A REAL Tonewood comparison!

smitty_p

smitty_p

Ambassador of Gearology
Moderator
Country flag
Listen and see if you can identify the cheapest to the most expensive violins!

I correctly identified the cheapest. I just missed the most expensive one, though. The one I picked for most expensive was actually the next most expensive.


 
Yargnad said:
I got it all wrong. The distinct lack of sustain on the 10 million dollar Stradivarius made me think that it was not Stradivarius. My favorite was the $10,000 one.
Click to expand...

I got the cheapest one correct. It sounded thin and had almost no bloom to the notes. It had kind of a boxy sound.

The one I liked the best on most passages was the $100,000.00 violin.

However, it was really close. There were a couple of phrases where I preferred the $10,000.00 violin, too.

I totally missed which one was the Stradivarius, though!

But, he did something that guitar reviewers should do more. He was careful to play the exact same thing on each instrument. I mean, I do see guitar reviewers who do that, but I see a lot of others that noodle through something different with each item they are A/B-ing.
 
OK now I have not watched the video, but knowing smitty, I thought that some demo or form of conversation would turn to tone WOOD we debate in our electric guitars.

So, having said that and having listened to a number of things as our member 67plexi was due to receive a new to him DW KIT,I knew of their Timbre matching efforts. SO, if wood is wood and glue is glue etc and no one can really distinguish a verifiable difference wood makes in electric guitars, I do think it can readily be heard in acoustic drums.

 
Last edited:
OK I listened thru the 3 samples. I will confess, I stopped at 5:09 and have to say when it comes to Violins, I have no experience to establish a baseline to compare and critique pros and cons for the sounds I am hearing from each example.

In other words, is concise and focused sound a pro or a con, is volumunous tone a good or a bad quality. Or if a certain type output seems good on some when slow playing occurs, yet when faster or more diverse playing is done, do some that excelled in the slow, now sound worse when played faster or more complex?

I am afraid, this test is akin to that similar test of 5 or 6 Gibson/LP/ ES335 type guitars/pickup combos that many of us took a shot at back in the ETSG forum 7-8 yrs ago. I thought my ear was good, but I never guessed which guitar was which piece of music demo'd.
 
smitty_p said:
I got the cheapest one correct. It sounded thin and had almost no bloom to the notes. It had kind of a boxy sound.

The one I liked the best on most passages was the $100,000.00 violin.

However, it was really close. There were a couple of phrases where I preferred the $10,000.00 violin, too.

I totally missed which one was the Stradivarius, though!

But, he did something that guitar reviewers should do more. He was careful to play the exact same thing on each instrument. I mean, I do see guitar reviewers who do that, but I see a lot of others that noodle through something different with each item they are A/B-ing.
Click to expand...

Smitty etc, don't give it away yet as I hope to make more listens thru this to see what my choices of favorites is in ascending order cheapest to most dear.
 
I slipped and did a rushed listen thru and initial guessing attempt. It is hard guessing and ordering them as one listens and tries to remember which is which and which I liked better than the others. I wish I had listened one or 2 more times before seeing his list. I will confess, on my quick listen I ranked the Strad at number 2 and likely could have placed it 1 if not distracted.
 
smitty_p said:
Nope. Not this time!

This is a real demo where woods and construction really do make a difference!
Click to expand...


I'll say. BUT in the end, Other than how hard one violin was to play vs the other more expensive ones tone was definitely in the hands of the player. He didn't make any of them sound awful, right down to the $70 one.

After my review, I actually didn't feel too badly that I had a choice picked of the Strad and the $100,000 one both at number 2. Then had to hurry to take our dogs to the vet and as I said, I picked the rest kind of hastily. In the end I think I picked the $70 one in the next to last position instead of the last place. So that choosing wasn't too bad either.
 
smitty_p said:
I just missed the most expensive one, though. The one I picked for most expensive was actually the next most expensive.
Click to expand...

Smitty It seems I was hearing about the same qualities of sound as you did in the Strad and 2nd most expensive one as being close to one another. Of course when listening off a computer and in a hurry, I give myself the excuse of rushing to the vet for picking the el cheapo one as next to last instead of one position lower.
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
Smitty It seems I was hearing about the same qualities of sound as you did in the Strad and 2nd most expensive one as being close to one another. Of course when listening off a computer and in a hurry, I give myself the excuse of rushing to the vet for picking the el cheapo one as next to last instead of one position lower.
Click to expand...

Yup. It’s an interesting listening test!

I don’t know if you watched all the way to the end, but I came away from the video with the impression that the $10,000,000.00 (that’s ten million dollars!) violin was valued at that price mostly due to the fact that is a genuine Stradivarius in pristine shape and of exquisite craftsmanship.
 
Smitty, I did watch to the end. I am sure you are mostly right. In addition to the fact the Strad is like 1 out of 648. Still, that 100000 one is like from the 1700's too. Either way, to have a functioning and nice sounding instrument that lasts that long, says something.
 
smitty_p said:
Listen and see if you can identify the cheapest to the most expensive violins!

I correctly identified the cheapest. I just missed the most expensive one, though. The one I picked for most expensive was actually the next most expensive.

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that. I had no problem picking the Stradivari.
Although a couple of the others were pretty fair....the Stradivari cuts through the mix.
That one sounds rather awesome.
I wish there was a way to make a solid body guitar that would have the same type characteristic Stradivari sound.
You knew that Stradivari did make Guitars too? Unfortunately, 350 years too early for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top