Is it just because it's good wood or is there something about sitting around in the water that improves it? Timeless Timber: Resonance Debra Powers’ violin is made of spruce and maple—not especially rare trees, but this wood is special. It came from logs that were retrieved from the bottom of Lake Superior, where they had sunk during logging operations in the 1800s. “There’s something about wood that’s been submerged in water that enlarges the cells of the wood and it helps it capture the sound. It’s exactly how Antonio Stradivarius made his violins and his violins are the best in the world. He never made a violin out of wood that had not been submerged for over 50 years.” Snip...“What happens when you soak the wood for a period of years is the starchy, gummy matters that is in the cell walls of the wood is leached out over a period of time and it’s replaced by water. When dried, you have a zillion hollowed-out cell walls that act like speaker cabinets that resonate the wood.”
39 posted on 10/12/2002 3:14:46 PM PDT by philman_36