Expand this Topic clickable element to expand a topic
Skip to content
Optica Publishing Group

Spectroscopic Analysis to Characterize Finishing Treatments of Ancient Bowed String Instruments

Not Accessible

Your library or personal account may give you access

Abstract

Historical bowed string instruments exhibit acoustic features and aesthetic appeal that are still considered inimitable. These characteristics seem to be in large part determined by the materials used in the ground and varnishing treatments after the assembly of the instrument. These finishing processes were kept secret by the violinmakers and the traditional methods were handed down orally from master craftsmen to apprentices. Today, the methods of the past can represent a secret to be revealed through scientific investigations. The “Cremonese” methods used in the 17th and 18th centuries were lost as the last Great Masters from the Amati, Guarneri, and Stradivari families passed away. In this study, we had the chance of combining noninvasive and microinvasive techniques on six fragments of historical musical instruments. The fragments were detached from different instruments during extraordinary maintenance and restoration treatments, which involved the substitution of severely damaged structural parts like top plates, back plates, or ribs. Therefore, the fragments can offer to the scientists a valuable overview on the materials and techniques used by the violinmakers. The results obtained by portable X-ray fluorescence, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, and Fourier transform infrared microscopy allowed us to: (1) determine the stratigraphy of six instruments; (2) obtain new information about the materials involved in the finishing processes employed in Cremona; and (3) elucidate the technological relationship among the procedures adopted in the violin making workshops during the considered period.

© 2017 The Author(s)

PDF Article
More Like This
In situ 3D characterization of historical coatings and wood using multimodal nonlinear optical microscopy

Gaël Latour, Jean-Philippe Echard, Marie Didier, and Marie-Claire Schanne-Klein
Opt. Express 20(22) 24623-24635 (2012)

Structural and optical properties of wood and wood finishes studied using optical coherence tomography: application to an 18th century Italian violin

Gaël Latour, Jean-Philippe Echard, Balthazar Soulier, Isabelle Emond, Stéphane Vaiedelich, and Mady Elias
Appl. Opt. 48(33) 6485-6491 (2009)

Two-photon fluorescence and second harmonic generation hyperspectral imaging of old and modern spruce woods

Hwan-Ching Tai, Po-Lin Chen, Jia-Wei Xu, and Szu-Yu Chen
Opt. Express 28(26) 38831-38841 (2020)

Cited By

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Select as filters


Select Topics Cancel
© Copyright 2024 | Optica Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved