There are people who are researching novel ergonomics and designs for instruments. You also need a generous and patient investor. I think this is what most people who’ve considered this idea from one side or the other would say - which is probably why it hadn’t been done yet. I am only one of those people, so as much as I’d like to try this, it’s not the easiest project to pop off the ideas heap. ![]() So this would likely be at least a two-person project: one person who knows UX/HCI/IdX + hardware engineering, to design and prototype the device and someone who knows violins, to be that designer-engineer’s critic and internal customer. Such a person is likely to have spent their career thinking more about music than about industrial design, though, so I wouldn’t expect such a person to have too many thoughts on a novel violin UX on their own. a luthier (so that you have expertise in what factors shape the acoustics of a violin, and the sonic space - including the “bad” parts that no violinist would ever intentionally access - that a violin can generate and also so that you’ve given thought to the ergonomics of existing violins, so as to ensure that the new thing isn’t making them worse.).a violinist (so that you have expertise in what sound you’re targeting, and in the existing “UX” of a violin at a professional level - in combination meaning “so you know what should be easy to play, and what should be hard-but-possible”) and also.I feel like, to do it right, you need to already be both (Was that non-preferred Strad from the study in the mix? I'm guessing it was, and it was the one not-preferred). Several more tests and votes narrowed the fiddles to the one the audience liked best: Jimmy Lin's 1715 Strad. The votes were very close each time, but ultimately the audience chose one modern violin and three Strads, from the years 1699, 17. Indianapolis Symphony Concertmaster Zach De Pue played four pairs of violins, allowing the audience to decide which they liked best of each pair, based on playing excerpts from "Scheherazade" and Strauss's 'Don Juan.' Each pair included one old and one modern violin. While jurors were deliberating over the outcome of the Indianapolis violin competition, the audience that was gathered was asked to evaluate some moderns vs. > During the same event when this study took place, another more informal "study" was done by those who did this one. In the formal test one old Stradivarius was universally disliked and in an informal test a modern violin beat an old strad. There are also differences between Stradivarius. … My concern is this: it sounds to me like the older instruments were not optimized - by either selection or by luthier adjustments - while the new moderns were. If the strings were a little older, they were a little older. there was no soundpost adjustment, no bridge adjustment, no check for open seams. > As for the old violins: one was a Guarneri del Gesù (circa 1740) and two were Antonio Stradivari (circa 17) "These violins were loaned with the stipulation that they remain in the condition in which we received them - precluding any tonal adjustments or even changing the strings." That means that, whatever happened to the old violins during their trip - if they got jostled on the airplane, etc. She generally likes that new violins can sound really good, but she criticizes: ![]() This is a description by one contestant who participated in the 2010 test. ![]() There is also the issue of playing an instrument only an hour vs playing an instrument for a tour or longer time. Modern violins can be louder, and audience generally think loud=better, but this may not what the player prefers or what is wanted in an orchestra. There is no Greg Smallman, Lucien Gélas or Ervin Somogyi of violins, nor will there be without significant cultural change. ![]() In blind tests, players and listeners consistently either fail to distinguish between old and new instruments or prefer modern instruments, but these findings have had essentially no impact on attitudes. Improvement of the instrument is not merely discouraged, but definitionally impossible. Stradivarius violins have become the platonic ideal, therefore any new violin can never be better than a close copy. Violin makers have, sadly, decided to pursue a complete dead end, because of the near-universal preoccupation with old instruments. A handmade instrument by an expert can't be beaten by a factory process because each piece of wood resonates differently and those differences must be accounted for to get a good sound. >As I understand it, the difference between a crafted instrument and a factory one lies in the way the creator adapts (or doesn't) to the natural grain of the wood.
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