violins

Speaking as a (non-professional) violinist: Yes, this is a well-known phenomenon; and it affects cheap (~$10k) violins, not just really good violins.

I meant that it affects cheap violins in addition to expensive violins.

Alternatively, take a collection of violins, some of which have gone to sleep, some of which are awake.

Put two different violins into their hands and they will notice a difference, and their playing will change.

Well, presumably this phenomenon has been tested in the hands of professionals who play violins every day.

Because of the low volume, they're not made like commodities (as trumpets and even violins are).

An experiment to prove that a particular listener can detect the sleepiness of a violin: Buy a couple of violins.

However, a negative result wouldn't necessarily disprove the theory because violins may appear simple, but they are acoustically very complex.

Then store half the violins away for a year, while the others are played daily.

Do this many times, perhaps with many violins in the same three month period, some played, some left to go to sleep.

We're looking for a statistical correlation, so we would need to do it with a moderate number of violins.

I find it hard to believe that it's easy to conduct a double-blind test of violins.

From "The Acoustical Foundations of Music" by John Backus, page 207: For example, the excellent quality of Stradivarius violins has been attributed to a varnish of almost magical properties used by the old instrument makers, whose secret has been lost.

Yes, modern violins differ in various ways from baroque ones, and most of the surviving instruments from that era were "updated." The key differences include the length of the neck, which was shorter as players didn't use as much of the range of the violin.

Violins use friction-fit wooden tuning pegs, so they certainly won't stay in tune over time.

Violins all have unique and very recognisable sound and most serious violinists play their instrument every day, often for several hours.

Violins however fall nicely in the range of modern recording equipment and if you can't record a sound from a violin it probably isn't there.