A couple years ago, Francis Schwarze, who works at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, made an unusual discovery. He knew that sound travels faster through healthy wood than it does through the soft stuff left by a fungal attack; however, some fungi do not slow sound. Violins are made using many different forms of wood, but Dr. Schwarze had some violins made from wood that was infected with fungi and observed, soon seeing that they sounded just like a Stradivarius. Schwarze is now in the process of standardizing this procedure to create "mycowood". In the years between 1645 and 1715 in Europe, the long winters and cool summers wood grew slowly and evenly, making the wood perfect for a good violin. Dr. Schwarze decided to begin treating wood with different species of fungi, specifically Physisporinus vitreus and Xylaria longpipes. He then applies these fungi to the two most common types of wood used to produce violins: Norway spruce and Sycamore. Schwarze found that these two species gradually degrade the cell walls of the wood, making them thinner, which then results in a different sound. After the walls of the wood have degraded just enough to reach the designated sound, Dr. Schwarze kills the infections with gas, and the violins sounds practically exactly the same! In a study that Schwarze conducted, it was shown that when comparing Schwarze's "mycowood" violin and a Stradivarius violin, a group of violin experts could not tell the difference. Francis Schwarze has solved an issue that has been troubling instrument makers and musicians for over 300 years.
 |
| Mycowood |
 |
| Stradivarius |
 |
| Dead Moll's Fingers |
 |
| White Rot |
- This article was significant to me because I have never learned or known anything about violins. It is very interesting because I was never aware that different types of woods make different sounds. I was also interested because I play the piano so all instruments are special to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment