- The final results showed that one modern instrument garnered a total of 26 points, being the top choice for four players, second choice for another four, and rejected by two. Conversely, a Stradivari ended up with a score of -9. Its closest rival was a modern instrument, which had a score of -7.
The results revealed the two most-preferred instruments to be modern, while in third place was a violin from Stradivari’s ‘golden period’. At the opposite end of the scale a Stradivari drew the poorest result and a modern instrument was placed second-last.
I had a lot of problems with how the previous study was marketed and conducted, and as before, the title of this article is misleading. The testers were asked to rank the instruments in the order of what they preferred, and the "Name the strad" portion was a more minor element. Indeed, in the article, the only part I can see that mentions it is this:
- At the end of the test the players were given a series of violins and 30 seconds to decide whether it was old or new.
and the results of that question are not listed in the article. These authors have proved, without a doubt, that there's nothing overly special about Strads to make them a preferred performance instrument, but they have yet to (in my opinion) prove that people can't tell what they are as compared to others, at least not in the data that they have released
Thoughts? Any Acoustic engineers want to weigh in?
There was a discussion about this kind of thing all the way back in 1999. Neil Gershenfeld of the MIT Media lab constructed a digital cello for Yo-Yo Ma, allowing him to perform at his most masterful, while leaving the large, and expensive Stradivarius at home. Gershenfeld posits that we can model these kinds of instruments digitally, and then use inputs that are shaped like, feel like and respond like a 'Strad, to control the digital instrument.
this conversation has been going on for a long, long time, and I don't think it will ever end. there's too much magic around a "Strad" and too many people have too much money invested in them to believe that they're anything other than tools. As a bassist, I'm pretty lucky in that there is no "Strad" and even the most expensive basses pale in comparison to the price of fine old violins. That said, I have played a Maggini bass from c. 1640, which was a pleasure to play. It was definitely a goofy instrument, and it showed its age, but it sounded beautiful.
To me, an authentic Stradivarius is more than just a tool. It's a work of art of itself, a magical artifact even, in the hands of a trained wizard. Not because of the work it produces, but because of the story behind the instrument. The decades of emotion and beauty poured into it, and that came out of it.
I think that any tool is like that. For a while my dad had a Metal working Planer that was from the 19th century, sort of mid-to-late industrial revolution. It was a total work of art, in the way that it worked (it reminded me of clockwork). He sort of restored it to working order (as much as he could, it's supposed to run on belt drive, and he didn't have one so he jerry-rigged a motor mount), and then gave it to a museum.