The Bombay Technologist

Towards Making a Modern Stradivarius

Reshma Bhatnagar

Foods Engineering and Technology Department

---

Abstract

The quality of music is generally dependent on the quality of the instrument used. Thus professional instruments are crafted to exacting standards. One of the most versatile instruments in use today, played across several schools of music, is the violin. The best violins were made in Cremona, Italy in the 17^th and 18^th Centuries by Stradivari and Guarneri. Their violins are generally priced at millions of dollars. Mere physical replication of these violins still cannot match the richness of tone of the Cremona violins. With improving technology, there has been an impetus in research in the chemistry of wood and varnishes used in violin making and the treatment of the materials to do so. This paper explores current research in violin technology.