My oldest friend stole a strad and played it for 30 years.
Back in the late 70’s, I worked at a Safeway store with a guy. He was in his 40s, and still lived with his parents. He came to work one day with an old violin. It had a Stradivarius label and a date inside. He thought he was going to be rich.
I was just a kid, but knew it couldn’t be real.
My Uncle Frank was a fiddle player, so I went to ask him about it.
My Uncle said he had one also.
He went in his house, and came back out with the exact violin.
It was the style of violin. He also said they were not very good reproductions.