Theaudiotweak, I believe you about the wood of the cello having a temporary mechanical memory. Yet I do not believe we need to invoke the 4th dymention and the pangalactic sisterhood of Mother Gaya and all living planets quite yet. The poor cello is subjected to considerable mechanical stresses when played, prodded, protected, subjected to pressure, balanced over a nasty end-pin, compressed longitudinally from pegs to tailpiece. . . auch that nasty Yargar C string Forte, all connected to the latest ultra-dense Granadilla tail-piece. Oh but wait, while its toes are being pushed into its nose, that cruel soundpost is trying to burst its belly, simultaneously fighting with the bridge that is trying to bash the very same belly in. And the littlest change in stresses is going to modify the cello's balance of internal tensions. . . quite a feat it can survive being played at all! But the cello is not a 'perfectly elastic' object, being made from wood, a little metal and just a bit of boiled cow bones. . . so the poor thing does remember for a few minutes each time it is brutalized. Can you blame it? Would you behave differently if it were yourself being balanced on a razor-sharp Titanium end-pin, while all trussed up in an unnatural and unspeakable fashion? I would scream for unionization! A little mechanical memory is the least we can expect from the old tramp!
