Fascinating about the little ice age - It is very believable - denser wood will ring better and can be thinner as a result of the extra strength - maybe they should start using wafer-thin tropical hard woods?

One of the crucial aspects of Stradavarius design responsible for the quality of his violins is thought to be geometry. Strad's plans were based on two perfect circles differing in size by the proportion of the "golden ratio" (1.61803399). The smaller cirle became the top half of the instrument and the larger circle, the bottom half. The Golden ratio is responible for the shape of many of the objects we see around us from packaging to buildings because it results in aesthetically pleasing proportions. It also comes into many musical compositions see:

http://www.geocities.com/cyd_conner/music.html

and

http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/Pres-etab/CollJLagneau/BLUM_CIBP/13ors/VIOLIN.html

for more details. Interesting stuff!