Posted on 01/22/2009 12:33:27 PM PST by decimon
String theory ping.
bmflr
One of the old stains used on Maple is nitric acid, it carbonizes the sugar in the wood and brings out the grain. It was, and is, used on rifle stocks, no reason it wasn’t used on violins.
Reminds me of a classic Texas A&M "Aggie" joke.
A farmer had chickens that were dying of a mysterious ailment. They would get noticeably sick, then die in about 3 days.
He decided to get a chicken in the early stages of the disease and send it to Texas A&M for a diagnosis. He found such a chicken, broke it's neck, and shipped it to the veterinary dept. at A&M with a note asking "What it killing my chickens?"
After several weeks, he received his response: "Your chicken died of a broken neck."
If I remember correctly, some thought that wonderful tone of the instruments was due in part to the fact that the wood, after being felled, had lay in spring fed rivers and large bodies of water for extended periods of time, due to the fact that it was easier to store the lumber there than on land where insects were more of a problem. That time in the possibly “polluted waters” may be the source of some of the chemicals found in the wood.
Hey, don’t I know you? The Nitric acid/iron stain has to be heated to turn color. As far as I know, violins were not treated this way. Generally, color comes from colored varnish. The wood would be treated with any number of different substances to seal it. One of which is “water glass”. There were other things used as well, often in several layers. Once the grain was filled and the surface smooth, a colored varnish would be applied to the surface. To the best I have been able to ascertain, this was the general method used...I can easily be wrong.
Stophel
-
bump
I remember speculations about the varnish. From this article it sounds like he took existing processes and went some step further. If it’s so that the violins were consistent in sound then it sounds like some standard process was employed.
Give me Alison Krauss on any make of Violin.
I'm not an aficionado of the violin but when I heard Dylan Jenson I liked what I heard.
I also tell her that the more beer I consume the better the wood will be.
You may know me if you're in Florida and shot in NMLRA events back in the 70s. I was the guy who always shot a flintlock in the line of caplock shooters, it drove them crazy! I usually had an empty lane to my right!
Maybe this sort of research will have some impact on the guitar industry, which is suffering from the extinction of Brazilian rosewood.
And I tell Mrs. Jazzy that the more beer I drink, the better lover I become!
Funny, but Mrs. Jazzy questions my scientific evidence on that claim.
And we should never forget the true master of the violin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmPgNzHZUpY
No mention of the Maunder Minimum & it’s supposed affect on wood grain? Hmmm?
I’m Stophel or Fatdutchman on some of the ML boards.
Alison rocks!
Fat Dutchman....that is the best viral video every. And I don’t know why.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.