Double blind test on Strads

Don't tell their owners!

We dont know enough about the test, the listeners or qualifications to consider this a open shut case, may be true and if so it wont change 99.99999999% of peoples lives anyway. ;)

Likely all the violins in the dark room test are china-made fakes. The real deal Strads have been stolen and smuggled to some rich guy in China.

I was curios about the new smell, but in this link it says they put perfume on the chinrest. [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/01/02/violinists-can%E2%80%99t-tell-the-difference-between-stradivarius-violins-and-new-ones/]

Like all tests where the tester has a preconceived bias or a vested interest or just wants to debunk tradition, both the way the data is collected and the results need to be put in context. Rarely are any tests, which apparently "disprove" accepted theory, are done where they are completely and utterly on a level playing field. I tend to avoid this sort of thing - it does seem to be a modern trend.