Re: [LAU] Pro Audio? OT rant.

On Mon, Dec 24, 2012 at 10:46:05AM -0500, Paul Davis wrote:

> the guy from the chicago symphony who makes carbon fiber violins still
> seems to have all of his hair and digits, and i believe they are selling
> reasonably OK.

Interesting, didn't know about those.
 
> a luthier i talked to in berlin told me that most of the magic of old
> instruments isn't the techniques but simply the "physics" of what happens
> to wood as it ages. the lignin changes its structure over long periods of
> time, as do other components. he told me that the hardest part of becoming
> a luthier is that it takes at least a decade to get your supply chain
> established, a supply chain that lets you build instruments with wood that
> has already aged for at least a decade. he said that the changes in the
> wood structure continue for at least 100 years, but they become much
> smaller with each passing decade. there is very little difference at all
> between a 200year old violin and a 100 year old violin, but a huge
> difference between one made today and one made 100 years ago, even if the
> techniques are identical.
>
> i liked the guy a lot, his studio was beautiful and he had a degree in
> physics and mechanical engineering from a major US university. i chose to
> believe him :)

Most luthiers will tell you the same thing. And indeed many of them
today have an engineering or science degree. I see no reason for
not believing it. The open questions are why and how this ageing
seem to *improve* the sound. It could very well have the opposite
effect...

Ciao,

-- 
FA
A world of exhaustive, reliable metadata would be an utopia.
It's also a pipe-dream, founded on self-delusion, nerd hubris
and hysterically inflated market opportunities. (Cory Doctorow)
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