Revisiting the notion of "resonance wood" choice: a decompartementalised approach from violin makers' opinion and perception to characterization of material properties' variability

Abstract

This work aims to improve our understanding of the resonance wood and to investigate the interactions between their physical-mechanical properties, natural variability, and the violin makers' ways of choosing their materials. In order to identify the luthiers' practices and opinions, a socio-technical survey was conducted. Physical, vibrational, and visual/structural characteristics of the resonance wood obtained from several provenances with a variety of quality grades were also determined. Finally, these two approaches were completed by a psychosensory evaluation to compare the measurements that we have conducted with the perception and qualification of wood by the violin makers.