Are there any Violin or Cello players out there?

Yes, I went through music school as a violinist. But what are you wanting this instrument for? $5,000 is indeed cheap for a "fine" cello . . . but it's still WAY too much money to spend if you're buying one for a beginner.

And if the musician in question isn't a beginner, then what matters most is not how "fine" the instrument is, but the synergy between the instrument and the person playing it. For an instrumentalist, finding the right instrument is a personal journey that's completely inseperable from their concept of their own sound . . . and ultimately of themselves as people.

I'm no Violin player but we have a young virtuoso in B.C. Canada Ms. Choi. And she claims her Stradaveri can never be made again because of global warming. (won't get the right kind of growth for the wood)

If you believe that piffle then you'll probably believe any nonsense...

If you believe that piffle then you'll probably believe any nonsense...

Shadorne - I believe it after watching "Red Violin". I pretty much believe "any nonsense" as you stated (with exception of shadow government, black helicopters and area 51).

Ms. Choi seems to be a sad representative of the typical follower of New Age science 'curriculum'. . . If the ideal pine no longer can be found on the Northern slope of the Southern Alps, all she would need is to fell timber from slopes from the more Northern Alp ranges. . . besides, who said that there is no perfectly good pine outside the Great Alps region?
Stradivari and the old Cremonese masters limited themselves to Italian timber because the local supply was most available and least expensive. . . and that is why certain instruments by such luthiers as testori--and even Antonio Stradivari I so believe--featured backs made from supremely inexpensive poplar, which could be felled from their respective backyards. . . or just a few kilometers down the road, along the banks of the river Adda and Ticino.
But of course. . . New Age explanations have so much more Romantic alure. G.

Guido - The oak floor you walk on is different in color and hardness from northern and southern states. Woods suitable for making instruments such as guitar have the highest ratio of strength to weight (cedar, spruce). Origin of the spruce, for instance, attributes for different sound of the instrument. Type of the spruce and origin is often listed with instrument advertising (German Sitka spruce etc.)