Expert violin-makers in Italy spend 3 months making a single instrument — but mass-produced violins from China are flooding the market

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• Cremona, Italy, is the world capital of violin-making, and is the birthplace of the famous Stradivarius violins that can be worth millions of dollars.
• But business in Cremona is under threat from a flood of Chinese manufacturers that churn out much cheaper instruments in larger quantities.
• The small market for instruments of the highest quality also forces workshops in Cremona to compete against each other alongside foreign competitors.
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The city of Cremona, Italy, is home to about 160 workshops, and is the birthplace of the famous Stradivarius violins that can be worth millions of dollars. 

Artisans known as luthiers, or in Italian, "liutai," have been making some of the best violins, cellos, and other stringed instruments here since the 16th century.See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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