Violadamore

Didn't say it did. I was responding to what @Brad Dorsey said about prices. I was noting that Skylarks in brick-and-mortar stores were selling for about the same as Chinese violins in general on eBay, some of which were of superior quality, in the early 2000's. Chinese trade violins didn't start to really appreciate in price until about ten years after that, when low-priced Markies were getting scarcer on the market.

Happy New Year!

The OP label date is 2006. In the early 2000's, some very nice looking and sounding Chinese violins sold on eBay, with a case and everything, for $50 to $100. Skylarks were selling retail in music stores for about the same. Wholesale straight from China was lower than that, of course. BTW, Happy New Year!

It looks like a well-engineered idea, but why did you come up with it? Was it to address a particular problem?

Mayson would be covered as "English". Salustri, of course, would be at the top of the Second Class, if "Italian" had not been omitted.

Clean them with a soft cloth or microfiber cloth after use. Other than that, nothing.

Ren Wax isn't for violins and other varnished wooden musical instruments. In fact, it might damage the finish, interfere with repairs, or mess up the tone (it dries to a hard shell). IMHO, it's best as a protective coating for metal objects on display that might rust, tarnish, or corrode from exposure to the atmosphere, but whose exhibition would be interfered with if you kept them protectively oiled (as they would be for use). Swords and suits of armor, antique tools, and firearms come to mind as examples. As to how much you apply to things that it is designed to preserve and conserve, think "thinly applied from the can with a cotton swab", not "coin sized lumps". The stuff is actually a specialty product for curatorial use, not some kind of fancy car polish. For fiddles, leave it alone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Wax

IMHO, the French practice of legally transferring brand names among Mirecourt workshops is, as has been noted by our eminent resident experts, very well-known to everyone who's been around the violin business for a while. Even I know about it.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. @Shelbow, why don't you just revise the title, and make this tempest in a chamberpot return to tranquillity?

Thanks for posting this interesting and well-written paper. One hopes that the importance of "tone" in the selection process as stated by a majority of players will be noticed by others here. Of course, some might be quick to point out that since this was a viola study only, one can't generalize that to violins.

There will be, once you arrive there. MN moderators are far more rare than GDG's or Strads are.

"Or All the Seas with Oysters" Maybe they're breeding? Cleaning everything. Yes. https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/microfiber-towels/

IMHO, The Stradivari Formula MacGuffin being a Strad guitar rather than the expected violin family instrument, presented us gentle readers with a mystery which is solved when you know that the author is a guitar luthier. I suspect that the formula mostly applied here is that of Dashiell Hammett, rather than Tony Strad. Humphery Bogart holding the most famous MacGuffin in cinema history. I sincerely wish Mr. Laskin as much success with his novel as The Maltese Falcon has had.

This article should explain the novel pretty well: https://www.rootsmusic.ca/2024/05/11/how-life-as-a-luthier-inspired-the-plot-of-grit-laskins-new-novel/ Who the author is: https://www.premierguitar.com/william-grit-laskin-a-luthier-of-the-highest-order

Because some of the Latin on the label is gibberish, it could be creatively misconstrued as "It's closer to a violin than to a car".