Potter's or String Works? Please help!

April 10, 2008 at 02:55 PM · We have used Potters for both fractional/student violins and a full size "real" violin. They have been very knowledgeable and helpful and we are quite pleased with both the violin and bow. They have a great selection. You might want to think about the distance though. i see that you are in TN and Potters is in Maryland. We have family in VA and schedule maintenance visits to Potters around those trips.

And if you are considering a full size instrument, I'd highly recommend to plan a day long visit to whichever shop you choose. having them send you instruments through the mail is risky. You have no idea which instrument will appeal to your child and it gets pricey shipping the instruments back. And once you pick out the instrument, you start all over again looking at bows. Hope this helps.

April 10, 2008 at 03:54 PM · Greetings,

I would highly recommend checking out multiple shops as well as considering location in your purchase. It is helpful to buy from an area which you can periodically visit for instrument maintenance. Also, consider their policies towards trading in instruments if you think there is a possibility of purchasing a better instrument down the road.

Personally, I highly recommend Reuning and Sons from Boston, or their younger sibling, Carriage House, who deal with less expensive instruments. I have had great experiences with them and their staff are extremely friendly!

April 10, 2008 at 04:07 PM · Stringworks has a lot of happy customers and I don't think you would be dissapointed in the price to quality ratio. I bought a violin from Stringworks and returned it due to some slight defects at the F hole, which for a new violin I thought wasn't acceptable. The return was hassle free, and they have a full trade in policy and a 14 day trial period so you can't go wrong by trying them out. The setup was top notch (aside from the damaged F hole).

I work in NYC and the violins I was trying in the price range of the Kallo Bartok couldn't compete with the Kallo Bartok. I think there is a considerable mark up here though, so that ruled out local shops for me. Most of them don't even want you in the doors unless you're a professional going to drop thousands on an instrument.

April 10, 2008 at 04:39 PM · I live near Potter's and use them for everything. I have never had a problem with them. You say you have five shops where you live. That's not bad. I would be hard put to name more than that in the Washington, DC metro area where I live. Surely, one of them must be o.k. for your purposes. If not, what shops are within an hour drive. There are advantages to dealing with a shop that is close by. It is not clear from your post what is wrong with the shops near you.

April 10, 2008 at 07:36 PM · Thank you for the input; I would love to shop at a store close to me too, if we have some really good music shop. There's not many selection with my price range. Most of are over $10,000... or the cheapiest $800. Finally we see one used Rudoulf Doetsch no.701, we could tell it has been fix on the side of the violin. They ask for $2,000 dollars. I just found on at e-bay for $1,000. I don't mean that I should have get it on E-bay. But I have set around $7,000 a side to buy mu children last instrument. I would like to get my money worth. Not be treated like a fool.

We have been those music store. All the instrument they have show us, it is all so expensive, those will match my price arrange, look like plastic violin and cello. I don't think I spend $3,500 for a plastic looking cello.

To be honest, we've been very frustrated. I guess i live in very wealthy area, but it is just rediculous. The cello renting here is $85.00

a month. Both my children's violin and cello was bought form out the state, my sister purchase the instrument for us. And unfortunately the shop was closed, the owner went see the Lord.

If I have to pay $5,000 on Rudoulf Doetsch student modle, I can get else where, isn't it?

Even they ask $2,000 for used Knilling violin.

Not the professional , the students model.

That's why I am so desperated. Even both my kids private teacher couldn't give any advices on purchase instruments. They purchase their from out of state too. The violin teacher got his from Italy, and the cello teacher got her from Potter's.

That's how I hear from Potter's. Both private teacher said they can't making any recomendation to any of our local store.

Thank you for all the input and commend.

Thank you and thank you. I am deepl appreciat all your input, truly.

April 10, 2008 at 07:37 PM · Potter's and String Works are both highly reputable shops. I don't think you would be disappointed with either.

April 11, 2008 at 01:05 PM · We purchased 1/4 sized Deutch model from Dalton Potter years ago and traded it up in size to 3/4 paying the difference until we reached full size. At that point Dalton Potter let us trade it for a viola (paying the difference). We bought a "modern master" elsewhere. I thought that all three were excellent student violins. The fractional sized violins were especially good. I felt they were fair and honest with us and very easy to work with. We received the instruments through the mail, but visited the shop at least once to try out the instrument before buying it.

