[analog31]

I'd imagine if 5 of the best sawyers with 5 of the best luthiers and sound engineers in the world all sat down together with the goal of replicating the Strad's sound with 100% accuracy I'm confident the 'unique' sound of the Strad could be replicated. It'd might take a lot of time and maybe a few hundred k in equipment (a dozen condensor mics placed strategically at a variety of places within the room and near the instrument itself, some vibration analysis equipment on the equipment, etc), but eventually the sawyer will choose the right wood, the engineer would identify "ok, that 43 micron chisel shave you just took just did __, 22 more and we match the F# perfectly on the G string".

Indeed, the behavior of violins has been the subject of intensive study for decades. Every new technique for measuring sound or vibration is applied to violins. There's an article every few years about some new secret discovered in the great fiddles. Good acoustic measurement gear is now more sensitive than human hearing. It was only a matter of time before somebody cracked the code.

An amusing rumor is that the tone of a violin changes over time, due to age and playing, and that the Strads are in decline.

[iheartmemcache]

To be fair, a violin's tone does change over time especially with playing. Take the cylinders in your car. Every time that piston moves up and down, it wears away a little bit at the cylinder rings and a little bit on the cylinder walls. Particulate masses may collect in the bore. If you're running diesel, there are micro-cavitations literally eroding away the inner-bore of that cylinder. Air filters might get dirty, fuel lines clogged, manifolds warped, hydraulic pressure in your break calipers will vary. All of these ultimately effecting why your car handles differently than when it came out of the factory.

The same thing is true for the fingerboard, the bridge, the strings and other components you interface with (or are interfaced with from things with which you interface) on your violin. As the oils on your finger on the strings/fingerboard gradually acts as basically a mini-abrasive tool, the fingerboard itself will change shape (you can see this easily in the wear patterns). The pressure variance from the string's depression, the shifts in temperature/humidity in the ambient environment (which will stress the wood in all sorts of ways, both in an elastic (temporary) as well as a plastic (permanent) manner), all of these micro-variables add up over time, just like with your car.

[analog31]

Another effect is that our hands and ears change over time. I'm not sure I'd be capable of conducting an objective before-after test of my instrument over the seven years that I've owned it. My technique has changed, I've changed the strings, my bow is due to be re-haired, etc. And my ears are seven years older.