Sam Z violin for sale

[Carl Stross]

How should a violin sound?

 

At ease with what's being done to it.

[AtlVcl]

Mea Culpa, the quartet is indeed still playing.  I'd read but forgotten that Finckel was replaced by Paul Watkins, and English cellist who apparently is more famous in his homeland than on this side of the pool.  I recall the name from the Strad (mag), but know nothing else.  I love their Beethoven, it'll be interesting to see how they fare from this point on.  Thanks for the correction.

[skiingfiddler]

There is a lot of history and a lot of violins sitting between a Guadagnini and a Sam Z! If violinists didn't primarily buy labels with violins attached they would discover that.

 

One of the reasons players covet fine old Italians is that the general public has been trained to think there's a correlation between being a world class player and performing on one of those Italians.  The public thinks -- has been trained to think -- that those Italians are the best of all violins.  Prices, as far as the public knows, would seem to confirm that. 

 

For a young, up and coming performer, if you can get a fine old Italian, put that fact on your program, and/or have it announced from the stage before you play (yes, I've seen that done),  then that performer has an advantage to claiming to be among the best of players -- without playing a note.

 

But that might change because of a rather unfortunate reason.  Letting the world know that you are walking around with a multimillion dollar instrument may invite assault and theft.  For the player's and instrument's security, it might be best if the public didn't know what kind of instrument the player has.  If that kind of secrecy becomes the norm, one of the reasons for having one of those multimillion dollar instruments disappears, and provenance of a player's instrument would become somewhat less important.

[MeyerFittings]

Unfortunately the true price will only be known by two people, neither of which posts here.

 

Wanna bet?

[AtlVcl]

^^^ Yup.  Everything you're bound to hear will be either rumor or conjecture, not necessarily fact.  As I said, only two people will know the facts.

[JoeG]

Not really. Recordings and inept "teaching" have create a strong expectation that violins sound a certain way. 

I can understand your line of reasoning. A well trained luthier should be capable of creating a good sounding instrument under almost any circumstance given model and materials are suitable for the purpose. Sam Z. may or not have an 'advantage' over peers & colleagues, but I wouldn't know what that might be, unless it's simply an intangible like greater perception / understanding.

[Violadamore]

The Italian is a rip-off.

OMG!  What unthinkable heresy!! [sarcasm?  What sarcasm? ]