Cook says building a digital model of a flute is pretty simple. That's because it is only a straight tube with holes in it. All you need to know is its length and the diameter of its bore and the spacing of its holes. But building a model of a stringed instrument, like a violin or a guitar, is much more complex. Making tiny changes to its dimensions, the types of wood used in its construction, the location of its sound-holes and its bridge can have a dramatic effect on its sound quality.
Many violin makers argue that the right varnish is integral to making a good sound.
Cook flatly admits that no one really knows how to build an exact model of an instrument like a violin. The next best thing is to listen very carefully to the sound a violin makes and build a rough model of how you think if produces that sound. In theory, you can find out all about the acoustic properties of a stringed instrument by striking it with a very precise force directly on its bridge and carefully analyzing the sound it makes. One of Cook's colleagues taking a sample of a fiddle with a force hammer. So over the past few months, Cook and his colleagues have been taking a huge variety of instruments into a recording booth and 'whacking' them on the bridge.