The Strad 3D Project: Scientists, musicians, and violinmakers study three classic violins.

Abstract

In 2006 the first ever three dimensional (3-D) modal laser scanning of violins was performed on three Guarneri and Stradivari violins, along with acoustic scanning and subjective evaluations. CT scanning was used to determine shape and density properties and to provide a 3-D model for future finite element analyses. These studies and images have been combined with empirical observation, photography, music recordings, and traditional documentation in an interdisciplinary survey of unprecedented scope presented in a two DVD set. From my violinmaker perspective acoustic studies of the violin have had remarkably little impact on the practice of violinmaking. Similarly, traditional empirical traditions continue to be effective in guiding violinmakers, without transferring clinically useful insights to the scientific researchers. This split is reflective of divergent vocabulary, goals, and the requirements of quantitative evidence. The Oberlin Violin Acoustics Workshops has attempted to bridge this gap by bringing together researchers, engineers, musicians, and violinmakers for interactive study, with equal weight given to these separate disciplines. The Strad3D project grows out of that ongoing collaboration and is intended to generate and collect images, documentation, and data that can be viewed and utilized from multiple perspectives and to further a mutually comprehensible dialog.