I’ve just been following an international forum discussing the 18th century Cremonese makers and whether they had a ‘secret’ process which makes them so valuable, apart from their antiquity!
There have been nearly 800 replies delving into the Stradivarius concept, but with little unanimity of opinion. It does appear, though, that the old masters’ violins do still stand out from the crowd in terms of purity, depth, breadth and projection of the sound they offer.
Some modern makers, equally gifted luthiers have come tantalisingly close to this perfection. My own gut feel is that the construction of a modern violin can replicate or even surpass the skill of a Strad – which indicates that the ‘secret’ must have been in the provenance and choice of wood, coupled to preparation of the plates? Some of the ‘master-made’ violins that are coming out of China are absolutely amazingly good, but even so only about 1 in 20 offer a greatly superior sound quality (my own assessment!), while well-known makers in USA, UK, and the Continent are closing in slowly on the ‘secret’ by using modern scientific instrumentation.
Which, of course, enhances the ‘genius’ status of the old masters who had none of such helps!
