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This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
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I do not know if nonmembers can join but if you are interested in listening to a master craftsman, and chemist, talk about the role of chemistry in making Stradivarius instruments, then give it a shot.
Here is the blurb from the website:
The research of the classical violin has been the domain of physicists for over 200 years. The first chemists who did some material analysis, J. Michelman and L. Condax, were handicapped by the lack of sensitivity of the analytical tools of their times. In 1978 at Texas A&M University I was first to apply some modern methods of material analysis, like neutron activation analysis, EDX and SEM for studying the wood and varnish of the famous masters of Cremona, Italy. I proposed a seminal role for chemistry in making the Stradivarius what it is even today, still a non plus ultra. Beyond my own work, in my zoom presentation I shall review the rich contributions of analytical chemists from France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Taiwan. With the recently gained knowledge we have even more reason to be awed by the complexity of the Stradivarius and Guarneri del Gesu violins. Finally, we also possess the tool kit to realistically recreate them.
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