[Superman]

I watched a show once where a, unsuccessful treasure-hunter (Caribbean wrecks) was SCUBA diving in a lake near his east coast hometown, and saw a pile of BIG logs on the bottom. Did a little research, and discovered those were unusually dense old growth trees that the mill (two hundred years ago) didn't care about cuz' they sank. He sought and achieved the necessary permits, and has now made his fortune selling wood from those logs to musical instrument makers. Apparently, the oxygen-free environment at the bottom of that lake was the perfect preservative/aging treatment for that wood. On the show, he sliced open a pitch-black log to reveal the most beautiful honey-colored bird's eye maple (with eyes as big as your thumb).

Stradivarius used to put wood in water for years before using.