LucchiMeter

From musician to self-taught bow maker, from master craftsman to a leading figure in Italian bow making, Maestro Giovanni Lucchi turned his curiosity into a passion, a profession and an unceasing process of study. He analysed the entire craft in depth, every stage and every detail, looking to science for important answers alongside his creativity and sensitivity. Remaining faithful to his intuition and unafraid to follow it into possible dead ends, he explored technology, acoustic physics and even aerospace engineering. It was in these apparently distant fields that, after many attempts and experiments and despite the scepticism of others, he found the answer to his central question: how could he reveal a bow’s sound qualities and musicality without stripping it down? How could he discover the character of a log before working it?

The answer lay where the great Antonio Stradivari had already looked: in the speed at which sound travels through wood. What was needed was a more certain, reliable result, using the three centuries of technology separating the two craftsmen. A transmitting probe placed at one end of a log sends a pulse, a slight vibration. At the other end a receiving probe takes the place of Stradivari’s ear, measuring the time the vibration needs to travel through the wood’s full length. Over the same distance, a shorter time means a higher speed of sound in that piece of wood. A higher speed means a greater readiness to vibrate, a desirable quality in a bow. That is the principle.

Naturally, this is only one value that helps a craftsperson, using skill, intuition, experience and a sixth sense, understand the material better and decide how best to work it.

The LucchiMeter has many applications at every stage of construction, beginning with selecting the best wood. Once the raw material has been chosen, it helps identify which part is best suited to becoming an instrument and which should be discarded, the thicknesses to use, and the varnishes and glues that least alter its sound properties. It can also inform preservation and restoration, helping return a damaged or deteriorated instrument to its former condition while respecting its sound qualities.

Throughout this account, the word “instrument” has deliberately remained general: it may mean a violin, viola, cello or double bass, a piano or guitar, an oboe or clarinet reed, or a bow. The LucchiMeter is now widely used around the world by tonewood suppliers, who have adopted the LUCCHI value as an informal unit of measurement, as well as violin-making schools, technical institutes and universities conducting non-destructive tests on many materials to investigate Young’s modulus, acoustic quality factor and damping. Musical instrument makers also use it. Although most widespread among makers of bowed instruments and bows, the tester has also been adopted by makers of plucked instruments, including the renowned guitar makers Andrea Tacchi and Paolo Coriani. Many other international makers use it, from Australia to Canada, Europe and the USA.

When properly recorded and interpreted, the data provided by the LucchiMeter can become a valuable archive. It gives the master craftsperson another ally in pursuing the desired quality, while preserving the manual character of the craft and the maker’s expertise.

It is one element in the process. Stradivari created his celebrated instruments by candlelight and entirely by hand. Today violin makers benefit from electricity, dial thickness gauges and the LucchiMeter.

The Modena guitar maker Paolo Coriani describes a particular use of the LucchiMeter: “I make guitars that are not exact copies of historical guitars, but whose sound I want to bring as close as possible to that of the originals. Reproducing an original decoration, its shapes and dimensions, may be relatively straightforward. It is harder to make a confident assessment of the quality and characteristics of the wood that gives the instrument its particular sound. I can see an original soundboard, the width and type of grain, and whether medullary rays are present. But I cannot touch or listen to it as I could a new board, tapping, rubbing or flexing it in my hands, or examining it by other means that provide reliable, repeatable information. The Lucchi Tester gives me precise information about the wood’s characteristics, making comparisons between different instruments by the same maker possible. It helps me select a board for a copy with characteristics as close as possible to the original and assess whether a visual selection is appropriate. This does not reduce or remove my judgement, creativity or personality. It gives me more information, which I can use in the best possible way alongside my experience.”