Interesting bilind testing of Stradivarius Violin

That's right!
Musicians prefer new and fresh violin sound vs. hundreds years old Stradivarius that are more collector's items.

It's far more about the fingers and the ears than the instrument. However, if two players are more or less equal then the one with the superior instrument should prevail.

Not all Strads are created equal. Some sound far better than others. Also, instruments made by Guarneri del Gesu are preferred over Strads by many top players. And Hilary Hahn uses a much more recently made instrument from the shop of a French builder (Vuillaume, 1864). She could have a Strad if she wanted, no doubt!

As for Joseph Curtin, I don't know how well he plays and didn't think he was part of the performing end of the show in question. But I'm sure he has spoken with countless top players about desirable and undesirable qualities (some of which are subjective) found in instruments. He otherwise could not have risen to the top of his field.

"It's far more about the fingers and the ears than the instrument. However, if two players are more or less equal then the one with the superior instrument should prevail."

I suspect the musician's ability to master any particular instrument of good quality matters more than the instrument itself.

Its like the old synergy story here with hifi gear. The best assembled setup usually wins, not necessarily the best quality components.

It's usually the contributions of the users/people that matter most, not the instruments, objects or tools they dabble with.

Great to know you guys know more about violins than Elman. Grumiaux, Heifitz, Mennuin,Millstein , Oistrack, Stern, Szigeti etc etc etc etc .

Real shame all those fools did not have your collective wisdom to guide them in their instrument selection.

One can't help wondering why the worlds best violinists, you know like Heifitz, of the past hundred years owned Strads, Amati or similar high end instruments for their own AND played them in concerts. Same with the less renowned but very competent violinists of the orchestra, in terms of owning and playing expensive world class violins. I'm kind of thinking they probably prefer the sound of the expensive instruments, eh? If you get Heifitz on the panel that can't hear the difference maybe then I might get on board the placebo train. Maybe.