Mycowood: A New Era for Instruments

08/11/21 • 18 min

Hear that...? Fungal violins have entered the music scene. This technology, known as Mycowood, uses fungi to partially degrade wood used to make violins; and it results in superior acoustics. We are joined by the scientist behind these innovative fungal projects, Dr. Javier Ribera, who is a materials scientist at EMPA with specialties in cellulose and wood materials. Javier walks us through the creation of Mycowood technology, and how this unique application could evolve in further wood-based design.

Topics Covered:

The inspiration for creating Mycowood
How climate change is physically altering our lumber supply
The history, theory, and materials science of the famous Stradivarius Violin
Wood as a material for resonance, and how fungi can be used to engineer the acoustics
The three fungi tested by EMPA for Mycowood including Schizophyllum commune, Physisporinus vitreus, and Xylaria spp.
Processes of creating Mycowood
The current availability of Mycowood technologies

Show notes:

Dr. Javier Riberia’s Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Javier-Ribera-2

Interview with Francis Schwarze: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48H_-CRuzWY

EMPA Website:https://www.empa.ch/

Violino ai funghi (Fungal Violin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlICRNzPoic

EMPA Report on Mycowood for Violins: https://www.empa.ch/web/s604/mycowood-violin?inheritRedirect=true

BIotech Stradivari: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ppp3.10097

Mycowood Violins in the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/learning/mycowood-violins-a-different-kind-of-time-machine.html
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Daily 10 (Mushroom Mix): It’s like having 10 bodyguard mushrooms fighting off all those bad guys. This is a good place to start as it contains all of the daily mushies you need.

Not sure where to begin? Take our mushroom quiz here.

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Topics Covered:

The inspiration for creating Mycowood
How climate change is physically altering our lumber supply
The history, theory, and materials science of the famous Stradivarius Violin
Wood as a material for resonance, and how fungi can be used to engineer the acoustics
The three fungi tested by EMPA for Mycowood including Schizophyllum commune, Physisporinus vitreus, and Xylaria spp.
Processes of creating Mycowood
The current availability of Mycowood technologies

Show notes:

Dr. Javier Riberia’s Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Javier-Ribera-2

Interview with Francis Schwarze: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48H_-CRuzWY

EMPA Website:https://www.empa.ch/

Violino ai funghi (Fungal Violin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlICRNzPoic

EMPA Report on Mycowood for Violins: https://www.empa.ch/web/s604/mycowood-violin?inheritRedirect=true

BIotech Stradivari: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ppp3.10097

Mycowood Violins in the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/learning/mycowood-violins-a-different-kind-of-time-machine.html
www.mushroomrevival.com

Energy (Cordyceps): Need a little pick-me-up before a workout or when you’re picking up your kids from school? The Energy Cordyceps is the mushy match for you.

Focus (Lion’s Mane): Needing a little more focus in your daily life? Lion’s Mane is known to be the mushroom for the brain and may support cognitive function.

Calm (Reishi): Looking for some tranquility and zen in your life? Reishi will bring you into the zen state of mind you’ve been searching for.

Daily 10 (Mushroom Mix): It’s like having 10 bodyguard mushrooms fighting off all those bad guys. This is a good place to start as it contains all of the daily mushies you need.

Not sure where to begin? Take our mushroom quiz here.

Use code ‘PODTREAT’ for a 30% discount.

Previous Episode

The Soil Food Web

Modern farming practices are destroying vital soil ecologies, and our patch work solutions aren’t making things any better. Today we are joined by Dr. Elaine Ingham, a leading soil ecologist who has established the Soil Food Web School, a platform that teaches people how to optimize their growing operation and advocates the return to greener practices.

