Violins and very cold weather

families of Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri certainly included many highly accomplished craftsmen, and the popular belief is that the skills of these Cremonese artisans, combined with either a secret ingredient or undocumented process, gave their instruments the rich sound so highly admired by professional musicians. The nature of that secret ingredient has been the subject of conjecture for many years and is still fuelling discussion. Theories have included the development and use of a specially formulated varnish applied to the wood to protect it, drying the wood in ovens, the re-use of old wood taken from castles, and soaking the wood in water to get rid of supposedly harmful chemicals before seasoning. B However, no basis has been found for these possible explanations. There is no documented evidence of wood being artificially dried by violin-makers, and this process was most likely unknown to these artisans. Nor can seasoning the practice of leaving wood for the moisture to evaporate naturally be invoked as a possible explanation, as considerable variability exists in the lengths of seasoning periods, even among individual makers. Instruments made by the most renowned of all violin-makers, Antonio Stradivari…