The Greatest Violin No One’s Ever Heard

“Le Messie” (“The Messiah”) Stradivari. Click, here

Great read about skullduggery in the “old fiddle” world. Any equivalent stories from the world of brass?

I am not aware of anything quite as fun, even though trumpets have been around much longer than violins.

There are older trumpets, the Bach Stradivarius, which were made be Vincent Bach in Mount Vernon, NY that are considered particularly good. Later Bach trumpets, which excellent and a staple of classical orchestral musicians, do not enjoy the same reputation of occupying the pinnacle of trumpetdom. There have been cases of newer Bach trumpets being modified to exhibit the same stampings, etc. of the older horns and other misrepresentations as they are worth more.

I have a couple of the newer Bach Stradivarius trumpets. They play superbly. I have yet to have the opportunity to play one of the older Mount Vernon Bachs. If they truly play better they are very special.