Treatment With Fungi Makes a Modern Violin Sound Like a Stradivarius
Autor: Biotech | Publicado: 2012-09-24T15:37:00-07:00


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Spanish Stradivarius II of c. 1687, on exhibit at Palacio Real de 
Madrid. (Credit: By Håkan Svensson (Xauxa) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0],
 via
 Wikimedia Commons)



ScienceDaily (Sep. 8, 2012) — A good violin 
depends not only on the expertise of the violin maker, but also on the 
quality of the wood that is used. The Swiss wood researcher Professor 
Francis W. M. R. Schwarze (Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for 
Materials Science and Technology, St. Gallen, Switzerland) has succeeded
 in modifying the wood for a violin through treatment with special 
fungi. This treatment alters the acoustic properties of the instrument, 
making it sound indistinguishably similar to a Stradivarius.



In his dinner talk at the 1st ECRC "Franz-Volhard" Symposium of the 
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) and Charité -- 
Universitätsmedizin on Sept. 7, 2012 in Berlin-Buch, Schwarze reported 
on his research and gave a preview of what his wood treatment method 
could mean, particularly for young violinists.





Low density, high speed of sound and a high modulus of elasticity -- 
these qualities are essential for ideal violin tone wood. In the late 
17th and early 18th century the famous violin maker Antonio Stradivari 
used a special wood that had grown in the cold period between 1645 and 
1715. In the long winters and the cool summers, the wood grew especially
 slowly and evenly, creating low density and a high modulus of 
elasticity. Until now, modern violin makers could only dream of wood 
with such tonal qualities.



Professor Schwarze's developments could soon make similarly good wood
 available for violin making. He discovered two species of fungi (Physisporinus
 vitreus and Xylaria longipes), which decay 
Norway spruce and sycamore -- the two important kinds of wood used for 
violin making -- to such an extent that their tonal quality is improved.
 "Normally fungi reduce the density of the wood, but at the same time 
they unfortunately reduce the speed with which the sound waves travel 
through the wood," the researcher explained. "The unique feature of 
these fungi is that they gradually degrade the cell walls, thus inducing
 a thinning of the walls. But even in the late stages of the wood 
decomposition, a stiff scaffold structure remains via which the sound 
waves can still travel directly." Even the modulus of elasticity is not 
compromised; the wood remains just as resistant to strain as before the 
fungal treatment -- an important criterion for violin making. Before the
 wood is further processed to a violin, it is treated with ethylene 
oxide gas. "No fungus can survive that," Professor Schwarze said. That 
ensures that fungal growth in the wood of the violin is completely 
stopped.


Together with the violin makers Martin Schleske and Michael 
Rhonheimer, Professor Schwarze developed violins made of mycowood (wood 
treated with wood decay fungi). In 2009 the violins were played in a 
blind, behind-the-curtain test versus a genuine Stradivarius from 1711. 
All the violins were played by the British violinist Matthew Trusler. 
The result was surprising for all participants: Both the jury of experts
 and the majority of the audience thought that the mycowood violin that 
Schwarze had treated with fungi for nine months was the actual Strad. 
"Of course, such a test is always subjective," Professor Schwarze said. 
"There is no clear-cut, scientific method for measuring tonal quality." Currently Professor Schwarze is working on an interdisciplinary 
project to develop a quality-controlled treatment for violin wood, with 
successful, reliable and reproducible results. Until 2014, within the 
scope of the project that is funded by the Swiss Walter Fischli 
Foundation, 30 additional violins shall be made from fungally-treated 
wood. Schwarze explained what opportunities this project can lead to: 
"The successful implementation of biotechnological methods for treating 
soundboard wood could in the future give young musicians the opportunity
 to play on a violin with the sound quality of an expensive -- and for 
most musicians unaffordable -- Stradivarius."


&nbsp;Fonte: ScienceDaily