I am not sceptical about submerged wood, I am pretty sure that recovered maple will in fact result in an instrument with superior tone.

I think it should be borne in mind however that the old growth timber was much better timber to start with, ( slow growth resulting in much tighter grain).

I would also be interested to know whether there is any contemporary corroborative evidence that Stradivarius did in fact submerge his timber, or whether this is a modern conjecture based on some kind of ( presumably non-destructive !) testing of his instruments.

Murray