Researcher Uses X-Rays to Probe Secrets of the Strad

If Steven Sirr has his way, you may be going to the doctor the next time you have a fracture in your Amati.

No, it’s not some unusual bone. It’s a violin.

Over the last decade, Sirr has scanned dozens of Amati and Stradivarius violins and other stringed instruments with a high-tech X-ray procedure called computed tomography. And he thinks he’s not only come up with a new way to diagnose flaws, but also provided a glimpse into the craftsmanship of Antonio Stradivari and other master violin makers of several centuries ago.

The Minneapolis radiologist, who presented his research here recently at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, said he’s found some surprises in those black-and-white images.

He saw wormholes and cracks and hidden patches where luthiers --people who make and repair stringed instruments--had tried to cover up damage.

“Just like in human beings who have diseases, surgeons get in and repair them,” said Sirr, who has played the violin for 20 years. “Luthiers use glue and wooden patches to hide problems and repair problems.”

Even a small crack in the sound post inside the violin can drop its value 50%, Sirr said. And that’s no small difference when musicians and collectors will pay to the tune of $1 million for a centuries-old Stradivarius.

Sirr, who used to bring his violin to the hospital to practice during his down time, took the instrument into the X-ray room for the first time back in 1988. After a car crash victim was X-rayed, Sirr decided

to put his violin under the machine.

He took those X-rays to his friend, violin maker John Waddle of St. Paul, Minn. Since then, the two have examined some of the world’s finest instruments.

“It’s kind of off the wall,” said Waddle, who won a gold medal at an international competition last year for a viola he modeled after a 17th century instrument that Sirr had scanned. “Some people think it’s really interesting. Some people can’t quite see the point of it. My kids think it’s weird.”

Weird, maybe. But not so to those in the business of trying to recapture an art some say was lost 300 years ago.

“You would be amazed at the level of interest there is in any examination of old violins,” said David Polstein, a violin maker and secretary of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers. “It’s almost surreal. People involved in the making and restoration of instruments are obsessed with trying to figure out what the makers in the golden age of violin making in Italy were up to.”

Sirr said it might be possible to use X-rays to reproduce the glories of certain old instruments.

“One thing in medicine they teach us is that structure is highly correlated with function,” he said. “An athlete would have a high-quality structure. It’s the same thing with violins, we’re finding.”

But Sam Zygmuntowicz, a New York violin maker who has created instruments for some of the world’s top musicians, said technology is no replacement for genius and hard work.

“Technology can reveal things that are still hidden and could be a hugely valuable technique,” Zygmuntowicz said. “But people seem to be very eager to find a substitute of old-fashioned, long, diligent observation. There’s no shortcut.”