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Seems like if your violin sounds good enough so that you can win your job behind a screen, it doesn't matter.
I don't know what kind of circles you move in, but in the professional environments I've been in I've never seen or heard of anything close to this happening.
On the upside, the purchase of a special instrument and the struggle to pay for it can serve as a significant element in the retirement plan!
Greetings,
don't have any wish to disrespect this post but it really doesn't ring true for me. I accept that even professionals have distorted perceptions of the quality of instruments based on famous names, age etc. However, this does not, in my opinion, influence how musicians judge other musicians.
Frankly I am puzzled ,
Cheers,
Buri
Michelle, I've heard a number or stories like that, first-hand. In one case, a player successfully won a prominent concertmaster position. Later, after other orchestra members asked what he was playing, there was pressure to purchase a more expensive violin.

On the bright side, the former concertmistress of the Detroit Symphony performed successfully on a relatively inexpensive violin for many years, despite occasional suggestions to get something "better".

One would hope that such peer pressure goes away after high school, but I guess it never completely does. There will always be someone who judges you by the kind of car you drive.

I guess it is one of the perks of being an amateur in a volunteer orchestra, that this is just not an issue. I've played a handful of solos now on a Carlo Lamberti violin from Shar that I bought a few years ago. It was an upgrade from my older German factory violin that my parents bought me when I was 13.

I have had several people complement me on this violin and its sound, which is quite bold, especially in comparison with the old one, which was muted and didn't project well in the low register. I don't advertise that it is a Carlo Lamberti from Shar, but I don't lie about it or withhold that information if someone asks.

When I bought this violin I thought that if I kept playing, I would eventually want to upgrade again, but so far I'm still feeling satisfied with it, like the limitations in my playing and sound come from me and not from my instrument (unlike the previous instrument).

Usually when I have a conversation about instruments with other adult amateurs we end up talking about how much better the affordable instruments are nowadays than they were when we were kids.

I understand why some musicians desire to play an instrument with history and 'legacy' at their fingertips at any cost. Maybe it's status, maybe it's just a personal choice which they feel would give them identity or set them apart. But if a affordable modern instrument does the job 'indistinguishably well', it should be enough. And that decision alone I think would set me apart from my peers. Reminds me a quote from one of my favorite movies. "Religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."
There seems to be a fairly crucial misunderstanding about what was actually written iby the op here. Being pressured (if that word is appropriate) to buy a better instrument is not equivalent to being judged as a musician or player.
Some of the comments remind me of when I was a schoolboy in the '50s (1950s, in case of doubt), and already a cellist, walking home from school every day and passing a violin shop (it's still in business) which had an Amati cello for sale - for £400. In those days £400 was within the reach of a professional musician or an amateur with a significantly above-average salary, but well beyond my parents' means. Anyway, the cello that my teacher had obtained for me at a small fraction of the price of that Amati served me well then, has since, and still does now. Those halcyon days of good instruments more or less accessible to a significant proportion of musicians, professional and amateur, seem to be long gone.
I heard that that Amati was eventually purchased by someone at Bristol University.
This attitude is embedded at a young age.  How many music teachers scorn VSOs without taking into account the sound generating quality of such VSOs.  It continues through Youth Orchestras and Summer Music Camps where they use phrases on auditions such as "the practical range of your instrument" when performing audition pieces.  It becomes quite clear to parents and students ($$$ = success).  Disagree all you want, this is the reality that confronts every parent.