Another way to think about them is that the best craftsmen of a few hundred years ago can make violins that are every bit as good as the ones we do today, but the difference is that we can crank them out (as far as $100,000 objects can be "cranked out") to an extent unimaginable by Stradivarius or his contemporaries. After all, $100,000 is cheaper than most dwellings in the developed world, whereas even during his lifetime a Stradivarius violin would have cost much more than an average house.
this is not the issue. Stradivarius violins are in private collectors' hands and collectors let famous violinists play those violins. The issue is, should those violinists switch to a brand new violin? this experiment provides no evidence that it's necessary
