I think the secret o the Stradivarius wasn’t merely the design and construction (which is all a CAT scan will show) but the very wood that he had available to make them with.
I think it had something to do with the “little ice age” and the wood that Stradivari had. I don’t think there is any way to duplicate it, without having the 17th century wood that he had.
****but the very wood that he had available to make them with****
A very good point. This reminds me of the Gibson wood importing brouhaha. There are only so many sources of the best woods, and we don’t have the true best woods around anymore.
Well... even here I’d say not so fast, it reads like these guys measured the density of the wood too and found the closest thing possible, and it’s panning out with only three instruments built so far. Earth has no shortage of woods in a vast variety of densities from balsa to ironwood, and there are always synthetic materials.
This isn’t black magic. It’s science and technology making the previously impractical possible. I don’t think anybody studied the structure of these historic violins this closely before. It would have required dis-assembly of a known good violin and much manual work with a micrometer. Instead they used a smart X-ray.
I always thought that the varnish had a lot to do with the tone...