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Perfect Sound

After a long day at work a few days ago, chanced upon this story about the only playable Stradivarius guitar in the world. It was so pleasant to hear the beautiful sound. It also reminded me of the Joshua Bell performance J and I attended many years ago. At some point during the recital, he recounted the adventures of his own Gibson Stradivarius. 

As for the unique sound the article says "the secret of the Stradivarius sound: borax and brine. There’s more to it than that, of course, but the chemical bath advantage makes for a fascinating bit of trivia. To the ear, it matters little whether a sound is the result of accident, intention, or some measure of the two."

The science of the sound quality of these instruments is reminiscent of wine tasting. Reputation goes a long way in creating a bias but not that much separates the taste of garden variety wines from the very expensive ones. Such is apparently the case with the Stradivarius too. But after a brutally long day, it was definitely soothing to my ears.

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