The Stradivari concept is a natural progression/development of the Amati concept.

• Incresed sound power
• Extremely wide spectral range.
• Excellent tone dynamics.

There are at least two types of Strads.
One type – the early Strads – very much follow the Amati school guidelines in both, construction and sound.
The other type is the late Strad. This line of instruments differs significantly from the Amati concept resulting in a unique to Strad sound:

• Wider spectral range (lots of room between the lower and upper harmonics)
• Deepened lower tonal spectrum.
• Enhanced sound projection

The tone becomes less instrumental or edgy - more natural and voice-like, without loosing its 'cutting-through-glass' upper range harmonics.

One characteristic quality, unique to the Stradivari concept is the accelerated power response (power curve) – the instrument gives more sound than you asked for in the midrange (mezzo forte - forte), so it has to be 'held back'.

Audio Sample   Stradivari, 1716   played by Nathan Milstein (1959)

However the 'enlargement' of the sound characteristics does't come without a price. The playable characteristics of Strads are a bit on the heavy side - they respond 'slower' than Amati.

The voice equivalent of the late Stradivari - Mezzo-Soprano.