northern Italy’s Dolomite Alps was the beneficiary of an un-
usual cool period in history. For 70 years, beginning in 1645,
average temperatures dropped as much as 1.8 degrees Fahren-
heit throughout Europe and North America. Trees grew slowly
during this time, called the Maunder Minimum, resulting in
denser structure with tighter grain that, the thinking goes,
made Stradivari’s instruments more resonant. A radiologist at
Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands bolstered
that theory in 2008, when his CT scans of two Stradivari cre-
ations, three by his peer Giuseppe Guarneri, and eight modern
ones revealed that the old masters’ handiwork featured slightly
more- even grain. Skeptics like retired biochemist Joseph
Nagyvary of Texas A&M University discount the idea, however,
arguing that luthiers throughout the continent relied upon the
same forest, yet their results do not rival the Strad tone.
Nagyvary, who also builds violins, has spent four decades
seeking Stradivari’s secrets. He has used tools like electron mi-
crographs and infrared spectroscopy to argue that a variety of
substances altered the structure of the craftsman’s spruce and
maple. He believes Cremonese luthiers used borate and salts of
copper, iron, and chromium to prevent woodworm infestations,
and that some of these materials bonded with polysaccharides
in the wood, stiffening it and improving its resonance. He also
suspects that Stradivari took the added step of smoking
the timber in his chimney. Beyond killing pests, the
practice would have reduced moisture, giving his in-
struments superior tone. “You cannot have a Stradivari
sound unless your wood is preserved and restructured
by chemical manipulations,” Nagyvary says.
Researchers led by Hwan-Ching Tai, a chemist at
National Taiwan University, bolstered that idea in
a paper published in 2017. His team tested maple
shavings taken from several Stradivari instruments
during repairs. Ionizing them with plasma and analyz-
ing the atoms released by
that process revealed traces
of many elements that
Nagyvary claims the mas-
ter used to treat his wood.
Chemists have also
scrutinized the red varnish
that Stradivari started using
in the 1690s. Researchers
have claimed that the
coating, made with the co-
chineal beetles of Mexico,The Museum
Below: The Museo
del Violino pre-
serves and cele-
brates the work
of Stradivari and
other masters.
The Masterpiece
Opposite: Vesuvio,
crafted in 1727, is
one of 650 or so re-
maining Stradivar-
ius instruments.