The fingerboard of the violin was made longer, and it was also set at more of an angle to support the tension of the strings being increased. The increased tension of the strings, coupled with the change in the fingerboard, resulted in the violin having an increased range and sound projection” (The History). The gut strings were replaced with steel strings. Two followers of the Amati family and Cremona school, Antonio Stradivari and Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri, have brought the violin to the highest level of perfection. Because of their work, the violin was not only just a musical instrument, but it became a true work of art (Sherman). These instruments get their glorious sound from the type of wood used and the methods of how the instruments were made. "The essential difference is the three-phase varnishing technique Stradivarius used. Apparently, he mixed silica and potash and applied the resulting glassy liquid to the assembled violin. The liquid entered the pores of the wood and wrapped around the fibers giving the violin a robust constitution, the main reason such a large number of Stradivarius instruments have survived” (Gani). “These old violins tend to be sought after over mass produced factory violins by intermediate and advance players because of their superior craftsmanship, resonance, and because the tone and timbre of the violin is thought to mature over the lifetime of the instrument” (The History of the Violin). According to Martin Gani, “a 1742 gem by Giuseppe Guarneri, had been auctioned for $2.83 million in 1999.” Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, violin making spread outside of Europe to the rest of the world