I can't even imagine the amount of fear I'd feel if someone asked me to make some modifications to an antique violin worth millions of dollars. It'd be like deploying an update on a Friday afternoon.
Just holding one of those instruments would make me nervous, but in terms of both maintenance and use, they were made to be played. This is just something that people accept.
I obviously don't play a Strad (he didn't make double basses, that's my excuse), but when I got a nice new bass, people asked me if I'd ever take it out of the house, or if I'd use my old bass for performances. I tell people the same thing, it was made to be played.
Make no mistake, I love it though, and the finished product is absolutely gorgeous.
Popping the top off of the violin was a little nerve-wracking, but that cracking-hide-glue sound is also satisfying. It went back together nicely (I even used the opportunity to glue a piezo-film transducer to the inside of the soundboard).
Now I don't feel quite so much like the violin I'm holding is going to shatter into a million pieces if I twist too hard on a tuning peg.