Stradivarius Secret Found By Texas Chemist

Why hate on a man that may have solved a 500+ yr old mystery. Bravo professor!!

As an oil painter, I feel that this amazing discovery is what Stradivari would have wanted for all of us, his gift was not just his ingenuity, but his passion.

The secret to wood is in the bottom of a cold lake. Felled trees on the bottom have the sap eventually replaced by the water. When pulled to surface and allowed to thoroughly dry, the wood becomes super resonate and beautiful. In Michigan a man got to retrieve timber on lake bottom from the days of rafting trees downstream to the mill. Many trees became embedded in lake bottom and remained there for over a century or two. His furniture work with this wood is incredible. I was taught that was Strads secret his grandfather taught him..?

I read an article about this chemist at A&M years ago, and his reported findings were that the old Italian master violin makers used wood that was more dense, because it came from Alpine regions from the Maunder Minimum, also known as the mini ice age in Europe, which saw drastically colder temperatures during the 1400, 1500 and 1600's. He also found that these makers sealed the pores of the wood with a mineral paste containing silica, alumina and gypsum. I don't know why this wasn't reported in the video.

i love how people here try to judge the sound of an instrument over a youtube video.

I love how you folks got right to the point without first giving us ten thousand Chemistry Professor academic credits.

No. The secret of Stradivari is that he was a really, really good violin maker.

His attempt to imitate the sound is the highest form of praise for it. WHY does that provoke such hostility?🤔

A few years ago, a street musician, dressed in ragged jeans, sneakers, and t-shirt, performed on the sidewalk using a worn violin, while people of New York City passed him by, barely giving him a glance. A few dropped some coins into his open violin case, but never really listened to what he performed. It was the children who seemed mesmerized by this man's exquisite performance. What these people didn't know, was that this performer was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest violinists in America, who, the evening before, had performed a concert in Carnegie Hall, and those in attendance paid big bucks to hear his concert. Oh, and by the way, his worn-out violin? A Stradivarius worth several million dollars.

There was blind test with world class musicians to see if they could tell the difference between a Strad and a newer violin. They tended to like the newer violins better blindfolded. What makes a Strad special is the history and lifespan of the instruments, not some mystical unobtainable lost secret.

They hate that he beat them to finding the real key to making a better violin, one their customers will want, instead of buying theirs. Hurray for Texas (my home state.)

One thing is for sure: the treated wood of the Strads did it's job, and made it possible for the instruments to be preserved and playable to this day...with the added bonus of the magical sweetening of the tone due to the maturing of the wood itself over hundreds of years. Amazing how what would have been simply a practical step at the time, would turn out to be such an important part of this legendary instruments preservation and history.

How do you tell a real Strad from a copy? The real one burns with a bright blue flame...

He was my next door neighbor when I was a kid. Very nice family. I was about his son Zoltan's age. He also had a very sweet daughter named Monique I believe. Very interesting. I remember him telling us about his discovery way back in the day.

bravo Prof. As a musician I admire your efforts in this great research.All the best Sir.

first we had to dissolve 2 stradivarius into water acid solution.

That is the first movement of Tchaikovski's violin concerto! One of my favorites :D

I am happy that this man has found the chemicals representative of Syradavari violins. It would be interesting to know if Stradaveri applied a wetting agent to his violins, and at what stage of the build, and whether or not he immersed them in ashes, and/or salt, and if so, how long he left them in this solution.

Soaking the listener in good bourbon from old oak barrels also improves the sound quality.

This video was very educated..I love how scientist works to find out why and how...