Another example of absolutism. > >> But as with wine, no amount of age will turn an indifferent one into a good > >> one. > > I've found that with wine, many an indifferent one has been turned into > > a good one. > > > And later to vinegar.
It is not just the quality but also the nature of the grape. A Beaujolais or a Cotes du Rhone is best when it is young, Bordeau's (American spelling) improve with age (to a limit). Distilled wines or whiskeys (brandies and fine malts) also improve with aging (but also with a limit, but a much longer limit). The same applies to instruments. You of this list are used to the lute which is of the family of the violin in the sense of construction (yes, I know the lute is older). The family I refer to is that of instruments that are sound boxes of one shape or another, with strings pressing down on a bridge (guitar, mountain dulcimer, and even psaltery). Another family is the harp family where the strings exert a direct pull on the soundboard and sound box. (The psaltery is played like a one handed harp, and is ancient, but is constructed more like a lute in the sense that the strings press through a bridge). An aged harp may not take the strain as the wood becomes tired from the direct pull, but the seasoning of the wood of a lute or violin may make it improve over time (witness the Strads and Amatis). When one sets up a new harp one has to wait for the soundboard to "belly" before it gets good tone (and consistant pitch). It has to bcome a bit pregnant with a three dimensional belly before it is really ready to play. The bridged instruments don't want that change of shape. It takes about two months of being strung before a harp soundboard assumes its shape, whether home built or factory built (most harpists don't know this as they buy a finished and prestrung instrument, they don't know it has been aged in the shop). And I might add that people become better with age, if they start as quality. But regretfully even we have limitations to our improvement, our th ree score years and ten (but being so close to that, and with every intent of making a record, I'd expand that to five score years, I don't expect to beat that). Best, Jon
