violins; was Re: clarinets; was Re: Brass Instruments

[Mike Smith <mike@COMET.UCAR.EDU>]

Leigh asked:

> Have you a personal supply of gold beater's skin? In my orchestra
> days (in high school) an oboeist in our orchestra made his reeds
> using this rather grotesquely named material.

No.  Fortunately, clarinetists have only a single reed about which to
obsess.  Superstition, neuroticism, etc., are far worse with double-reed
players...as you no doubt guessed from the somewhat, er, exotic, names of
their supplies.  Thankfully, no one has yet invented a "triple-reed"
instrument (Pipe organs don't count!).  If they ever did, the players would,
as a species, be at extreme risk of extinction due to the severe
psychological problems associated with such an evil device.

> Instrumentalists are, in some ways, worse than audiophiles when
> it comes to superstition.
Oh, yes!

One of the truly riveting lectures I can recall concerned Stradivarius
string instruments.  As you all know, Strad "greatness" is its own
mythology, and many have sought to duplicate that manufacturing "process."
In the late 70s, a Case Western Reserve physics professor and amateur
musician--I wish I could recall his name--visited the University of Colorado
and gave a fascinating lecture of his attempts to duplicate the Strad
"secret."  To condense his lecture, the woods, dimensions, and even the
varnish were all easily replicated, but the tonal results still fell short.
It was not until he "cooked" the instruments with a strong dose of x-rays
that the waveforms really started to match those of the original
instruments.  As I recall, he made a strong case for the "secret" being
aging due to prolonged exposure to radiation and some accompanying subtle
molecular changes in the varnish.

Does anyone know of any papers along these lines?

Cheers,

Mike Smith
Boulder, Colorado