Advise on which violin I should purchase.

January 7, 2007 at 01:35 AM · Can you tell us roughly how much you are prepared to spend?

Going by names or brands is not usually a good idea. Cheap violins often vary as much as expensive ones.

January 7, 2007 at 02:14 AM · I have no experience with eithr one of them, and no knowing your background (music and financial), it is quite tough to comment.

I am no expert (in realtiy far from it), but this is what I would go through in my head:

If I have no experience in violin playing, and not knowing how long I will stick to it, I would rent a better quality violin for a couple of months.

If I know that I really want to stick to it, I will continue use what I have right now and try to save up money to get a much better violin, which can afford my improvement for at least another 3-4 years.

Some violin rental shop has rent to buy program, which might also be a consideration depending upon your financial situation.

Bow is also very important. If I know I cannot afford a really good wood bow, a good CF/CG bow is a great alternative.

January 10, 2007 at 08:02 AM · I do not know these specific violins, but I presume these are chinese factory violins, of a similar quality as the one I got for my son a while ago. He has outgrown that one now, and we are in the process of buying a better violin.

Our experiences with the factory violin are as follows:

- It needed some work on the setup to function properly, mainly the pegs. I have also replaced the bridge now, and I suspect that the fingerboard shape is not optimal.

- The strings on the instrument where not good enough. After some experimenting we ended up with Zyex, which give ok response and tone. These ones gave the best response from the lower strings, D and G - probably because they have somewhat higer tension than most. The e-string we ended up with is the kaplan solutions non-wistling, and it does fix the problem it is supposed to fix.

- The violin actually sounds nice. The problem with the tone is that it does not project well and lacks in clarity.

In summary, I belive that it is a good beginner violin, but that you would outgrow it after a year or two.

Buying from a violin shop (locally or over the net) might be more expensive, but should ensure that you do not have problems with the setup.

I also think you already have gotten good advice from Vivian in the previous posts.

Lastly - have you asked your teacher for advice?

January 10, 2007 at 05:39 PM · wait and save up some money until you can afford a better violin. I am still saving and playing on my old instrument but I know the next one I want to buy should last for at least the next 10 years. I think it's worth waiting for!

January 17, 2007 at 03:15 AM · I was in the same position as you about 7 mos. ago and did buy a Cecilio CVN 500 at Amazon.com. I was pleased with it until I found a violin teacher after the fact and she tried to tune it, as I didn't know how. The pegs could not hold the tension, no matter how pushed in the pegs were. Also, the bridge was not properly cut -- the legs of the bridge did not quite fit the top of the violin. My teacher recommended to bring it to a luthier in order to have a new bridge made -- cost $65.00 -- and have putty dope placed on the pegs in order to tune the violin properly -- cost $10.00. Also, the violin came with a bad shoulder rest. It was not durable enough that the screws when I tightened them stripped and would no longer tighten. A new shoulder rest cost $20.00. I also changed the strings, so the violin could sound nicer and louder. With all that, the violin sounded decent and I was able to practice.

2 months later, I tried several violins from the luthier and was astonished how the cheapest violins I tried, around $450.00 were far better in terms of sound and also superior in the construction and finish of the violin.

My suggestion would be to go to a luthier with a trusted violin teacher or friend and try out their violins. Needless to say, the Cecilio I bought from Amazon.com I could not try before buying. If I were able to compare the Cecilio with the violins I tried at the violin shop, I wouldn't have bought the Cecilio, though it does sound OK after the bridge and string change.

You may find more reasonably priced violins at Craigslist.com, the important thing is that you and your teacher or somebody who knows how can play it first before buying it and an experienced teacher can see if the violin is in physically good order.

Good luck