I believe that newer luthiers can somewhat cheat on certain properties of instruments. One example is the density of the wood. It is very difficult to find wood

I believe that newer luthiers can somewhat cheat on certain properties of instruments. One example is the density of the wood. It is very difficult to find wood that has been aged hundreds of years. The cellulose tends to compress yielding a much studier material. I believe the original Stradivari were made much thicker and compressed over time. Newer instruments skip this step and just make the wood thinner. The instrument sounds just as good but does not have the same sturdiness.