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I've followed all the theories on what make a Strad sound so sweet for 20+ years. This fellow is not the first, nor even the 50th to say that wood treatments, deliberate or inadvertent, were the 'key'. Being somewhat better informed than average it is pretty obvious that it is a combination of several things:
-The wood Stradivarius used was floated downriver.
-The wood was aged properly
-the wood was treated with various chemical formula
-THE CRAFTMANSHIP OF THE MASTER WAS IMPECCABLE
-The (proprietary and secret)finishes applied by the master.
-These violins have aged for a long time being played constantly (the vibratins affect the wood cell alignment)
-any time you hear on it is usually being played by a master.

IMHO no one factor is the answer. Friends and professional associates have done much study on the acoustics of wood aging , MANY great chemists and engineers have studied these violins. The article illuminates one small bit of a much larger subject; not false but over hyped.

Latest theory I heard was that it was the little ICE AGE that caused an increase in the density of the wood I would think that the STRADIVARIUS'S day's of uniqueness is numbered. Modern science could probably reproduce the exact hardness, shape, sound reflectivity etc. given a little effort

On the subject of violins, our family had a touching experience a year or so ago.

My father is 93 with quite a dose of dementia/Alzheimers goin' on...as a young man he worked his way through college running a band; he played the violin.

Growing up, he'd periodically pick up his instrument and play it a bit, but not very much - it eventually ended up with my sister's daughter, who has taken lessons and gotten pretty decent with it.

Last year, they visited bringing the violin along so his granddaughter could play for him....then he picked it up and played some fine stuff for about 2 minutes. We were dumbfounded. I know he hadn't touched that violin for at least 40 years.