Soil Stradivarius

The Soil (pronounced 'Swahl') Stradivarius was one of the most prized and unique instruments ever made by the legendary Antonio Stradivari (c. 1714).

Background
The Soil Stradivarius was built by Antonio Stradivari in 1714.

After the events of the Great War, the Soil Stradivarius may be the only Stradivarius left in existence, and could be thought of as utterly priceless, as the knowledge and technology to craft such instruments has long since been lost since even before the Great War, as Antonio only passed on his secrets to his two sons, who subsequently took their secrets to the grave with them.

The only reason for the Soil's survival was due to it being loaned to a talented, yet naive young violinist, Hilda Egglebrecht, who was later selected to enter Vault 92 as part of Vault-Tec's desire to 'preserve musical talent'. However, after the experiment conducted in the Vault went awry, the Soil was left locked away in its own perfectly crafted case, designed to maintain the right humidity and temperature to keep the violin in optimum condition. It sat there, untouched, for over 200 years as the Vault around it slowly deteriorated, and mirelurks moved in.

Agatha, an elderly violin player, asks the Lone Wanderer to venture into Vault 92 to retrieve the Soil Stradivarius for her in the side mission Agatha's Song.

Abraham Washington in Rivet City will buy the Soil Stradivarius from you for 200 caps; 300 with a successful Speech check. The same is true of Ahzrukhal, the ghoul bartender in the Ninth Circle in Underworld. You can also get the violin back from him by purchasing Charon's employment contract; Charon will then kill him, allowing you to take the violin from his corpse without a change of karma or social status among the citizens of Underworld. You can then give it back to Agatha.

Location
You can find the violin in Vault 92's 'Sound Testing' block in a recording studio, which is the southern most room there. It is on a wooden table.

To enter, activate the "Studio computer" on the other side of that hallway.

Behind the scenes
While the Soil Stradivarius was placed in a specialized case meant to keep the wood from warping any further, it is still never accounted for how Agatha is able to play the Soil Stradivarius so well when it hasn't been played in over 200 years. The varnish used during Antonio's "Golden Period" required the Stradivarius in question to be played on a daily basis, for an extended amount of time, else the microscopic cracks created by the special varnish would begin to seal back together, rendering the Stradivarius nearly unplayable.

Bugs

 * If the Soil Stradivarius is sold to Ahzrukhal and then re-obtained using the method described above, the violin can now be dropped from the inventory and will usually float in mid-air.

Related quests

 * Agatha's Song

Скрипка Страдивари