MIT and MFA Boston 3D print playable replicas of ancient instruments
Cross-institutional team targets 100 instruments spanning cultures from Peru to ancient Mesoamerica, using 3D scanning and printing workflows
A research team across the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), has used CT scanning, vibration measurement, and 3D printing to produce playable physical and digital replicas of ancient and historical musical instruments housed in the MFA’s collection.
The project grew out of a late 2024 exchange between Benjamin Sabatini, a senior MIT postdoc and member of the Center for Materials Research in Archeology and Ethnology (CMRAE), and Mark Rau, a newly hired MIT professor in music technology and electrical engineering. The two subsequently contacted Jared Katz, the Pappalardo Curator of Musical Instruments at the MFA, to propose a cross-institutional collaboration.
Funding was secured through the MIT Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC), and a five-person core team — also including MIT postdoc Jin Woo Lee and MFA program associate Nate Steele — began meeting regularly at the museum.
The team used a CT scanner from Lumafield, a company founded by MIT alumni, to capture internal and external instrument dimensions. Those measurements were combined with non-destructive vibration and acoustic testing to model each instrument’s sound digitally.
“For example, if we’re trying to recreate a violin, we can use an impact hammer — a very small hammer with a transducer in it — so we’re imparting a known force signal into the instrument, and then measure the resulting [surface] vibrations with a laser Doppler vibrometer,” explained Rau.
Physical replicas were produced by converting 3D printed copies into plaster mold negatives and slip-casting them. A playable replica of a Paracas whistle — a ceramic artifact from Peru dating from 600–175 BCE — was demonstrated at the MITHIC Annual Event in November. The team also plans to replicate wooden instruments using old-growth wood in collaboration with local luthiers.
“We want to understand the people who made these instruments through both the materials that they’re made of, but also the sound that they have,” said Sabatini. Rau added: “My biggest qualm is often there are no accompanying audio examples. I want to hear these instruments; I want to play these instruments.”
The MFA collection spans over 1,450 instruments from six continents, dating as far back as approximately 1550 BCE.
“They’re both visually beautiful and striking objects, but they are meant to be heard,” said Katz, who added that his “hope for this research is to provide us with a way to protect the original instrument while still allowing them to be heard and experienced in the way they were intended to be experienced.”
The team has to date scanned approximately 30 instruments, and has set a target of at least 100 over the project’s duration.
