If you don’t know it’s not a Stradivarius, will it still sound as sweet?

Here’s something fun, courtesy of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States: Researchers tried a double-blind test to see if professional violinists — not listeners — could tell the difference in sound between two Stradivarius, one Guarneri del Jesú and three modern violins. Only three people out of the 17 study subjects could pick out a Strad.

I failed the Old Master test, too — and had the benefit of a 50-50 opportunity to get it right, thanks to an enlightening little story on National Public Radio you can catch here.

John Terauds