Indiana University has long had an excellent music school. E.g., one of the violin professors was J. Gingold, long Concert Master at Cleveland. A cello profes

Indiana University has long had an excellent music school. E.g., one of the violin professors was J. Gingold, long Concert Master at Cleveland. A cello professor was J. Starker, long a well known, good recording artist. I liked music a LOT, had recordings of dozens of the most famous pieces from Bach through Tchaikovsky. And I was a math grad student, but my dorm building was next to the music school with a lot of music majors. One of the violin students put his old Italian violin under my left chin and gave me a first lesson. So, I signed up for a course in violin, just me and one teacher, a violin student in the school. He was terrific, far ahead of what I as a beginner, deserved! E.g., after the semester was over, he played the Brahms concerto in Toronto! But I did get a start. I continued, and took some more lessons off and on. Eventually I made it through a few pages of some of the famous music, e.g., the Bach Chaconne. The student there at Indiana University I met again later, and he had swapped his old Italian violin for one made in NYC. His statement was that what he got new was as good as any of the old Italian instruments. That is, net, somehow some modern violin makers have learned how to make violins that are among the best ever. Just how to do that? Uh, instead of what is in the OP, just talk to some such violin makers!