Stradivari's Secret

[Addie]

Carlo, change of itinerary, I think.

Soverato, in Calabria. Their banner is a tree.

http://it.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Soverato

So what, you say, the forest is full of trees, and the trees are full of nuts. Quite. But check this out: it's right next to Montauro, a staging point used by the Crusaders... and the Templars. But wait, there's more. Montauro lies in a straight line between Jerusalem and Rennes-le-Château! That leads us to Beringer Sauniere. And where does Sauniere lead us? To Templar treasure. Could it be any more obvious? This is it, Carlo! This has got to be it! Sharpen your shovel, and spiff your spade.

But first, we are meeting Francis on Tuesday. He'll pick you up at the train station at 10:15. He'll be wearing white, and driving the econo-mobile. The two of you will pick me up at the airport at 11:45. I'll be wearing disguise 27b, bald head, monocle, dueling scar, maniacal laugh, and the incongruous painter's pants. I'm hoping Francis will go to Calabria with us. Bring an extra pair of overalls and the spare shovel for him. We'll dig some random holes to throw the General's minions off scent, while you scour the archives. Yes, I mean scour. There is rumored to be a map of South-Central France that was whitewashed over, on the walls of the archives.

Then, on to France, and glory.

[CarloBartolini]

Thanks CT we need the support to go in such a dangerous quest.

 

 Addie, how happy I am, when I read about Oak Island I must confess I was deciding to follow another sign I saw and just stay there.

 

 

Calabria, wonderful, nothing like spicy food!! Plus I love the name, Calabria derives from two or three words, a lovely combination:

Calab = resinous pitch, resin.

Buzio = in celtic means tree, forest.

Breta = resinous tree

 

Good thing Francis will be driving the econo-mobile, last time a pope picked me up it was Benedict, about five years ago in Porto San Giorgio, in one of the Vatican's Mercedes, being german he drives fast, a carabinieri (Italian police) stopped us and when he saw the pope was driving asked politely if we could wait while he called his chief, I overheard the conversation.

 

-Chief, I don't know what to do, I stopped someone very very important.

-Who the mayor?

-No chief, more important...

-The governor?

-No chief...more important...

-The first minister?

-No chief...more important....the pope is his driver....

[Roger Hargrave]

An old one, but nice. 

[Roger Hargrave]

I have already copyrighted the story so far. Thanks, but I need a better ending.

[Addie]

Carlo, I just had a coded communiqué from mom at NSA's Violin Section. Some of the paparazzi from Squidgygate have infiltrated Francis' secure communications and sold us out to the General.

So meet me in Calabria. I'll be wearing my Scaramuccia disguise, and playing the Rawlins (on "loan"). I'll strum a Morse code warning if I'm being watched.

BTW, do you think Roger Hargave is connected to the General somehow? They both wear bunny suits. I'll ask mom to check him out. I hope she doesn't embarrass me by asking for an autograph. Her copy of the del Gesù book is falling to pieces.

[Roger Hargrave]

Can you send me a small bottle of those pills. Pleeeeezzz!

[joerobson]

Can you send me a small bottle of those pills. Pleeeeezzz!

Shipping is expensive...perhaps we can find a thrifty alternative.

on we go,

Joe

[Violadamore]

OMG, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Holy.................    Bloody marvelous, the head Jesuit in a bunny suit alone is a stroke of deranged genius :lol: :lol:

 

Did any of the "Pythons" retire to Canada?

[Addie]

Carlo, since they're on our trail again, I'm sending Mike and Rocko from Haudenosaunee Industries to watch your back. Security men from HI are the only people "they" are afraid of.

I tried to get Jeremy Irons to impersonate the General while we're in Calabria, but he said wearing a bunny suit is beneath the dignity of an Englishman. Then he hung up on me. The nerve of some people! You'll remember he played the General in that Dumas flick.

