It seems odd to say that a violin is currently in a beta stage because it usually indicates a phase in the product developmental process for games, gadgets and everything tech. But that is exactly the case for the 3Dvarius, which was unveiled by French violinist Laurent Bernadac recently, because it claims to be the first working 3-D-printed violin.
There are developers who have 3-D-printed violins before, such as the Piezoelectric Violin that Digital Trends reported on in April. What sets the 3Dvarius apart is that out of all these 3-D-printing attempts, it is the only instrument that sounds as good as the real thing, writes Gizmodo.
The 3Dvarius is reportedly three years in the making, and the one unveiled by Bernadac (see the video below) is the latest working prototype, nicknamed Pauline. The long time taken to develop the 3Dvarius is attributed to the difficulty in producing a model that is "strong enough to withstand the tension and pressure of violin strings," according to the CBC. In addition, the printing material must also allow the instrument to be tuneable. In order to address these challenges, the 3Dvarius team team used a 3-D printing technology called stereolithography to print a single piece. This was achieved by printing models one layer at a time by rapidly curing polymer UV lasers, CBC learned.
3Dvarius took inspiration from the famed Stradivarius violins created by the Stradivari family. Its appearance, however, is extremely different from any of those instruments due to its translucent body. It actually resembles a squid once the strings are removed. However, the sound that it makes is the closest to the real thing if one considers what the other printed models have achieved so far.
What is also amazing about 3Dvarius, especially if it is finally perfected, is that its design will be available as a digital model in the future so that mere mortals like us can download and print one or more on our own.
