By Sid Perkins
Slight differences in the growth rings in wood from which violins are made might help determine sound quality, distinguishing a mellow-toned Stradivarius from an ordinary instrument.
Violins made by Antonio Stradivari in the early 1700s are perhaps the most famous musical instruments ever made. The sound quality of these instruments, as well as those built by fellow Italian Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu, is the benchmark to which all modern instruments are compared, says Terry Borman, a violinmaker in Fayetteville, Ark.
Music lovers and researchers alike have long wondered what makes these instruments stand out from the rest. “Most big pieces of the puzzle have been looked at,” he says. But few answers have stood the test of time.
Now, Borman and colleague Berend Stoel of the LeidenUniversityMedicalCenter in the Netherlands have analyzed five ancient violins — two by Stradivari and three by Guarneri del Gesu — and compared them with eight instruments built after 1995.