October 3rd, 2009 – Violins made by Antonio Stradivari and his family are considered the best in the world. Each example is worth millions of dollars and only the best musicians can afford to play them. A partnership between a Swiss violin luthier and a materials scientist, has created violins that have beaten the real Stradivarius violins in blind sound tests. And they did it by infecting the wood used to make the violins, with fungus.
180 music lovers, including experts, judged a real Stradivarius against a fungi-treated violin behind a curtain. 90 participants thought that the fungi violin sounded better, and 113 thought the fungi-treated violin was actually the Stradivarius. The fungus changes the chemical composition of the wood providing a warmer and fuller sound (so they say). The violin that won the blind test had been treated for 9 months. It is now believed that Stradivari were treated to achieve the same result.
I always wondered if vintage guitars sounded different because the wood had aged. How long until we all get to play Stradivari caliber instruments? Unfortunately they didn’t say how much the process costs (or if it was more cost prohibitive than buying an actual Stradivari), but I imagine it wouldn’t cost too much, especially given that many luthiers age their wood anyways. I’m waiting for the day when a fake Martin acoustic sounds better than an original. Is this a good thing?