I understand from a local luthier that their secret to making good sounding fractional sizes is to make the tops rather thin and then to use a longer sound post. This luthier was afraid that with time the f holes might sink in a bit or that these instruments would lose their structural integrity over time. However, a child plays a 1/4 sized instrument only about two years so the stability over long time periods is not at issue. It might be a problem if this purchase is for the final and one and only instrument. I don't know if they use the same method for the full-sized instruments.

The Deutch model violins are very popular with the Suzuki teachers in our area so I have heard many, many of these instruments. I think they are consistently good as student instruments. They project well, which is of great importance. We are happy with the Deutch viola. It doesn't get played much, mostly in quartet. I know two violists who also own Deutch violas and like them a great deal.

All this being said, for our other son we purchased fractional sized old German violins and traded them up as needed at a local shop. The first of these instruments, a 1/4 sized instrument was around $450. We were able to get very nice sounding student violins in this way. Instead of trading up to the final full-sized violin, we traded up to a very nice bow and bought a "modern master" violin elsewhere.

April 11, 2008 at 05:42 PM · Over the years we have purchased several fractional Doetsch violin models from Potters, from ¼ to ¾ sizes, and were pleased with all of them. The fractionals we did request over the phone and were sent by mail. They understand that your child’s teacher will want to approve/reject of the selection. The ¾ violin that we had was particularly good. Every time my daughter played somewhere new, she was asked what kind of violin it was. When we were ready for a full size violin, we visited several shops. In the end, we did choose a 1920’s French violin from Potters. The staff was very helpful and patient in helping with the selection of the violin and bow. We try and make it up there at least once a year for a maintenance check, etc.

We also know many people who use Reuning & Son and they have likewise been pleased. On a visit to Boston, we did go by Reuning & Son and the staff was very nice even though they knew that we weren’t in the market to buy anything on that particular trip. Reuning/Carriage House (the division that carries the student instruments) does make trips to the south periodically and you might want to call and ask if they have such a trip planned for this summer. They sent a representative 2 years ago to Augusta. He also went all over the South and into Tennesee. On that trip the teachers from our local Suzuki group were able to tell Reuning the type of instruments that the families in Augusta were looking for and their price ranges. Your teacher might be able to help there.

April 12, 2008 at 04:23 AM · Is your 7000 USD budget for the instruments alone or does this include the bows as well?

You probably already know this, but it is often said that, as a rule of thumb, one dollar spent on a better bow is worth three dollars spent on a better instrument. This ratio may or may not be correct in every case but what matters is that a good bow will generally have a very significant impact.

Therefore, if your budget is for instruments and bows I would recommend to try to save some money on the instruments and spend more on the bows.

On the other hand, if you already have very good bows and want to upgrade the instruments to match the bows, then disregard what I just said.

April 12, 2008 at 05:48 AM · There's one thing that I'm not so sure about is the bows now. I have making several call today.

And of course, they all tried to sell me the expensive bows. Pernambuco silver bow, and Carbon bow, what's different? We used to have brailwood bow, and the price is almost half the instrument. $1,000 dollars an violin bow. It probably didn't mean lots to some folks, but it did sounds lots to me.

The potter will send me a violin that's about $2,500, made from Japan,he said it should be very brilliamt, and a $3,500 cello.

After I heard the price of the bow, I told them I would just have the instrument shipping to me first. The bow I have to think about it. I didn't get to place my order to String Work, since the one they think I should order is out of stock for now. I call the fein violin and the Gliga. With my bad luck, they out of stock the instrument which I could have afford. But Kris told me she will give me a call as soon as the instrument in.

Than you for all the helping suggestion. I will keep looking. And untill then. Keep my ears up and my eyes open.

April 12, 2008 at 12:57 PM · In general, the price of the bow should be 1/3 to 1/2 the price of the violin. If your kids are young, however, a carbon fiber bow might be appropriate. I like the Coda bows and they are much less expensive than the comparable wood bows. Potter's violins carries them as well.

April 14, 2008 at 01:24 AM · Thank you all! I really appreciate all your input. It really helped me. I will use it when we pick the bows and the instruments.

Thank you all so very much!

April 14, 2008 at 08:16 PM · I've impressed with the quality and value of instruments from Stringworks. I assisted a friend find a violin for her daughter and the Stringworks instrument fared very well.