Scientist makes violin strings from spider silk

i wonder if they made this spider silk from genetically modified goats (they extract it from the milk), like they're doing in the states...Technology is getting pretty incredible!

Technology is getting pretty incredible!

I am usually not a technofob, but I would say scary.

300 females to be exact.

@Zichi and you can stick your violin on the wall :p

if i get one ima call it peter parker

I bet the flies don't like the sound of this one bit. :)

Thought he would use fiddleback spiders!

"Its one thing to create scientifically meaningful items, but I also wanted to produce something that would be socially accepted by ordinary people," he said

I am an ordinary person, but I don't think I can't accept the fact that this violin was made by 300 spiders (yuck) ....sorry I just can't stand them!

I could care less about tensile strength or other properties of the spider silk, or how that affects the timbre. Why have none of these articles about this had a clip where I could HEAR what the strings SOUND like on a violin? Isn't that the most important thing?

(yuck) ....sorry I just can't stand them!

So you would rather prefer sheep gut? I find that a bit more disturbing image. Also, from resource availability point of view, I would rather have 300 spiders' silk instead of seeing sheep killed.

Well, as for the article, if the spider strings do produce a better sound quality (don't ask me, I can barely differentiate a cat-in-heat's shrieks and my mother-in-law's voice), the next question is production value and availability.

The bow is made of horse hair. I wonder why he didn't fiddle with that as well.

Elvensilvan, I don't know where you got the idea, but as cactusJack says, usually bows are made from horse hair or main or tail or whereever.

Sorry, but I really can't stand creepy crawly things...

Elvensilvan, I don't know where you got the idea, but as cactusJack says, usually bows are made from horse hair or main or tail or whereever.

The bow uses horse hair from the tail, but THIS article is about the violin STRINGS, not the bow. Violins used to exclusively use "catgut" (actually sheep or goat intestine), but have since had synthetic or steel alternatives to choose from. Now there an additional option from the rear-end of 300 poor spiders.

Oh, OK I get it now. Thank you Fadamor for the info. I always thought synthetic or steel was the only choice these days (I didn't know about the catgut), so I assumed we were talking about the bow.

Sorry for not reading the article correctly.

But anyways, people may go far to creat great music, but spiders? I hope it doesn't get too popular.