Violin shopping!!

February 8, 2008 at 9:42 PM

Violin shopping is so much fun, yet frustrating!! i read somewhere that a big problem for adult beginners is that they always want to upgrade their violin in hope that it will produce the tone they want. I'm a bit worried that I'm falling into that category, but seriously, I'm not sure if I'm hurting myself playing on this $50 cremona violin.

I went into Ifshin violin in Berkley for the first time, and i was drooling over the cello cases, they are so cool! Too bad i don't play the cello! But I guess I should be happy because those cello cases are very expensive!!!

I really like this violin shop alot. They have these private room for you to test out their violins. I told them my price range and what I'm looking for, they brought in a few violins and kept bringing more in for me to try. I picked out a couple that I like, and the nice man probably was hearing I play from the outside asked if i want him to play some for me, I was relieved.

I picked out a German violin Alosa and their own chinese instrument Jay Haides to test out at home. They sound much warmer and richer than my POS at home, but I cannot tell the difference between the Alosa and Jay Haides, I must rely on my teacher.

I also want to try out the Gliga violin that everyone raves about here.

Then is the bow. They lent two bows for me to try out at home, one is a wooden bow from their own shop that cost $195, the other one is the coda aspire that cost $250. I have no idea what the differences are, but they sure are alot better than mine at home!!

So far, this is such a great learning experience for me and I enjoy every step of this!!

If I were to do a poll, do you think I should get a student violin for about $700ish or just stick with this $50 POS until my ears are better?

From sharelle taylor
Posted on February 8, 2008 at 10:10 PM

Well done going in to test run. I'd be going the upgrade now, with the caveat that it doesn't leave you so broke that you couldn't upgrade again in a year or two. I upgraded to something about your price range after 2-3 years, more because I needed a smaller violin. but I'm still happy with what I got. Even at that price range (which was about 1500US), there was a very obvious difference between different instruments, so keep on trying them.

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on February 8, 2008 at 10:16 PM

I think if you can afford it, $700 is not too much to spend. You want to enjoy your practice time and you will enjoy it more if your instrument pleases your ear. But sure, keep trying for a while before you spend the $.

From Bilbo Prattle
Posted on February 9, 2008 at 2:45 AM

We went through this recently with my son. It is a very good learning experience!

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on February 10, 2008 at 5:44 AM

A violin which costs $50 is a piece of cr*p. No wonder you want a better one. Many violin stores will let you rent a high quality beginners violin, worth about $600, on a monthly basis ($25/month) with an option to buy. If you later decide that you'd like to buy a $600 violin, but not the one you've been playing, the store will usually let you use your payments to date towards buying a different violin. Many of my students do that, and it works quite well.

Someone said that your first violin is the most important one you'll ever play. You may think your technique is not good, but try a better violin and you'll be surprised at how good you sound.

Re the bow: Many beginners are not aware of how important the bow is. The interaction among your hand, your violin, and your bow are crucial. When I buy a new bow, one of the things I do to check it out is to play it on one of my lower priced violins. The effect is amazing. I feel like I've upgraded my violin.

Trying out new violins and bows is fun. Take your time making your decision, and you'll suddenly sound and feel so much better. You'll also have more fun practicing.

From Benjamin K
Posted on February 11, 2008 at 5:10 AM

I would recommend to do things one at a time.

First find yourself a nice violin without worrying about the bow. Once you have purchased a violin you are happy with, play it for a week or two with the bow you already have, just to get a feel for the violin and how it reacts to your bow.

I'd say, only at that point are you ready to shop for a new bow, but make sure you take your violin with you when you try out bows.

When you try bows, don't try too many at a single session, because you'll only confuse yourself. So take your time, go for several trial sessions, ideally you make a plan which bows you want to compare to each other at any given session.

Also, it helps not to have too many trial sessions on a single day. Again, take your time, and if need be, go for another trial session comparing bows you already compared before.

If you can't tell the difference between two bows, well, then there is not much point choosing the more expensive one simply because it "ought to be better". Choose a bow that suits you best at this stage.

Obviously carbon fiber bows have the advantage that they are less fragile, so if you find two bows which are equal in quality (to you, not what somebody else will tell you) and they cost about the same, then perhaps carbon fiber is the better choice between those two due to the lower risk of accidental damage.

hope this helps
benjamin

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Violin shopping!!

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