What do you think the leading violinists in the world will be playing 300 years from now? A Stradivarius? A Hutchinsius? A Nagyvaryus? Or perhaps the unthinkable: a syntheticus? Let me tell you, I have dealt with a number of controversial issues in my career, but the vocal battles between the critics and supporters of pesticides, genetically modified foods, or artificial sweeteners are like playground chatter when compared to the mudslinging and sniping that take place between violin makers with different theories about how to produce the best instrument. Basically, it comes down to an emotionally charged three-way fight between physics, chemistry, and tradition.
On at least one count, there is agreement among the camps. The Holy Grail for luthiers is to be found in matching the superb quality of instruments made in the eighteenth century in Cremona, Italy, by master craftsmen like Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri. Only a few hundred of these remain in existence, and many are valued in the millions of dollars. Playing a Stradivarius has been described as a holy experience, one unmatched by playing a modern instrument. But now the secret of the Strad may have been finally discovered. The question is, by whom?
Carleen Maley Hutchins retired from teaching high school science to devote her life to the grand old art of violin making. Actually, she had in mind to look at the science behind the art. For some twenty years, she collaborated with Harvard physicist Frederick Saunders to study the vibrations generated in the sound box of the violin when its strings were set to oscillate. Drawing a bow across the strings makes them vibrate, setting the surrounding air into motion. The moving air in turn causes the panels of the violin to vibrate, producing sound. Hutchins used an electric tone generator and studied the way Christmas glitter vibrated when sprinkled on the top and back plates used to make the sound box. She concluded that the key to producing the most pleasing tones was the mass and thickness of the wood and the exact placement of the “bass bar” and “sound post” inside the box. Still, that wasn’t all. According to Hutchins, the more a violin is played, the better it sounds. She claims that decades worth of vibrations alter the structure of the wood, improving its resonant qualities. That’s why Hutchins attempts to give her instruments a head start by exposing the wood to some 1,500 hours of classical music before she puts her violins on the market. In a hundred years or so, she says, they should sound just like a Stradivarius!
“Humbug!” retorts Joseph Nagyvary, a former professor of biochemistry at Texas A&M University. The secret of the Stradivarius lies not in the physics of the sound box, but in the chemistry of the wood and varnish. Of course, the construction of the sound box is important, he admits, but it is not the critical feature, given that the classic violins have been analyzed and copied down to fractions of millimeters without their magnificent sound being reproduced. At least not until Nagyvary got into the game. Stimulated once being given the chance to play the same violin that Einstein had played, the chemist attacked the mystery of the Stradivarius by subjecting a few fragments from violins of the era to scanning electron micrography and x-ray spectroscopy. He found remnants of fungi in the wood, and suggests this can be traced to its having been soaked in seawater for a long period, probably because in Stradivarius’ time, logs used to be floated downriver to the Adriatic Sea. This changed the properties of the wood, and resulted in absorption of minerals from the water. Nagyvary also hypothesized that boron and aluminum present in the wood may have come from borax and alum used to keep the wood from rotting. He also found evidence that Stradivari used a complex varnish composed of tree bark exudates, perhaps guar gum, mixed with finely ground glass and other mineral powders. According to Nagyvary, credit for the spectacular sound of the Stradivarius should therefore go to the unknown chemist who provided the preservatives and varnish.
Professor Nagyvary has experimented for over thirty years with various formulas, and is now convinced that he has essentially reproduced the magic. Some of his violins have sold, like those of Hutchins, for as much as $15,000. As a result, he says he has received hate mail from violin dealers and manufacturers who feel threatened, and who bristle at the suggestion that the great Stradivarius may not have realized what made his instruments great. Hutchins has also been derided by the traditionalists, who just don’t want science injected into their art. So you can imagine what they have to say about a “Maccaferrius.”
Mario Maccaferri was a traditional maker of guitars and violins, at least until he visited the New York World’s Fair in 1939. There he was captivated by a display of plastics, and after the war, he managed to get his hands on some polystyrene injection molding equipment. He made a small fortune by making plastic clothespins, and then began a foray into plastic instruments by making a ukelele that was soon made famous by the entertainer Arthur Godfrey on his television programs. Millions of these were sold, and were followed by plastic guitars and violins. The violins were not a huge success among elite players because they did not compare to traditional instruments in sound quality. But a principle had been introduced. Some experts today claim that plastic’s ability to be molded to exact specifications will eventually produce an outstanding instrument.
In the meantime, Nagyvary seems to be winning the battle. In a violin duel staged at Texas A&M, a world-class violinist played a Nagyvaryus, and then a Stradivarius, behind a screen. Both the invited experts and the audience rated Nagyvary’s violin slightly higher. For now, at least, chemistry has triumphed! But how will it sound in 300 years?