Thanks for the advice Anne. I also welcome you to the board, though it (sadly) is not mine.
:P You should start a thread in the Members Chat section to tell about yourself. Leopold says that the shoulder rest takes away about 1/3 of the overall tone and sound of the violin. However, I do think that shoulder rests might have evolved just a
little since his time.
Plus my new one is only 1 ounce and is made of wood, so I guess it will be very good. I know that Heifetz' master class was made to play without shoulder rests in the 70's and 80's.