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Article: Violins' secret solved?(technology)(Brief article)
- Article from:
- Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- February 9, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- For centuries, musicians and instrument makers have tried to decipher the secret of the famed Stradivarius and Guarneri violins. Made by Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) and Giuseppe Guameri del Gesu (1698-1744) in Cremona, Italy, the violins are widely considered to be among the finest ever made. Did the quality of their maple wood, perhaps, or their glue give them their sublime tone? A team of U.S. scientists may have found the answer.
The scientists studied wood shavings taken from five antique European stringed instruments, as well as pieces of maple wood harvested recently in Europe. The scientists used a spectroscope to study the ...