May 3, 1984 The Chicago Tribune

To the Editor
435 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

Gentlemen: Violin Makers Found Secrets of Stradivari!

The front page "Tomorrow" section of the April 15th, 1984 Chicago Tribune posed the often sincerely asked question: "Has Science Unlocked the Age-Old Secrets of Violin Making?" based on a copyright story by Joseph Alper, in the March 1984 issue of Science '84. This innocent question is apparently the tenor of an ingenious plot with variations by hobbyists making violins like Dr. Joseph Nagyvary (Science '84), Prof. Jack Fry (Nova-PTV), Carleen M. Hutchins (Scientific American) and others of their conspiratorial ilk. Their diversionary interest, ostensibly, lies in their study of the behavior of the violins, but through their antics it has long been suspected, that their real interest lies with the secret study of behavioral reflexes of humans; especially in finding scientific proof of the adage --- the greatest fool is an educated fool.

Those who make a successful living by mastering the knowledge of the behavior of violins, look on with fascination at their exploits, yes, in utter amazement at their gall of stating seeming discoveries. How these researchers release periodically their pent-up urge, to stage their great put-on's, of reinventing the "Violin Mystery of the Lost 'Secrets' of Stradivari," as well as propagating the myth of the functional improvement of the violin with increased age. How revealing the echoed response of oh's and ah's must be, to their research, into the cultured and educated behavioral reflexes of some humans.

It is a spectacle to behold, how, from the security of their tenured position in Academia and protected by the ignorance of the general public to their real academic pursuits, they foray into the field of public opinion through T.V. and an indiscriminating press. How intimidating their flashing academic credentials and how overpowering their computerized arrays of scientific gadgetry. With hit and run statements of sensationalism, amounting to the humorous re-inventions of the wheel, or by raising anew long solved questions, they purport in coming close to solving these quandaries of their own creation.

Under the pretense of scientific reporting and collaboration, advertising their alchemistic practices, are serious scientific journals. These, at present fail to show any indication what role they play in these highly sophisticated, covert studies of the behavioral reflexes in humans. The puzzling question is, "Are these publications part of the plot or are they also the object of these behavioral studies by those, who have to justify their academic existence and cover, as well as the flow of Foundation Grants, through some semblance of fruitfulness?"

Less benign are the results of their collegiate hoax on the market place, a location of reality, not encompassed from their ivory towered playgrounds. Without malice, I presume, by causing these barbaric alchemistic practices to be published, for their secret studies, has resulted in their being imitated by the uninitiated. Not unlike those searching for the Fountain of Youth, hobbyists making violins and others taken up by science fiction, they scrape and thin away the inside of violin top's and back's soaking these resonating plates in various alchemistic solutions for illusive improvements. These methods of E.N.D. (Enhanced Natural Decay) have resulted in wholesale destruction of fine and rare violins, as to their investment value and usefulness, and robbing millions of dollars from unsuspecting lovers of antiques.

Violin makers and dealers have become very much concerned, that the noble artistic heritage of generations of violin makers is being destroyed, by these clever and playful research programs into human behavioral reflexes. Connoisseurs of violins are appealing to have these experiments come to their deserving end. Trying to help to preserve old master violins, some of the finest and more complex creations of human ingenuity from untimely decay, the following facts should illuminate and break the cover of these debasing intellectual schemes, designed as serious studies into the 'secrets' of violin making.

1. Simoni F. Sacconi, in his book "The Secret of Stradivari," 1979, solved among other things, in theory and practice, the 'secret' of exceptional beauty or aesthetics of the old Cremonese varnish and of Stradivari in particular.

2. Hans Rodig, in his book "Geigenbau in neuer Sicht," 1962, solved in detail the functional mechanical and pneumatical workings of the violin in theory and practice. Discovered what is known as the "Rodig effect," an effect overlooked by von Helmholtz in his studies of the behavior of the bowed string. This new premise outdates most previously held theories of the workings of the violin.

3. Providing the 'Coup de Grace' and acting as 'David's Missile' to these conspicuous shenanigans, is the second Law of Thermodynamics or the principle of entropy. To the layman, this principle of entropy can easily be explained with any mechanical gadget. Like a car, guitar, oboe, amplifier, watch, washer or dryer, the violin also is a mechanical gadget, which does not get better with age. It too, wears out with age becomes less efficient, gets broken and repaired and decays which anybody with any sense knows, even scientists. To restate the foregoing, for those needing a more refined explanation of the principle of entropy as it applies to the violin, let us take the objective, scientifically supported, point of view as premise:

The violin in essence is an utilitarian device,
designed and made of organic substance (wood),
which through variable impulses (bow and player),
causes a mechanical and pneumatical function,
to produce an acoustical effect (sound).

This being the case, the principle of entropy, which seems about as basic and unquestionable to the scientific mind as any truth can be, applies to the device (violin) and any other of the aforementioned devices. The principle of entropy can basically be stated as being: THE NATURAL, IRREVERSIBLE TENDENCY OF DECAY FROM THE HIGHLY ORGANIZED DOWNWARD TO THE LESS ORGANIZED. Therefore, the following is evident:

a. The rate of decay of inanimate organic substance (wood) into stable elements is determined by the factor of time and environment (wear & tear, etc.)

b. Decay of substance (wood) causes decay of function and design (usage, utility.)

c. Decay of function and design causes decay of effect (sound.)

Has science unlocked the age-old secrets of violin making? ABSOLUTELY! True science of basic mechanical physics and architectural design, as well as the mastering in theory and practice the art of violin making, has produced the great Antonius Stradivari and hundreds of other successful artists since.

What distinguishes these productive masters of the art of violin making from these frolicking hobbyists, living at the trough of subsidized largess? A sense of custodial responsibility, paired with their quest for knowledge and a high degree of common sense, not being offered at most bastions of assumed intelligence or fictional science.

So bad--it was amusing, yes even hilarious to some, who loved the myth and all that yarn -- of the secret of Stradivarius -- which was NONE.