Hello, Since 12 years, my bro's Raphaźl OLEG plays at every concert and every time a recent violin made for him by Jacques FUSTIER, violin maker in Lyon (France). He had enough of that Guarnierus he had who was so sensitive with the weather, and needed frequent regulations. At first , as it is not usual for a solist to play recent instruments, he made a lot of experiments, like play a concerto with a violin change in the middle (what nobody noticed, as he does some kind of illusionism for the move). Nobody he knows in the audience had noticed something. The sound of his violin, after many changes (varnish, regulations) , is very nice, and compare without problem to these old good instruments . If I understand the point, there are only a few old instruments who : have a very good sound, are easy to play and resist to travel. It is in the audience that the problem is, because these people wants to hear an old instrument and it may be written on records jacket, programs, e.t.c. BTW, I have a Japanese customer/friend who baught an old grand Erard with Malcom Rose strings, the strings are great, unfortunately all the coils on the piano are badly dsjointive, and the hammers had not been shaped, so the piano is really sounding "old" piano. There is a category of people who belive that old worn sound is the "original" sound of these instruments. Good for some dealers/techs !!! Isaac OLEG
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