Violin strings from spider silk

This is a video, in German, about the new violin strings made from spiders‘ silk.

From the Strad:

Japanese scientist creates violin strings from spider silk

Monday, 05 March 2012

A researcher in Japan has succeeded in using silk from hundreds of spiders to make a set of violin strings. Shigeyoshi Osaki, a professor at Nara Medical University in southern Honshu, used between 3,000 and 5,000 strands of silk for each string, which produced ‘a soft and profound timbre’ when played.

According to BBC News, Osaki bred 300 female Nephila maculata spiders to make the strands, all of which are used by the arachnids to hang from, rather than to make webs. Each string is formed by twisting the silk strands in one uniform direction.

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