You need a very good instrument to get a good sound?

Or is it the way the person plays the instrument that makes a good sound?

Surely a bit of both? The better the player, the better the sound they will get out of even a modest instrument. I suppose it is probably also true that a mediocre player will sound better on a decent instrument than a poor one.

I don't think you necessarily need a top quality instrument to get a good sound, but you may get an even better sound with a better instrument.

I'm not the very best of players, so a good instrument helps me to make a better sound: I'm good enough that I can get a good sound out of a good instrument. If I were a much worse player, maybe it'd not be so noticeable: the best players can make my less good instruments sound better than I can do. But they'll also make the best instruments sound better than I can.

I think the majority of the sound comes from the player but a good instrument makes it easier to produce that sound, the better a player you become the more particular you become about your sound and seek the holy grail of equipment to make things even better. However I play in ensembles with some players who have invested a lot of money on equipment which may have been better spent on more lessons with a good teacher

A good player will get a very similar sound on whichever instrument they play, a good instrument just means they have to work less hard to get it.
(assuming of course a basic level of mechanical soundness, no leaks etc.)

Chris

Agree. I have a distant friend who is a pianist composer. His piano is a bag of bones, but sounds fine when he plays it. On the concert grand his playing is sublime.

primarily the player but enhanced by the instrument.

I immediately sounded better on my Howarth oboe than on my student oboe.....but I still don't sound as good as my teacher sounded on my student model!

If you're talking about professionals, my teacher describes a "good" instrument as being the instrument which allows you to obtain the sound you want with the least amout of effort.

I've certainly heard evidence that a good instrument doesn't cover for poor technique.

Daughter's teacher couldn't get her loan oboe to sound nice despite having a fantastic sound on their own instrument We did wonder when her sound improved and then got worse She sounded much better right form the start on her first Howarth.

It might not necessarily be a "better" instrument that makes someone sound better; it might just be a design feature that works for that individual.

So true. I play a EUR 20 Chinese flute currently. You wouldn't know its a EUR 20 Chinese unless I tell you. But its hard to play nicely on it. I really have to work hard. However, whenever I switch to my currently unavailable Yamaha 511 (which I dropped in my last exam and which is broken ever since), I sound like an angel. Much easier to work with. But the instrument doesn't make the player. The instrument is just a thing a player works with.

Though some instruments are just plain awful......