I didn't know about the re-structuring of the Strads and maybe that makes that argument moot. But what about say a Steinway Concert Grand?
And yes; most musicians do have terrible systems; I always guessed it had to do with a lack of interest in listening casually. It will never approach real music so what is the need? However it also may have something to do with the notorious frugality of most musicians; who generally are tighter than snare drums with a buck.

I don't know that the discussion the the destruction of the great old violins is irrelevant. We still have to deal with reproducing exactly what was laid down on the recording. I vote for SS or tubes like the amp Jef Larson built for me as being most honest. But then, if something else adds "live" or whatever else that adds to one's enjoyment of the music, go for it.

As for pianos, the history is different from the history of strings. Concert hall have always employed the latest and greatest pianos, relegating the old ones to museums. Today, even period performance forte-pianos are almost always copies, not originals.

The evolution of the piano has been on on making the instrument louder in order to keep up with the larger, louder orchestras and the ever larger concert halls. The piano of Mozart's day had 66 keys. Extra bass notes kept getting added to increase the size of the sounding board and therefore louder. The modern grand piano has 88 keys and goes down to A=28 Hz, but the Bosendorfer model 290, the "Imperial Concert Grand", has 97 keys an goes down to C=16 Hz. While a handful of composers have actually use the bottom notes, that's not why there are there. They are there to make the piano louder.

Bob

• Bosendorfer Model 290

Sorry about the rant, but it's one of my pet peeves with music today and this seemed like a good place to vent.

Dave

• PhysicsWorld - Science and the Stradivarius

My chosen instrument is the recorder. Due to the physics of the instrument, it could not be made louder. The new fangled transverse flute could and by 1740 or so, the recorder ceased to exist in art music. There have been a few pieces written for recorder in the late 1900's, mainly on commission from modern recorder players who owe their artistic lives to the revival of baroque period instrument performances.

To give you an idea of the relative power of various instruments, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #2 of 1721 uses solo recorder, oboe, violin and trumpet! and a chamber orchestra, and #4 uses two recorder and violin. But as early as 1728, Vivaldi mutes the strings in the recorder concerto RV442, published as a flute concerto Op10 #5, RV434.

As Dave says about banjos, give a listen to recorders, baroque flutes ( the same basic sound persisted up to Beethoven's time) and modern flutes.

Bob

You are right, Bob. They focus on CONTENT, to the total excusivity of PRESENTATION. Many audiophiles have been accused of focusing too much on presentation (in other words the system and how it reporduces) and ignoring the content. Musicians tend to swing the other way, and are relatively indifferent to fidelity of the reeproducing system.

Good point
-akhilesh