August 2008

The Myth of Antique Instruments

August 30, 2008 14:27

Howdy.
I wanted to start a discussion about a certain well-held fallacy, albeit one that grounds firmly in players' experience. That's why I call it a fallacy- it is a belief held not through falsehood, but misinterpretation:
An Antique Instrument is Superior to a New Instrument.

I've been blessed. Attending the Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City, we not only hosted professionals when they came through town to play, we traveled to the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress to view and play their priceless collections; we received private showings at the Shrine to Music. When Peter Prier and Sons got Stradivaris, a pair of Del Gesus at once, the Glennie, the Firebird, Gaglianos, etc, we, the students got to examine and play them.
Ridiculously enough, I have played more than 20 Strads in my life.
The first was a late model owned by the Baroque Violin Shop of Cincinnati's gracious owner, who handed his baby to a twelve year old kid and left the room. I was, of course, paralyzed. The last six years I've managed to dig into a few without sweating like a pig.
Beyond boasting of my good fortune, alongside these instruments, I have played a slew of new instruments. Instruments from this century- from this decade!- which knock socks off of an old Italian when it comes to the pitch.
Here it is: A well set-up new instrument can match or better the tone, response, and projection of a golden age violin.
Age does not lend superiority. Conscientious making and fine set-up do. WHAT A SHOCKER! The new Italian makers are building nasal, wooden fiddles and charging 20,000 for them for their 'fecit Cremonensis' labels.
The golden age instruments are marvels. But they are brand name marvels now, and their astronomical prices have carried them beyond the reach of most corporations, let alone a player with a taste for quality.
A Markneukirchen violin from 1950 may sound a mint better than that 1700s Testore that's going for dozens of thousands more. And the new makers here, in America!
The Strad magazine has rightly labeled this a new Golden Age for American Making. So when you visit your violin shop with Graduate School in mind, ask the headmaster about instruments he has that were made in the last twenty years. Not only do you stand to save 10,000- 20,000 on a midlevel professional instrument, you stand to be very, very surprised.

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August 2008

The Myth of Antique Instruments

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