UConn makes 3-D copies of antique instrument parts

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Researchers at the University of Connecticut are using medical technology to breathe new life into some antique musical instruments.

Dr. Robert Howe says his medical practice in Massachusetts showed him how computerized tomography could make precise 3-D images of body parts. As a doctoral student in music history, he realized the same CT scanning could help study and recreate delicate woodwinds from the past.

Howe and UConn's director for advanced 3-D imaging are seeking a patent for their process to scan and print precise 3-D copies of instrument parts, such as the handmade mouthpiece from a 19th-century saxophone made by inventor Adolphe Sax.

Only three working mouthpieces were known to exist before the team printed their first copy this spring.