We discuss how we can repair the land using simple, natural, systems, and how in doing so we heal the planet by increasing carbon sequestration, depolluting water supply systems, catalyzing environmental justice and so much more.
Topics covered:

Soil health before human influence
Practical ways we can rebuild microbial populations for healthier soil
Specialized relationships between soil fungi and plants
Successions of ecosystem health from the soil to mature plants
The adversaries of inorganic fertilizers
Analyzing ratios of the fungal and bacterial needs to grow healthy plants
Cultivating and sourcing biocomplete compost
Industrial level compost production and soil remediation
Carbon sequestration in soil health

Show notes:

Soil Food Web website: https://www.soilfoodweb.com/

Dr. Ingham’s published work on soil ecology: https://www.soilfoodweb.com/publications/
www.mushroomrevival.com

Energy (Cordyceps): Need a little pick-me-up before a workout or when you’re picking up your kids from school? The Energy Cordyceps is the mushy match for you.

Focus (Lion’s Mane): Needing a little more focus in your daily life? Lion’s Mane is known to be the mushroom for the brain and may support cognitive function.

Calm (Reishi): Looking for some tranquility and zen in your life? Reishi will bring you into the zen state of mind you’ve been searching for.

Daily 10 (Mushroom Mix): It’s like having 10 bodyguard mushrooms fighting off all those bad guys. This is a good place to start as it contains all of the daily mushies you need.

Not sure where to begin? Take our mushroom quiz here.

Use code ‘PODTREAT’ for a 30% discount.

Next Episode

Spalted Wood

Spalted wood is beautiful. It’s a form of rotting, and it’s caused by fungi. Spalting comes in many forms: patterns, colors, textures. Until this century, the biology of spalting wasn’t well understood, and even less so any methods to produce it in a laboratory setting. We are once again joined by Javier Ribera, a wood materials scientist and mycologist from EMPA to discuss new research on spalted wood. The team at EMPA has built off of existing literature on the biology of spalting which has allowed them to artificially produce spalted wood, potentially opening a market for designer wood rot.

Topics Covered:

History of spalted wood use in the United States
Three kinds of spalting: zone lines, pigmentation and white rot
Mel & Mark Lindquist’s legacy of spalted wood in woodcraft
DIY spalting methods: the possibilities and limitations
The mycology of zone line spalting: what species are involved? What does wood anatomy have to do with it?
How researchers at EMPA are commercializing spalted woods
How you can spalt your own wood at home!

Show Notes:

EMPA’s Fungal Biotech: https://www.empa.ch/web/s302

Spalted Wood The Movie: http://spaltedwood.com/

Zone Line Spalting from Science to Application: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127521000332

GIY Spalted Wood Methods: https://www.finewoodworking.com/2009/04/14/spalt-your-own-lumber

Wood Spalting Starter Pack: https://www.mossycreekmushrooms.com/product/spalting-liquid-culture-pack/

More spalting species (members only): https://www.northernspalting.com/buy-materials/fungi/

Compatible woods + examples: https://www.northernspalting.com/spalting-info/wood-species-examples/

Dr. Sara (Seri) Robinson book on Spalted Wood: https://www.abebooks.com/Spalting-101-Robinson-Dr-Seri-C/30973684244/bd?cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade-_-product_id=COM9780764360893NEW-_-keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAjw3_KIBhA2EiwAaAAlipUvXMCvEPINjOPvbbXRh6epgaMoJPs504UaowGjmrDTZaOPjiLjgRoCSJIQAvD_BwE
www.mushroomrevival.com

Find your mushy match and take our mushroom quiz here.

Use code ‘PODTREAT’ for a 30% discount.

Mushroom Revival Podcast - Mycowood: A New Era for Instruments

Transcript

Alex00:00:00.419

You're listening to the mushroom revival podcast.

Alex00:00:09.179

Imagine it's 2025 and you're sitting in a chair, wearing mushroom leather shoes, sitting in your psilocybin mushroom therapy session, listening to soothing classical music therapy played by violins made with, you guessed it, fungi.

Lera00:00:31.469

That sound you hear in the background, that is the sound of a violin whose