The Paris Double-Blinded Violin Experiment

Here is a very interesting and strong light of the benefits of critical thinking on this complex subject: is there a noticeable difference in the sound of old and modern instruments?

This leads us to think about psychoacoustics or how to understand our biases or our cognitive reinforcements in order to feel freer of our choice of instrument. This also helps to understand how value is distributed: sound, antiquity, historical witness, aesthetic, conservation status.

Note that we are talking here of instruments from true violin makers where the quality of making is irreproachable, only the personality of the sound and its evaluation are questioned by these tests. For the instruments from manufactures it will be necessary to give much more weight to the quality aspect before trying to compare the more subjective aspects of the art of the sound.

Pierre-Olivier Galbrun, luthier.