Why do early 11th century hurdy-gurdies sound so good, & other assorted ramblings

[62burst]

Thanks 1Wiley for giving me another reason to ramble (as if I needed one).

 

I watched as the recent thread "Why do vintage guitars sound so good" evolve into discussion of recent high tech methods to try to determine what it was that made vintage guitars have a certain "something". Something that was so difficult to quantify, the best science was becoming mired in the cross-examinations of it's efficacy.

 

I just wanted to say that imho, all of this science is a compliment to that which we can not put a finger on; silly humans trying to quantify something intangible. We do this because we don't know how else to "hang a name on you". Just as learning to play the guitar, dissecting the music, was/is the sincerest form of the appreciation of music.

 

Ironic, but it is as if we have imbued it with value. Would this have been a sound that minstrels would have been waxing poetic over in the eleventh century? Seems to be a sliding scale; what ratio is learned appreciation for a certain tone, paired with the physical aspects; the "Dry, crystalized, crackled, & vibrated (thx, O.WileyF), and as Milod had suggested; the sound an instrument absorbs in it's surroundings, i.e., cooking odors, airborne particulates, and "gasses".

 

When spending some time with one of these "veterans", it isn't very long before one thinks of the songs that have been played, the scary times they've been through, and the people it has meant something to.

[bkharmony]

Yah, precisely! I want some of what you got, dude.