The renowned German violin virtuoso, Christian Tetzlaff, had this to say in an article from the New York Times (April 28, 2000) written by Anthony Tommasini:

Last year, Mr. Tetzlaff did something that will either horrify or inspire other violinists: he traded in the Stradivarius he had on loan, valued at $2 million, for a new violin built by Peter Greiner, a German maker his own age, which cost him about $17,000. What possessed him?

"The new violin is really terrific, with a full beautiful sound that is still able to fight the orchestras," he said. "The Strad I had couldn't." Unlike many violinists, Mr. Tetzlaff believes that some of the qualities of the renowned instruments made by Stradivari and Guarneri are mythological.

"There are big differences between Strads, as big as between the colors red and blue," he said. "There are many Strads that are not really that good-sounding." But when violinists touch them, he explained, charmed by the mystique, they see the disadvantages as characteristics for which they must simply learn to compensate. "But I have an instrument that I feel has no disadvantages," he said. "When I first tried it out in Toronto, I told nobody about it. Everyone assumed it was my Strad."

Young violinists, who have been programmed to believe that the only fine violins are old, rare and Italian, should take heart. "There is no doubt about the quality of a good number of incredible Strads," he said. "But what's strange is that many people look for Italian instruments of doubtful quality in the range of one or two hundred thousand dollars, which is a lot of money and very little value."