#HTE

The Type of 6th Grade Science Project You Can Do When Your Dad’s a Luthier Teaching You the Trade

I came across the story of Eric Trujillo, a Colorado-based luthier who runs Mi Vida Strings in Denver. 

Trujillo repairs and builds string instruments for clients around the world–his most famous client is probably Bob Dylan–and is ensuring the craft stays alive by teaching it to his 11-year-old son, Daniel.

Which means Daniel has more hand tool skills than your average sixth-grader. So when it came time for him to submit a science project for school, they chose a rather unconventional topic: Daniel built, from scratch, three different single-string, cigar-box-style violins using different blends of wood with each.

The Trujillos then used an audio-sensing smartphone app to see how each blend of wood affected the sonic quality of each instrument:

Well, that blows the doors off of my baking soda volcano.