Swiss violin maker Lorenzo Pellegrini has a unique ability… he can walk into a forest and pick out just the right tree, that he refers to as a Stradivarius tree, for use in making violins.

Branches mean knots in the wood. And knots in the wood spoil its resonance. Pellegrini is a tree picker. He will find you the spruce in 10,000 that is just right. He will find you the “Stradivarius tree”. “Lentement, lentement, lentement,” he says. “Slowly, slowly, slowly”. That’s how violin trees should grow.

New York based violin maker Sam Zygmuntowicz walks us through the production of the string instrument.

A violin’s age has little to do with the sound or tone it produces, says British research, which found concert violinists were unable to tell the difference between music produced by old or new violins.

The researchers could find no link between the age and value of the violins and how they were rated by the violinists. The three old instruments had a combined value of $10m, a hundred times that of the modern violins. “They are beautiful instruments, but the prices are insane,” Fritz said. “The old versus new issue doesn’t make any sense. “It doesn’t matter if the violin’s old or new, all that matters is whether it’s a good violin or a bad violin. Many modern violin makers are doing a great job.”