Tips for Violin SelectionTips for Violin Selection
RENT/PURCHASE
Purchase on eBay for like $35. If you enjoy the bargain shopping experience, some of my students have found instruments in pawn shops and thrift stores who have no concept of how to price them. If you don't enjoy the time consuming experience, the internet is your friend (tho you should also practice standard internet safety precautions as well).
If you don't like the violin you get, you can sell it or give it away. The person in you class sitting next to you most likely spent hundreds or thousands on theirs and may not necessarily be happy about it.
The case, bow and violin are more expensive separately. Music stores will try to convince you that their instruments are superior and worth $300 to $15,000 more. I'm still unconvinced. The technology has improved so much that they can mass produce in China and Romania for so much cheaper and oftimes better quality. You will know when you want a better instrument. You weren't born yesterday. Even if you are a beginner, follow your ear and trust yourself. Most people won't need a nicer instrument until they hit the recording studio or a pretentious symphony audition (discreetly borrow an instrument from a rich friend for this because they can reject you based on your instrument).
SIZE
Most people past 5 feet in height need a full size (4/4) violin. Smaller adult students under 6 feet with shorter limbs have praised 7/8 violins, but they are hard to find. Children must be measured. The way music stores measure is to place your hand around the scroll of the violin. There should be a bend at the elbow. If not, the violin is too large. If there is too much bend, the violin is too small. There's also those handy plastic tools which are cool too. And then there's the fact that kids grow.
QUALITY
I recommend window shopping and trying out as many as you can and taking the one that feels most comfortable and has a sound you like. Visit music stores in other towns too, in case you live in a town of pretentious buyers more interested in boasting how much they paid--the po-dunk nowhere store may get you the same or better instrument with a considerably lower price tag (hundreds to thousands of dollars less).
BOWS
They come in a beginner kit for free. If you are upgrading, try out bows separately. Price is not necessarily an indicator of quality. Weight and personal taste figure in heavily.
BRAND NAMES
Nearly ALL violins are COPIES of the Antonius Stradivarius violin circa 1600. The real "Strads" are all owned by millionaires or museums and loaned to prominent violinists. Some have been lost, but don't believe ANYONE who says they can sell you one for less than $100K. Everyone knows someone who claims to have a "real, "undiscovered" or "lost" Stradivarius or a COPY (they're nearly all copies) of the Stradivarius in their basement in northern California but label forging was a common practice. The man only made about 65 or so (and a bunch were lost in shipwrecks) in his lifetime so how many people actually own a genuine article? People have been duped for centuries--even truly old violins are suspect. And he had student apprentices who tried to use his name on their work, all a very fascinating scholarly lesson for the buyer to be very, very wary.
Most violins are mass produced. There are prominent violin makers who have long waiting lists for hand made violins. Hand made violins are like wine and must age while being played. Prices easily range from $2000 to $10,000 or more. They sound awful until aged so avoid these until you have been playing for a while and have multiple violins available while any commissioned violin waits to age. I find these premature violins good for certain uses. If you are playing music in a genre such as bluegrass fiddling that considers squeaks more authentic and your still aging instrument squeaks, more power to ya! If you play darker sounding punk rock or Russian classical music and your instrument is still dark sounding while gradually "sweetening," it will be perfect!
Try them out. Sound quality depends on the fit of the violin to the student, the violin itself, the bow, the student, violin conditioning (constant tuning, climate, proper intonation, etc.), the genre of music, and a host of other factors such as accessories that wear out and are really inexpensive parts which are driven through the roof with the cost of shop labor.
I should add that if you are really ready to upgrade and have some serious funding at your disposal, ask musicians in the genre you want to play what kinds of intruments they recommend. We always have a laundry list of what we like and who we avoid. Ask more than one person because most of us find something and stick to it forever if we can. We aren't really shopaholics.
Good luck!
This page was originally created for my students, but has received so many hits from both inquiring minds on the Internet and people who have loved my performances, some of whom so much so that they are taking up the instrument.
My personal motto is to spread the joy of learning the violin (fiddle) and to debunk those nasty "violin is hard" myths. Nothing is hard if you fall passionately in love with it, work tirelessly, focus on the possibilities (classical and beyond, print and by ear, improvising and composing if your voice of choice is not already out there in the world), and enjoy the satisfaction of how far you have come.
If this was helpful, please feel free to drop me an email to [email protected] with "violin tips page" in the subject line.
I am a San Francisco based classical violinist, folk fiddler, composer, performer and teacher of hundreds of students, not a sales rep so I'm not one to bs about this stuff. It has to be able to perform, be taught on, resonate properly in tune, project sound correctly and survive some rough street and garden performance conditions (snow, mud, hail, swordfights, dancer kicks, falling stage hardware, wedding processions, church pews, wine spills, flying music stands, heat from stage lamps, etc.) for me to be impressed.
