Brief Communications
Nature 444, 565 (30 November 2006) | doi:10.1038/444565a; Received 18 July 2006; Accepted 8 November 2006; Published online 29 November 2006
Wood used by Stradivari and Guarneri
Joseph Nagyvary1, Joseph A. DiVerdi2, Noel L. Owen3 and H. Dennis Tolley4
Whether or not the great Italian violin-makers used wood that had been chemically processed in order to preserve it and enhance the instrument's sound quality has long been a contentious issue1, 2. Here we use nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopy to analyse organic matter in wood taken from antique instruments made by Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu. Our results indicate that the wood used by the masters could indeed have been chemically treated, a technique that may inspire an approach to violin making that is more chemistry-based.
- Department of Biochemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, USA
- Department of Statistics, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, USA
Correspondence to: Joseph Nagyvary1 Email: nagyvary@nagyvaryviolins.com
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