Interesting bilind testing of Stradivarius Violin

"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.

I"If you get Heifitz on the panel that can't hear the difference maybe then I might get on board the placebo train."

With great contributions to the state of hi fi sound like teleportation tweak, flying Saucers, and clever clocks, I suspect you are way overbooked for that particular train already.

There could be any number of reasons why a working musician would prefer not to have an irreplaceable and priceless instrument as their everyday instrument. As a practical matter they are a pain in the ass to deal with in regards to travel and security. It's only a late 60s Martin, but only two people are allowed to touch Willie Nelson's guitar, Willie and his long time guitar tech. I can only imagine how a musician would feel about a Strad. As others have commented there are some excellent modern instruments available that don't bring that extra baggage.

I've read that many of the Strads used in performance are not actually owned by the musicians using them, but are loaners from wealthy collectors/benefactors. A nice case of the kindness of strangers.

Just out of curiosity, what other vintage objects are considered superior to their modern equivalents? I don't mean more desirable or valuable, but actually better at their intended task.