Re: Mandolins "Opening Up"
The fact that tonewood ages is not under dispute here. It has never been in dispute! In fact, if you wait long enough, all wood will deteriorate, and eventually turn to dust! In fact, you can easily choose to build a new mandolin today from old wood -- VERY old wood, in fact, if you so desire. So: does such an instrument never manage to "open up," I ask, because it is already somehow "open" and aged in the first place? Most people who support the idea of mandolins "opening up" do NOT think it has much to do with the wood aging, per se. If I were you, I would look elsewhere for a viable explanation of this phenomenon!Originally Posted by Teak
As for the vast folkloric nonsense about Stradivari, it is simply NOT TRUE that the superb tone produced by his violins has never been replicated or surpassed. There is an extensive literature on this topic, much of which has already been discussed on the MC (you should look it up). In particular, a number of peer-reviewed papers have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (P.N.A.S.) over the past 10 years, derived from some well-controlled, scientific studies conducted by folks like Joseph Curtin (one of the greatest luthiers alive), Claudia Fritz, and their colleagues. These studies (there were three of them published) showed clearly that even expert violinists (world-class soloists!) and other musical experts (e.g., high-end violin sellers), and even musician-audience members, could not tell Stradivarius and other great violins from the Cremona "Golden Age" from the very best modern violins at anything better than chance levels! Well, that busted the myth of the Strad for good, in the eyes of many knowledgeable musicians. Yes, Strads are clearly among the very best violins of all time! But it's not correct to say that their tone has never been replicated. And it's also not correct to say that you need 100-200 year-old wood to do it. Or a special secret varnish made from the blood of a dead lover, and so on.
Also, there have been literally hundreds of pseudo-scientific studies published, all claiming to find key differences between the materials used to make Stradivari's violins and the materials used for modern violins. Yes, these differences almost certainly do exist, but NONE of them has been shown to be associated in any causal way with the extraordinary tone of Stradivarius violins! These include such things as (1) the varnish age and composition, (2) unusual fungi that lived in the wood when it was alive, (3) microcrystals of various wood precipitates (lignin, hemicellulose, etc), (4) microcrystals of salts from brackish waters the wood was stored for years after harvesting, before drying, (5) the tight wood grain structure imposed by climate extremes in the Little Ice Age, (6) the time of year the wood was harvested, after a full moon (true!), (7) The particular forest in Italy where the wood originated, and on and on. Much of this is horse manure.
This is all part of a mythology, and it is getting harder and harder to justify it in our modern age.
As others have correctly pointed out, much can be done to modify the properties of tonewoods, including the wood type (species), where it was grown (location, microclimate, altitude), how old the wood was when harvested, how it was sawn, the drying and ageing process, torrefaction, and more.
This has little to do with the "opening up" process, IMO, and even less to do with the "waking up" process.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks