From the investment or monetary point of view the most efficient way to secure the instrument’s value at its highest level is to lend it to a first class musician.
The wood of a stringed instrument is a living matter. It changes its acoustic properties depending on the vibrations it is exposed to. If the instrument is not played on for longer period of time, its sound becomes less responsive and dull.
Any top stringed instrument has to be regularly used to retain its peak acoustic properties. Moreover, a first class musician should play on it. A top player creates superior frequencies while playing the instrument and keeps the instrument’s acoustic properties at its peak.
By lending the instrument to an exceptionally talented performer, you make sure that the instrument continues to produce the best sound it can.
By doing so, you are also supporting a coming megastar in reaching new heights of the virtuoso career.
Another non-financial return will come from hearing your first class musician enchant thousands of appreciative listeners over and over with a performance that he or she could not accomplish with a lesser instrument.
During the last two centuries nearly every great soloist has played on either a Stradivari or a Guarneri del Gesu instrument - Nicolo Paganini, Joseph Joachim, Fritz Kreisler, Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, Jascha Heifetz, Salvatore Accardo, Henry Vieuxtemps, William Primrose, Yo-Yo Ma, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jacqueline du Pré, Janos Starker , Isaac Stern and others.
