> entering the question of ageing, and whether pre-aged wood, before an > instrument has been built, gives the same result as can be obtained by > buying a very old instrument.
A maker here in Holland used radiation to age wood. Apparently if you leave it long enough under X-ray (or whatever, I don't know about these things) it ages faster, a lot faster. Like some makers use UV (?) light to quicken up the drying of wood. The joke was that the violin - as was the case - was prehistoric. Cannot tell you about the results, haven't heard it. About breaking in instruments. I found some to be ready to go from the start, but improving over years nonetheless. Others needed some months to open up and are stable now, others again need breaking in every time I've left them unplayed for some time. And some instruments need 'serious' breaking in: loud playing, all positions, make the top vibrate. Others need a more gentle touch to make every note shine and sing. And the easy instruments do it all by themselves; just play them, they are good from the start but improve over time, whether I play them a lot or not, and what or however I play on them. I suppose this goes for horses too. David -- ******************************* David van Ooijen [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.davidvanooijen.nl ******************************* To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
