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.