The factors that determine the price of musical instruments vary but what make the price tags hit the roof are usually rarity, creator (such as being made by a distinguished luthier or being customized by a respected musician), celebrity owners (a guitar owned by Clapton will always be more valuable than the guitar of an average Joe); and auctions where the highest bidder wins. Many artists like to donate their instruments to charity auctions as they money raised can be donated to a good cause.

Maybe … but not in the way you were thinking. Many people beleive that a violin’s tone gets better with age. This is subjective of course, however there is a fairly large concensus when it comes to this. There are a few reasons why the age of the instrument could affect it’s tone:

Mari Kimura is a New York composer and virtuoso violinist whose music includes haunting low notes on the violin called  “subharmonics.”  …Problem is, these sounds aren’t supposed to be possible.