Saving the sound of the Stradivarius


An interesting project is taking place in Cremona Italy. A link to a brief piece in the New York Times describes the effort to chronicle the sound of various Stradivarius instruments before they have lost their mojo.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/arts/music/stradivarius-sound-bank-recording-cremona.html?action=...

ghasley
Thats simply nonsense...Strads get dragged all over the world and fixed if need be, and are very unlikely to be abused to the degree that they’ll ever become dust or too delicate to play...like I said, the ones in use get maintenance or they wouldn't be usable...Yo Yo's cello...lots and lots of playing time, no problemo.
Dave Edmunds was taking his original 1958 dot-neck Gibson ES335's (one blonde, one black) on the road until someone told him how much they were worth. Too easy to get stolen. Yo Yo buys a second ticket for the seat next to him on plane flights, for his cello. 
It's just wood, joinery and glue.
With time, even wood will degrade.  And, when factoring the stress of playing it, I have no doubt it will eventually not withstand the forces of time.
What I would do is create replicas based on highly defined computer imaging. A great woodworker should be able to replicate it.
If fortepiano's can be reconstructed, why not these?
B
Sting instruments must be played or they go bad.  Joe Grado (the original owner) tried to made a plastic violin using Bell Labs laser to "perfect" the proper resonance...the project was put on hold after awhile.  I played a Strad......its major asset (there are many) was its ability to play to the balcony of the hall.  My favorite violin is Guarneri. Trying to replicate the Strad sound is impossible .....they sound different with different bows.
Wood can be maintained to last forever, and nobody knows why Strads sound so good, with many theories out there...why does a 1939 Martin often sound so much better than new one? It will if it's played, and nobody knows what a Strad sounded like when new...likely pretty good, and later simply great.