One more thing: mom and Shar have been picking up chirps about a seven foot tall Elvis impersonator wearing a yellow kilt at Da Vinci International. That could only mean one thing: the Marag's son, Tormod Mòr is on our trail, too. More on why in my next...

[Violadamore]

Marag

http://www.footstompin.com/forum/1/5982/1

[CarloBartolini]

Sorry Addie, after these Hargrave posts, and his statement about a bad ending  (is it an implication that things will end badly, or does he know something we don't), bunny suit and all that mad stuff I contacted the Grand Duke who summoned a meeting of the Grand Order (as you can see in the pict below)

I inquired them about Roger, if he was with us or with the General, as I mentioned the bunny suit, they all started laughing out of control, and responded, why would anyone wear such a crazy outfit?  Don't worry, he is a good guy, but do not let him take the metamidipreapilline pills. Remember what happened to the Grand Duke last time he ingested half a dozen of these pills, and for a coupe of days became the Grand Duck.

 

Addie, I am under the impression that our channel of communication has been intercepted and our conversations are being read by others, be careful.

[Addie]

Hmm, I wonder...

On the one hand, only the people on Maestronet take Maestronet seriously (even Michael Darnton says this),

but on the other hand, this topic had a thousand views just over the weekend. Maybe we should quit posting, or switch to encoded messages?

Wcenfnjocw jiceauehrhvrnhfir f. Ieiehirwhv rhwiv h. C. D jwohehrwhirhwurhcwc Cnejwocnjdoanjcriwjdncjdiwnjod?

[curious1]

Nobody ever said it would be a noticable difference in working with it.  Yet the logic is inescapable:  IF there is a recongizable sound quality in Old Italian instruments AND hundreds of very clever makers today can not duplicate it, no matter how diligently they try, THEN there must be something different in the wood... or the original premise is wrong.

 

Since I believe I can hear and measure something different, I am looking into the wood.  From evidence thus far, it looks like density and stiffness can be taken off of the list, as modern wood can be found in a wide range that undoubtedly encompasses what Strad had.  That leaves damping... but there are problems.  In theory, no uniform damping can produce the selective response contour that Anders and I think we see.  That leads even farther down the slippery slope of complexity, requiring a different frequency-dependent damping, or different evolution of the damping properties of maple and spruce over time, or even a localized damping modification as a result of playing.  These aren't properties that are likely to be jump out at you during restorations.

 

Or the original premise could be wrong (just so we don't forget).

 

And with that, I must also note one (and only one) modern instrument that I have encountered that fooled me when I took an impact spectrum of it.  I thought it was the real thing, in that the transition hill was quite low, with no outstanding peaks.  The "bridge hill" looked a little too high in frequency, mostly 2kHz - 4.6kHz instead of 1.6kHz - 3.5kHz.  However, in playing comparisons with other good violins, this one did have the clean, refined sound that I imagine to be the "Old Italian Sound".  Almost.  The maker admitted to intentionally shaping the response this way, but wouldn't divulge his secret.  I think we need to apply hot coals to his feet.

 

It would be nice to have a perfectly consistent set of evidence and logic that led in only one direction.  But we don't, unless we select only the things that agree with our belief, and dismiss the others.

Did it look like this Don?

[Don Noon]

Did it look like this Don?

image.jpg

 

As a matter of fact, yes... that is exactly the one.  Yours?  or would that be giving away too many clues about your identity?

 

The best I have been able to manage intentionally is this one, but the transition hill still has some moderate peaks to it:

 

I did have a lower transition hill (or just pushed to much higher frequency?) on a fiddle I made a while ago (2012 VMAAI steel string tone winner), but I have no clue why it ended up that way, and attempts at trying to repeat the trick didn't come close:

[curious1]

As a matter of fact, yes... that is exactly the one.  Yours?  or would that be giving away too many clues about your identity?

