I typed this at a different forum (minimally altered):
"Interesting indeed. I used to be a very avid violinist as well as guitarist. My own german Kloz (the eldest) is well over 200 years old. I wanted an english Craske, but the Kloz was a lot easier to play and half the price. Just w/o the He-Man tone, hehe. I've handled very fine Italian instruments, including a Strad. My good friend from music school (actually gf of my trumpeter roommate's at the time) performed on Jascha Heifitz's old del Gesu for a festival in SF. Her own instrument was worth $80k, and I already knew of that del Gesu violin that a long time ago scientists replicated the instrument to 1/1000 of an inch, with a chemically analyzed and reproduced varnish. (from watching a black and white documentary on Heifitz). Nope, didn't sound the same. OTOH, Im curious how much science has evolved to better the chances.
Density can very well be a major factor that is missing? I have both spruce and cedar guitars, and the former is very close grained German spruce. I believe spruce is about 4x the density of cedar. They definitely have their distinct sounds, but OTOH its really the luthier's construction that over-rides everything in the sonic signature.
The strad I played with in LA has a VERY different shape. This was about 16 years ago I believe. Its simply smaller, but perhaps a bit fatter in the middle. This will obviously be a big factor compared to "today's modern instruments".
Amati used to go out into the forests with a mallet/hammer and literally hit the tree with his ear to it. He would go around till he found a tree that he liked.
There are a lot of fine instruments out there, and honestly, $5-$20k can get you a very,very, very fine instrument if you know what you're doing.
I should add that the density will affect the time to break in an instrument. Of course the time is very dependent on the performer, but for example a cedar guitar can take only a month or two, while the spruce could be on the scale of years for some. Violins/cellos, etc are usually about a year to two. So, when they compare, I wonder if they should break them in a little. I don't necessarily believe in breakin with AV, but its an absolute with musical instruments."
*I'd like to add here at AH another random factoid, in regards to the idea of different woods available. Spanish guitars from around 100+ years ago were all made with Cypress. No longer because they practically deforested their country of these trees for such purpose.
** Oh ya second addition. Someone said something about modern violins dying. I've never heard that before. And I don't *think that's really true. OTOH, guitars DO die. Well, a lot/most of them. Then again, there's some really nice ones around that aren't exactly young, but I've never played one that was over 50 y.o. Relatively recent instrumental addition to classical music.
-jostenmeat
