Was it the wood?

Grissino-Mayer at Tennessee and Dr. Lloyd Burckle at Columbia suggest a "Little Ice Age" that gripped Europe from the mid-1400s until the mid-1800s slowed tree growth and yielded uncommonly dense Alpine spruce for Antonio Stradivari and other famous 17th century Italian violinmakers.

The ice age reached its coldest point during a 70-year period from 1645-1715 known as the Maunder Minimum, which was named after the 19th century solar astronomer, E.W. Maunder, who documented a lack of solar activity during the period.

Stradivari was born a year before the Maunder Minimum began, and he produced his most prized and valued stringed instruments as the period ended -- his "golden period" from 1700-1720.

Read the rest at CNN. Will keep you posted about what my violin-maker friends have to say about this. Apparently the claim was published back in July, so it may have been thoroughly discussed by insiders already.

Posted by David on December 10, 2003 3:54 PM