It's interesting that pre-electronic instrument design was pretty much all about increasing loudness.
> increasing loudness.
Intriguingly, it hasn't been a continuous upgrade, like computers, etc. There was at least one major stratum in this evolution when patronage for music shifted from the church to the court. With larger audiences required to financially support the music, instruments went through a major shift of amplification to use more metal parts, etc.
I also like your idea of continuing to optimize the designs. Some people are also trying different materials like carbon fiber! One issue with the simulations is that people don't comprehend the structure of wood perfectly. It's only recently that researchers have realized the importance to the sound of the wood being a non-continuous material and actually comprised of long, irregularly-shaped grains. Most of the papers I've seen are analyzing instruments and trying to figure out what the salient features are of the design.
One more caveat is that it still has to be easily buildable. The current design is excruciatingly difficult and slow.
So one thing this illuminates for me is how much instrument design is like biology :)
Instruments with a sweet tone quality, but lacking in volume, are a tough sell, and will often be modified to bring out more sound. With the exception of a few museum pieces, the Strads have all been modified over the years to make them louder, with longer necks and shorter ribs.
I suspect the cello edged out the viola da gamba because of volume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8MUgwiZULw
It uses re-purposed printer carriage with stepper motor to generate electricity. With very low latency, the pulse of power boots a synthesizer and powers the audio amp.