Stradivarius Flunks the Double Blind Test

Are Stradivarius violins as distinctively excellent as aficionados of violins claim?  Not according to this test in which Stradivarius violins were given to professional violinists to play, and tested in such a way that the violinists could not identify the violins:

Well, a research team recently tried to find out. They gathered professional violinists in a hotel room in Indianapolis. They had six violins — two Strads, a Guarneri and three modern instruments. Everybody wore dark goggles so they couldn't see which violin was which.

Then the researchers told the musicians: These are all fine violins and at least one is a Stradivarius. Play, then judge the instruments.

Joseph Curtin, a violin-maker from Michigan, was one of the researchers. "There was no evidence that people had any idea what they were playing," he says. "That really surprised me."

Curtin says of the 17 players who were asked to choose which were old Italians, "Seven said they couldn't, seven got it wrong, and only three got it right."

The double blind study is the scientific gold standard for eliminating bias by the subjects, and for preventing clues from slipping from the testers that could help tip the subjects that their treatment (in this case the Strads) were special and expected to perform better.  Such trial are often conducted with medicine, where a casual tip from a nurse or doctor can reveal whether a pill is the real thing or a placebo, and thus bias the results with the placebo effect.  I've seen such results with wine and beer tasting as well, that suggests that people should not be swayed by the claims of greatness by various labels. 

Alex send this slightly related article...

Dear Helen Killer,

I love your site and was thrilled to hear of your “win” against PayPal. I recently had a heartbreaking experience of my own with them.

I sold an old French violin to a buyer in Canada, and the buyer disputed the label.

This is not uncommon. In the violin market, labels often mean little and there is often disagreement over them. Some of the most expensive violins in the world have disputed labels, but they are works of art nonetheless.

Rather than have the violin returned to me, PayPal made the buyer DESTROY the violin in order to get his money back. They somehow deemed the violin as “counterfeit” even though there is no such thing in the violin world.

The buyer was proud of himself, so he sent me a photo of the destroyed violin.

I am now out a violin that made it through WWII as well as $2500. This is of course, upsetting. But my main goal in writing to you is to prevent PayPal from ordering the destruction of violins and other antiquities that they know nothing about. It is beyond me why PayPal simply didn’t have the violin returned to me.

I spoke on the phone to numerous reps from PayPal who 100% defended their action and gave me the party line.

Erica

That's just nucking futs...

I saw the original story over at Ann's cafe.