Cooling by radiation is slower than convection or conduction, but it still happens. The James Webb went from room temperature to deep cryogenic in a few months, and it’s big. As for moisture, things cook off into a vacuum very easily. That’s the foundational to the whole concept of freeze drying, actually.
Freeze dried wood is absolutely commercially available, if pricey. I have no idea if anyone has used it for musical purposes either. There’s a lot of audiophile-ish magical thinking in that space so it’s possible nobody has bothered.
Edit: Although, since this is a research project, maybe not freeze drying it first was the point.
Hmm. I wonder if the internet’s benefits to literacy are starting to dissipate too, as video-based services become really popular.