Violin-fiddling boffins learn that 'F-HOLES' are secret to Stradivarius' SUPERIOR sound Scientists have identified the design features that boost the acoustic power of violins. Italian workshops of master violin-making families (such as Stradivari) produced increasingly powerful instruments in the renaissance and baroque musical eras during the 17th and 18th centuries, the so-called Cremonese era. Advances in …
That doesn't discredit the acoustic analysis because it's irrelevant. They were testing how and why the Cremonese-era violin makers improved so dramatically over instruments of previous ages, not how they stack up against subsequent ones.
Modern violins, being by definition made after the Cremonese era, are made with the benefit of the experience of that era. Any modern violin intended for professional use which does not sound better than (or at the very least as good as) a Cremonese-era violin is a failure of epic proportions.
The fact that the Stradivarius violins still rate within the same class as modern high-end instruments after 3+ centuries of opportunity to exceed their quality indicates that they are truly advanced works of craft.
"The fact that the Stradivarius violins still rate within the same class as modern high-end instruments after 3+ centuries of opportunity to exceed their quality indicates that they are truly advanced works of craft."
And yet, they can't make a modern television's built-in speakers sound anything other than complete crap.
@Stumpey @ Steve
The best of those studies was also the most recent as it addressed pretty much every criticism of previous studies.
I would not, however, say that they perform 'averagely' as they are able to hold their own with the best modern examples and some do genuinely prefer a given Strad to a given modern instrument.
They key point, however, is that it is very much individual - both in the musician and the instrument - and it is pretty much discredited that these violins (by the Cremonese masters) are categorically better than modern ones.
Even more importantly, while some in the tests have indeed selected one of the Stradivarius instruments as the best sounding, they are not necessarily able to identify what it is. Some of course like the Stradivarius most and identified it as such but others who also chose the like it best thought it was a modern violin. Still others liked a modern one but thought it was the Strad - perhaps because they simply assumed that the best sounding must be it!
That said, in response to Steve, Violins are dependent on the wood as the vibrational properties are a combination of the materials (including any treatment) and construction (thickness, shape and bracing). As a living thing, with properties dependent in on growing conditions, it is entirely possible that the wood available in Cremona at the time was just better for making violins.
Evidently not better than available today, as proven but perhaps better than what went before. (Though some luthiers most definitely believe that, say, the mahogany available today is not as good as it was in the 50s.)
Any such algorithm would produce results similar to those produced certain TV shows, where "music" that is pleasing to the masses is produced by a voting process that eradicates anything that would be pleasing to the musically literate. Such sounds are readily realised by generic mass-produced violins.
Regarding the Strad, the most sensible comment I have heard is by a user who said that it's not so much the sound which is exceptional, but the result from the player of the demands placed by such an instrument on its user, that he should be worthy of such a venerable instrument.
@plrndl
Actually, there is a little behind this. It's not really an exact science but nor can it be, of course. What people have done is kind of akin to market research because it's all about subjective taste. I mean, objectively, you can't say that some food or other tastes 'good'. You can say that it is sweet, because you can analyse the chemical make-up and maps what taste-buds are activated, just as you can say that a violin produces a bright sound by analysing the frequencies created.
So, what people investigating these violins have done is to find out which violins people like the most and then analyse their sound and they have discovered is that those that are best-liked produce sounds very similar in frequency make-up to the human voice, specifically a female soprano.
Again, it's like market research - you identify what things people like, find out what they have in common and use that to create a definition of 'good'. That's really the only way to evaluate something so subjective - if people like it, it is good.
There was a documentary about the secret of Cremonese violins from 30 years ago which concluded that a telling factor in Stradivarius's, Amatis and Guarneris, was the fact that the violin makers of Cremona got their wood from Venice lumber dealers who had yards full of wood floating in pens in the lagoons for generations and that they absorbed salt from the sea water that later crystallized in the fibers of the wood, adding density and changing the acoustic properties. Other researchers concluded that the positioning of the sound peg and the construction and positioning of the bridge in relation to the sound peg contributed importantly.
There will soon come a day where wood bits will be analyzed via computer and sensors whose data will be fed to CNC programs and violin makers will simply assemble the lot in kit form. I'm not sure that any form of exorcism will prevent this, LOL!
These seem to come around regularly and rarely do they sound that convincing; this less than most, in fact.
It's obvious you can design just about anything by natural selection (c.f. the natural world) but you'd be a pretty dumb craftsman if you set out to do it that way and not use a modicum of intelligent design. For a start, you can make small sound holes, then play the violin, then make them bigger and see what changes. That's not random and I can't believe a decent craftsman wouldn't have done exactly that, many times over in fact.
Obviously, sound holes aren't the only important design factor, either, so certainly not the "secret" of Stradivari. In fact, if it were just down to dimensions, machines would be able to turn out top-quality violins by the thousand as they'd be able to accurately reproduce the dimensions of great old instruments.
And the sound holes don't just let the sound out. Among other effects, they allow the "table" (the approximate square of the top plate between the sound holes) to vibrate largely independently and affect the resonances of the whole instrument. Elongated sound holes obviously do that better.
You'd have to think the old craftsmen were really pretty stupid to have spent their whole lives breaking new ground in instrument-making and not realise just a little of this. To the extent that they were no better than a bunch of random monkeys? Pull the other one!
While I agree with you, it's also human nature (so it seems) for many folks to simple say "well, that's the way it's always been done." and not try to improve. Then there are the few who break out from that.... So it wouldn't be "a decent craftsman".. it would be a talented, curious, rather unique craftsman.
You fail at modern philosophy which says "modern = intelligent/good; old = dumb/bad".
I think its part of the cult of evolution. Pretty much anything/one before the 1960's is considered a bit primitive, which is slightly ironic given modern music's preoccupation with banging a wooden stick against an animal skin.
I find it curious that with the rejection of religion in the West, sex, drugs and rock-n-roll drumming - three major methods "heathens" use for communing with the spirit world - become increasingly central to the culture.
I'm not sure that the craftsmen had enough time/cash to make violins "just to see how this one goes" on a regular basis. I suspect the answer is no. Someone will doubtless be along in a moment to answer how many violins a master craftsman could make in a lifetime, giving us the answer (or at least hinting at one).
The Strad Magazine April 2001, Page 408, to 415 "The hole Story" by James Beament and Dennis Unwin discussed this, explored by New South Wales U (pdf).
Then from 2004 The Cremonese System for Positioning the F-Holes (pdf)
Then there's this from 2013.
What happened to literature searches?
Yo-Yo ma has a Strad cello and, while he says it is a prvilege and honour to own it, he doesn't regularly play it, because even Strads, restored and protected, have a life-span. Modern instruments are now as good or better than Strads, but it will take a few hundred years for these makes to earn the same reputation.
Strads Amatis etc are beautiful instruments to look at. I am always sad when I see one behind glass in a museum, but I do think their playing days are fading.
...Violins carved from wood are relatively elastic:...
Wow! I didn't know violins were carved from solid. I thought they were assembled from a set of parts - back, front, sides, sound post, etc. I'm impressed at the way violin makers manage to get the wood thickness so even....
The true "secret to Stradivarius' SUPERIOR sound" is that for the past three centuries violins, violas, and cellos made in the Cremona shops of Amati, Guarneri, and Stradiveri have been prized and played by the world's best virtuoso performers and they make them sound GREAT.
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