There’s a theory that Stradivarius violins are superior because they are made from trees that grew during the “Little Ice Age.”

The thinking is that the climate affected the pattern of the tree growth and therefore the tree rings. This made the wood rather unique, and as the theory goes, quite resonant.

X-Rays confirm that the wood used in genuine Stradivarius violins (those made by Antonio Stradivari (especially during his “golden age” between 1698 and 1720) show relatively unique ring patterns.

S0 there.

Source: History Channel

BTW, the Little Ice Age was a period of time a few hundred years ago of where the climate was unusually cold. But since the topic is at least a little related to Global Warming, Wikipedia is a useless source. (In case you haven’t noticed, there’s an inversely proportionate relationship between how controversial a topic is and the usefulness of a site that relies on user generated content.)