Overvalued
More like the same:
I've always suspected this to be the case, but I lack the experience with the real instruments to say it definitively. While brands and marques do sometimes make a difference, the more esoteric the product and the further up the financial spectrum you go, the less likely the differences are to be relevant or even noticeable. It's the same with wine; the guy who won a tasting competition with "Two Buck Chuck" proved it.
Most of the time, people who have something expensive and fancy are trying to convince everyone -- most especially themselves -- of their perceived importance. Do you really think there's a $200,000 qualitative difference between a Bentley and a Chrysler? Of course there isn't, but the guy driving the Bentley will never admit it, because he has a quarter million clams wrapped up in a car. He's not just financially invested, it's emotional, and that makes it personal. In the case of the Stradivarius, the instrumentalist playing it expects the sound to be better, so he perceives it to be true. Confirmation bias, placebo, call it what you will, it's not worth a million bucks.
The name Stradivarius has been synonymous with musical excellence for three centuries with instruments selling for millions amid claims that their sound quality is unparalleled. However it may pain purists to learn that professional violinists cannot actually tell the difference between the antique instruments and modern models.
I've always suspected this to be the case, but I lack the experience with the real instruments to say it definitively. While brands and marques do sometimes make a difference, the more esoteric the product and the further up the financial spectrum you go, the less likely the differences are to be relevant or even noticeable. It's the same with wine; the guy who won a tasting competition with "Two Buck Chuck" proved it.
Most of the time, people who have something expensive and fancy are trying to convince everyone -- most especially themselves -- of their perceived importance. Do you really think there's a $200,000 qualitative difference between a Bentley and a Chrysler? Of course there isn't, but the guy driving the Bentley will never admit it, because he has a quarter million clams wrapped up in a car. He's not just financially invested, it's emotional, and that makes it personal. In the case of the Stradivarius, the instrumentalist playing it expects the sound to be better, so he perceives it to be true. Confirmation bias, placebo, call it what you will, it's not worth a million bucks.
posted by Jar(egg)head at 08:40
1 Comments:
I have noticed much the same no matter what city one visits. Everyone is convinced that their own particular rats-nest is the pinnacle of civilization.
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