Stradivarius Pseudoscience

[kreider204]

I'm not sure if you're all familiar with the Skeptics Society or their quarterly publication, but the current issue has an interesting article called "Stradivarius Pseudoscience: The Myth of the Miraculous Musical Instrument." It hits on a lot of the stuff we discuss / debate / flame each other about on a regular basis, and is definitely worth reading should you come across the magazine in your local bookstore.

Here's the issue info, FYI: http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/

[fdeck]

What are the article's main points?

[kreider204]

Pretty much what you would expect - a lot of supposed tonal differences between instruments are based on subjective expectations, the power of suggestion, etc. It's a good starting point for the non-scientist - it's written for the lay person, but it cites legit studies for further reference.

[fdeck]

In other words, it re-iterates what every string instrument player already knows.

When I was shopping for a new upright bass, I would have loved to have a set of objective criteria for judging instruments, or even just for bows.

[MIJ-VI]

The Red Violin?

[kreider204]

Originally Posted by fdeck

In other words, it re-iterates what every string instrument player already knows.

Well, not according to a lot of the threads I've read here ...

Anyhoo, I occasionally see people asking for studies and such, and this article has some nice references for us laypeople, so I thought I'd mention it - FYI and all.

[fdeck]

That's cool.