<html> <head> <style></style></head> <body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'> Nice article and not at all surprising. Everything organic deteriorates with time. At lease in this dimension or if artificially preserved. (My studio is across the street from ALCOR - which is the company that freezes human heads and bodies to preserve them....which, btw, makes for some interesting Halloween myths!). Anyway,  I never understood aging could translate into a musical instrument that uses wood as a critical moving mechanical interface improving and becoming more efficient with age. I do experience new belly assemblies "coming into their own" sometime within the 1st 1 to 2 years, however.  But it's doubtful that this has anything with the aging or deteriorating of molecules. It likely has more to do with all those little folks learning to play well together. <br><em><font color="#330033"><font face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif" color="#330000"><br></font></font></em><div>Michael  Spreeman <br><div><font color="#000066"><a href="http://www.spreemanpianoinnovations.com">w</a>ww.RavenscroftPianos.com</font></div><br><br><div><div id="SkyDrivePlaceholder"></div>> Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2012 22:51:52 -0600<br>> From: rnossaman@cox.net<br>> To: pianotech@ptg.org<br>> Subject: Re: [pianotech] old violins<br>> <br>> On 1/2/2012 7:42 PM, David Weiss wrote:<br>> > I heard an interesting story on NPR today about old violins versus new<br>> > ones. Researchers did a double blind study to see if professional<br>> > violinists could distinguish the old violins from some new ones.<br>> ><br>> > Follow the link if you are interested.<br>> ><br>> > David Weiss<br>> ><br>> > http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/01/02/144482863/double-blind-violin-test-can-you-pick-the-strad<br>> <br>> <br>> No surprise here. We're surrounded by magic we look down our noses at, <br>> junk we worship, and a whole lot we aren't even aware of.<br>> <br>> Ron N<br></div></div> </div></body> </html>