 

The best I have been able to manage intentionally is this one, but the transition hill still has some moderate peaks to it:

spectrum 15.jpg

 

I did have a lower transition hill (or just pushed to much higher frequency?) on a fiddle I made a while ago (2012 VMAAI steel string tone winner), but I have no clue why it ended up that way, and attempts at trying to repeat the trick didn't come close:

Spectrum 8.jpg

That'd be mine.

:^)

[Don Noon]

That'd be mine.

:^)

 

I'll light the coals.  Please remove your shoes.

[curious1]

Haha. Ouch, ouch,ouch

[Craig Tucker]

 

Wcenfnjocw jiceauehrhvrnhfir f. Ieiehirwhv rhwiv h. C. D jwohehrwhirhwurhcwc Cnejwocnjdoanjcriwjdncjdiwnjod?

 

Dang it Addie...

 

Didn't you get this question answered once, already?

 

hhfbrytd nghtyiied hgyftnhcydt.

 

1. vjgutydn gjuy.

2. nbdgt'ngju itmjg. (!)

 

We need not go over this yet again, I hope.

[Magnus Nedregard]

Kodespråk trengs ikke, jeg har nå foreslått for administratorene at det ofisielle språket på denne nettsiden endres til norsk, som bare forstås av en håndfull mennesker. På denne måten unngår vi at Stradivaris' hemmeligheter spres til alle og en envher. Vi snakkes!

[bmccarthy]

Kodespråk trengs ikke, jeg har nå foreslått for administratorene at det ofisielle språket på denne nettsiden endres til norsk, som bare forstås av en håndfull mennesker. På denne måten unngår vi at Stradivaris' hemmeligheter spres til alle og en envher. Vi snakkes!

Couldn't agree with you more 

[Peter K-G]

Kodespråk trengs ikke, jeg har nå foreslått for administratorene at det ofisielle språket på denne nettsiden endres til norsk, som bare forstås av en håndfull mennesker. På denne måten unngår vi at Stradivaris' hemmeligheter spres til alle og en envher. Vi snakkes!

 

Utmärkt förslag! Varför har jag inte tänkt på det tidigare, egentligen vore det bäst om hemligheten hålls inom Norden.

[bmccarthy]

Utmärkt förslag! Varför har jag inte tänkt på det tidigare, egentligen vore det bäst om hemligheten hålls inom Norden.

Exactly!! 

[Addie]

Kodespråk trengs ikke, jeg har nå foreslått for administratorene at det ofisielle språket på denne nettsiden endres til norsk, som bare forstås av en håndfull mennesker. På denne måten unngår vi at Stradivaris' hemmeligheter spres til alle og en envher. Vi snakkes!

Når griser flyr!    

 

[Jacob]

Daars geen verdomde geheime nie. Hou op kak praat en spring aan die werk.

[Magnus Nedregard]

On a more serious note, I am decidedly getting the impression that there really IS a secret. It is just looked for in the wrong place, because it is not really concerning Stradivari, but everyone else. So, in other words, what made Stradivari so great was that he, and the other best italian makers, rather lacked something rather than posessed it. 

 

And this secret, that is  easily found in most modern-day violin workshops, is the unhealthy attitude to our work - if your concern is to "become as good as Stradivari" you have created an enourmous obstacle for yourself, and lost all your independence of thought. It is a goal that doesn't make sense. Stradivari himself would have hated it. The creative spirit, and independence of style that made his (and ALL the other Cremonese makers) work so strong, can't really be "copied", because that itself is contradictory. You may "copy" an appearance, but not a spirit, so no matter how good a copy is, it is always in a certain sense, inferior. 

 

Therefore, the truly great work done by modern makers, is still considered inferior almost automatically, and it is a shame. There is no doubt that Stradivari was a genius, but no doubt, the secret is that you can't be an original unless you ARE one. And then of course, you don't give a damn about what other people do, or did. 

 

If you want to be a great painter or composer, it is pretty clear to everyone that you should know as well as possible Rembrandt, or Bach, but it would be ridiculous to try to be them, but among violin makers, that is pretty much what people do. Can there be something of a secret there?