Methods of Dendrochronology for Musical Instruments

Dendrochronology is an important technique for studying musical instruments. It can be applied in stringed instruments in an absolutely non-invasive way for analysing tree-rings on the instrument's belly. If correctly done, it allows: 1) dating of the wood through identification of the terminus post quem, 2) hypotheses on the origin of the wood supply, 3) validation of the attribution of an instrument to a particular violin-maker or school, 4) verification of the instrument's technical characteristics, such as the arrangement of the elements of the resonance board, the tree-ring mean values and relative standard deviations, the direction of growth, the presence of wood defects, such as reaction wood, and grain deviations. The advantage of dendrochronology lies in its scientific rigour and its independence from stylistic or literary considerations. We present the general principles of dendrochronology applied to musical instruments, as well as sampling strategies, statistics of crossmatching, dendroprovenancing and interpretation of the results.

Wood is still a preferred material for musical instruments. Worldwide, several hundred wood species are available for making wind, string or percussion instruments. Many of these wood species are cut down illegally. Some wood species are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Today, there is an increasing demand to replace tropical wood species in musical instruments. Since the customer does not want to give up the usual quality, an optimal substitution of tropical woods with high-quality materials is indispensable. Therefore, the search for alternative wood species has to take into consideration anatomical features, as well as physical, mechanical, acoustical and chemical properties. This paper gives an overview of three case studies that were carried out by the authors in cooperation with industrial or practical partners, on the use of modified wood in musical instruments. In addition, it shows how the use of thermally modified wood can contribute to the raw material situation in musical instruments. http://woodmusick.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/COST_FP1302%20Book.pdf Musical instrument are fundamental tools of human expression that reveal and reflect historical, technological, social and cultural aspects of times and people. These three-dimensional, polyma-teric objects-at times considered artworks, other times technical objects-are the most powerful way to communicate emotions and to connect people and communities with the surrounding world. The participants in WoodMusICK (WOODen MUSical Instrument Conservation and Knowledge) COST Action FP1302 have aimed to combine forces and to foster research on wooden musical instruments in order to preserve, develop and disseminate knowledge on musical instruments in Europe through inter-and transdisciplinary research. This four-year program, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), has involved a multidisciplinary and multinational research group composed of curators, conservators/restorers, wood, material and mechanical scientists, chemists, acousticians, organologists and instrument makers. The goal of the COST Action was to improve the knowledge and preservation of wooden musical instruments heritage by increasing the interaction and synergy between different disciplines.