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posted by n1 on Wednesday April 09 2014, @06:21AM   Printer-friendly
from the music-to-our-ears dept.

Seth Borenstein reports at AP that ten world-class soloists put prized Stradivarius violins and new, cheaper instruments to a blind scientific test to determine which has the better sound and the new violins won hands down. "I was surprised that my top choice was new," says American violinist Giora Schmidt. "Studying music and violin in particular, it's almost ingrained in your thinking that the most successful violinists on the concert stage have always played old Italian instruments." Joseph Curtin, a Michigan violin maker and Claudia Fritz, a music acoustics researcher at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in France had the ten violinists put a dozen instruments through their paces in a rehearsal room and concert hall just outside Paris. They even played with an orchestra. The lights were dimmed and the musicians donned dark welder's glasses. The dozen violins together were worth about $50 million and the older, more expensive ones required special security. The 10 violinists were asked to rate the instruments for sound, playability, and other criteria, and pick one that they would want to use on a concert tour.

The finding shocks music aficionados, because of the mythologies built up around the Italian violin makers of the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly the Stradivari and Guarneri families. Along with violins made by other Italian masters in this era, Stradivarius and Guarneri instruments have gained almost mythical status, with musicians insisting these instruments have a quality that cannot be reproduced.

Canadian soloist Susanne Hou has been playing a rare $6 million 269-year-old violin made by Guarneri del Gesu called by some the greatest violinmaker of all time. Like other participants, Hou was drawn to a certain unidentified violin that ranked No. 1 for four testers and No. 2 for four more. "Whatever this is I would like to buy it." Hou, whose four-year loan of the classic Italian violin has expired, is shopping for a new one this week. She wishes the researchers could tell her which one she picked in the experiment, but Curtin said the researchers won't ever reveal which instruments were used to prevent conflict of interests or appear like a marketing campaign. For Hou finding the right instrument is so personal: "There are certain things you can't explain when you fall in love."

 
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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by tempest on Wednesday April 09 2014, @01:47PM

    by tempest (3050) on Wednesday April 09 2014, @01:47PM (#28775)

    Perhaps a new instrument is high quality, but does it actually sound the way you want? I read an interesting article about Fender attempting to do an anniversary reproduction of a guitar (think it was the first Stratocaster), but they couldn't reproduce the electronics. The manufacturing processes hadn't been used in decades (possibly not even legal with current standards), and no one was really sure what materials they were even made of. If it sounds right, it's the right instrument for you - rarely is it the most expensive choice, but sometimes it is. Not to mention retro features which are sometimes an interesting characteristic worth paying a bit more for.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by fadrian on Wednesday April 09 2014, @03:58PM

    by fadrian (3194) on Wednesday April 09 2014, @03:58PM (#28876) Homepage

    But the whole point of the article is that it doesn't matter.

    It doesn't matter that Fender can accurately reproduce a 1950 Broadcaster, nor Gibson a 1955 Paul. Why? Because, in actuality, confirmed by blind tests, the newer ones made with modern technology sound better. Why is this so?

    Start with the fact that an old instrument doesn't survive unless it is in some way special - it's one of the better sounding of its day or it ends up on the scrap heap. You can be certain that instruments that have playability issues, poor tone, etc. will eventually end up at the landfill or used for parts, not to mention random acts of violence [youtube.com]. It is pretty clear that as poor samples are removed, the average quality goes up and the variance in quality goes down. However, if the initial populations of old and new instruments could have been compared, it's almost certain that the average instrument from the newer population would have more consistent sound and quality given modern manufacturing techniques. And I'll even go out on a limb and say that the frequency of high-quality instruments is higher in the modern samples, due to improved materials.

    Also, people have a vested interest in making things they pay a lot of money for seem like they are worth it. People will talk these old things up and up - even if they are crappy. How many antique cabinets have you seen that have crappy slides, doors that fall open, creaky hinges, etc.? Well, frankly, that's your Strad. Most of this stuff spends as much time in the hands of a tech as being played. And, if they don't, well, you get to hear the creaky hinges. Sure, it can look great, but its usability? Not so great.

    Finally, the placebo effect is strong. People hear differences that aren't there, they see what they want to believe, or are deluding themselves in some other way. Why? Because $1000 HDMI cabes [bestbuy.com] make the bits cleaner.

    So no, I'm not surprised by this at all.

    --
    That is all.
    • (Score: 2, Informative) by tempest on Wednesday April 09 2014, @04:04PM

      by tempest (3050) on Wednesday April 09 2014, @04:04PM (#28882)

      What I meant by my post is "sound better" and what you want it to sound like are not necessarily the same thing. Sometimes older/different things have characteristics that make them desirable.