like copper – have powerful fungicidal properties, which is why they
were used to treat the wood. But these salts may also have altered the
mechanical and acoustical properties of each instrument. Nagyvary now plans to
find out exactly which salts were used.</P>
<P
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Navygary
says the preservation was probably not meant to alter the acoustics. "They
would just find salt crystals in local quarries and dissolve them in water –
they didn't know what they were throwing in."</P>
<H5
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Bow
selector</H5>
<P
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Nagyvary
has made analysing the Stradivarius violins – and making similar-sounding
modern versions – his life's work. In 1998 he discovered that treating a piece
of modern maple with salt water and grape juice could produce a violin
backboard with some Stradivarius-like resonances. Then in 2001 he found that
borax, the anti-woodworm treatment Stradivari used, also had an appreciable
effect on the violin's sound.</P>
<P
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Some
experts, however, dispute the significance of the study. "The more detailed
the science becomes the more sceptical I feel," says Jon Whiteley, curator of
music at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, UK, which owns two of Stradivari's
violins and one of his guitars.</P>
<P
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">"The
quality of the alpine wood and the varnish is critical of course," he says,
"but it's the shape of the resonating soundbox, and the curvaceous, arching
way it bows outwards that gives the unique tone."</P>
<P
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 1em; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Journal
reference: <I
style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Nature</I> (vol
444, p 565)</P>
<DIV>============================================</DIV>
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