I know little about violins/fiddles; but I have studied the history and value of old electric guitars, and you can't tell me that an ageing telecaster sounds half as good as a well-made modern one - the electrics/electronics must be worn out for a a start, but they go for fabulous sums.
It's rareity, snobbery, whatever. It's not the ears, and it's not common sense.
There's an early Shadows album where the front cover shows the guys sitting round a card table with their instruments hanging from their straps over the backs of the chairs; Hank Marvin phones up Bruce Welch; "Hey, Bruce, you remember that old album cover with your tele draped off the back of the chair ?" "Yeah." "You still got that tele ?" "Yeah." "Do you know what it's worth, now ?".........
Some cool Christmas sweaters too, the retro look is back, don't ya know ?
And then there's the old Tele"ashtray" bridge plate, with the edges to catch the back of your hand, and the three saddles to adjustment the intonation for 6 strings.....but someone might pay a high 5-figure sum for that instrument if it came on the market.
The caveats at the end of the article certainly put the entire test in some doubt. I much prefer my modern flutes and concertinas but there is still something special about the sound of an old Jeffries.
The auditions ... took place in a hotel room, “... a totally inappropriate way of finding out the quality of these instruments." Violinists need to assess how an instrument will project in a concert hall. He likened the test to trying to compare a Ford and a Ferrari in a Walmart parking lot.
“Modern instruments are very easy to play and sound good to your ear, but what made the old instruments great was their power in a hall,” he said.
Interesting article from the NYTimes
Interesting article from the NYTimes
In case anyone's interested, this ran in the Times on Tuesday:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/science/in-play-off-between-old-and-new-violins-stradivarius-lags.html
# Posted on January 6th 2012 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Interesting article from the NYTimes
That came out in the Guardian as well.
It seems to me that one of these stories appears in the news once a year or so:
"Breaking news: expert violinists are unable to tell the difference between a Strad and a quality replica in a blind test!"
# Posted on January 6th 2012 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Interesting article from the NYTimes
I know little about violins/fiddles; but I have studied the history and value of old electric guitars, and you can't tell me that an ageing telecaster sounds half as good as a well-made modern one - the electrics/electronics must be worn out for a a start, but they go for fabulous sums.
It's rareity, snobbery, whatever. It's not the ears, and it's not common sense.
There's an early Shadows album where the front cover shows the guys sitting round a card table with their instruments hanging from their straps over the backs of the chairs; Hank Marvin phones up Bruce Welch; "Hey, Bruce, you remember that old album cover with your tele draped off the back of the chair ?" "Yeah." "You still got that tele ?" "Yeah." "Do you know what it's worth, now ?".........
# Posted on January 6th 2012 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Interesting article from the NYTimes
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb163/selubri/TheShadows-TheShadows1961.jpg
I wouldn't like to guess the value.
# Posted on January 6th 2012 by Weejie
Re: Interesting article from the NYTimes
Thanks Pete and you too Weeje.
Now I'll have "We're all going on a summer holiday" going on in my head for the next week.
# Posted on January 6th 2012 by jigtime
Re: Interesting article from the NYTimes
Some cool Christmas sweaters too, the retro look is back, don't ya know ?
And then there's the old Tele"ashtray" bridge plate, with the edges to catch the back of your hand, and the three saddles to adjustment the intonation for 6 strings.....but someone might pay a high 5-figure sum for that instrument if it came on the market.
# Posted on January 7th 2012 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Interesting article from the NYTimes
The caveats at the end of the article certainly put the entire test in some doubt. I much prefer my modern flutes and concertinas but there is still something special about the sound of an old Jeffries.
The auditions ... took place in a hotel room, “... a totally inappropriate way of finding out the quality of these instruments." Violinists need to assess how an instrument will project in a concert hall. He likened the test to trying to compare a Ford and a Ferrari in a Walmart parking lot.
“Modern instruments are very easy to play and sound good to your ear, but what made the old instruments great was their power in a hall,” he said.
# Posted on January 7th 2012 by David Levine