Beginner Violin

[spartaman64]

Ive been looking at beginner violins and i am deciding between these two

https://www.amazon.com/Stentor-1400A2-4-Student-Violin-outfit/dp/B074W19TH2/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1507871333&sr=8-1&keywords=Stentor+Student+I

https://www.amazon.com/Cecilio-CVN-500-Solidwood-DAddario-Prelude/dp/B00EOYK2FQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507871473&sr=8-1&keywords=Cecilio+CVN-500

or If there is some other violin that you would suggest instead in around the price range please suggest it and if you think there is a good reason to pay more for another violin i might be able to be persuaded.

has to be on amazon because i have a giftcard

[Bouzoo]

I am pretty sure you are the first person ever to ask this question on this forum. I'd recommending aksing somewhere else, I can't see people understanding violins in here. 

[spartaman64]

1 minute ago, Bouzoo said:

I am pretty sure you are the first person ever to ask this question on this forum. I'd recommending aksing somewhere else, I can't see people understanding violins in here. 

theres a pretty diverse group of people here lol i got advice about badminton racquets and stuff like that before

[pinksnowmanshandle]

I would suggest looking at local pawn shops and music shops first.

 

Only buy violins online unless you know what you're paying for.

Ebay can be a great source if you know what to look for. Some key things are the wood it's made out of.

Spruce top, maple back.

 

Often the sound peg will be shipped either not set or not even in the instrument, prices for getting the sound peg fitted into the instrument is going to vary greatly.

The bridge is sometimes also not set and again prices will vary.

 

For a beginner, living with a bow that is very likely to be fiberglass is fine, I've only really used real wood bows, I'm sure I've used cheaper wood bows or possibly fiberglass at one point.

 

Keeping enough rosin on your bow is important, too much doesn't hurt but be sure to clean it if especially if there's a lot of dust from the rosin.

 

On cheaper violins, the strings suck ass. As soon as you can getting a better set is ideal. Though it's not like you need to spring for like Thomastik Infeld strings, though the dominant series is a very good string. Generally synthetic cores are better.

[pinksnowmanshandle]

5 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

I am pretty sure you are the first person ever to ask this question on this forum. I'd recommending aksing somewhere else, I can't see people understanding violins in here. 

Try me bitch

I played from grades 6-10. 

I stopped mid way through grade 10 as I broke my ankle and needed to take a graduation requirement. 

I didn't re-enroll for last year, junior year. However I want blame not re-enrolling in orchestra on me not seeing a point in continuing to going to school. It's a cheap cop-out to why I did drop out but I suppose if funding for orchestra was threatened I could argue that.

My boyfriend plays Baritone Horn. I've never asked for how long but I presume he probably started around the same grade lol.

[Bouzoo]

7 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

theres a pretty diverse group of people here lol i got advice about badminton racquets and stuff like that before

There is indeed. I know we have more thn few musicians, but I haven't seen a single musician who plays classical instruments such as violin. I'm pretty sure there are not a lot of them, and I still reckon you should ask somewhere else as well, just for more opinions. 

[spartaman64]

6 minutes ago, wcreek said:

I would suggest looking at local pawn shops and music shops first.

 

Only buy violins online unless you know what you're paying for.

Ebay can be a great source if you know what to look for. Some key things are the wood it's made out of.

Spruce top, maple back.

 

Often the sound peg will be shipped either not set or not even in the instrument, prices for getting the sound peg fitted into the instrument is going to vary greatly.

The bridge is sometimes also not set and again prices will vary.

 

For a beginner, living with a bow that is very likely to be fiberglass is fine, I've only ever really used real wood bows.

 

Keeping enough rosin on your bow is important, too much doesn't hurt but be sure to clean it if especially if there's a lot of dust from the rosin.

 

On cheaper violins, the strings suck ass. As soon as you can getting a better set is ideal. Though it's not like you need to spring for like Thomastik Infeld strings, though the dominant series is a very good string. Generally synthetic cores are better.

yep im not too concerned about the bow and strings right now as I can buy better ones later im mainly focused on the violin itself. i forgot to mention but im doing this because i got a 159 dollar amazon gift card in a raffle so it has to be something on amazon

[pinksnowmanshandle]

Just now, spartaman64 said:

yep im not too concerned about the bow and strings right now as I can buy better ones later im mainly focused on the violin itself. i forgot to mention but im doing this because i got a 159 dollar amazon gift card in a raffle so it has to be something on amazon

Ah right on.

[spartaman64]

1 minute ago, Bouzoo said:

There is indeed. I know we have more thn few musicians, but I haven't seen a single musician who plays classical instruments such as violin. I'm pretty sure there are not a lot of them, and I still reckon you should ask somewhere else as well, just for more opinions. 

really? i would expect violin players to be pretty common but ill ask somewhere else as well i guess

[pinksnowmanshandle]

For mass produced violins, yamaha is alright source but I'm not seeing a lot of violins in your price range.

Now out of what you listed, I would probably go with the Cecilo CVN-500 especially because the tailpiece is not an alloy tailpiece. Which for a beginner is fine but later on when you might be interested in taking the fine tuners on G,D,A  off, is when a wood tailpiece would be better. Also it looks like the CVN-500 isn't using lacquer as heavily as that first one which at least I'm not a super huge fan of and probably has a thinner finish which is most important.

 

Also, for either one getting the pegs replaced with something better from a quality standpoint might be a good idea since realistically pegs aren't going to affect too much about the instrument other than the looks, feel of tuning and how likely the peg would be to keep tension on the string. 

[pinksnowmanshandle]

Otherwise I would give this one a look over.
https://www.amazon.com/Mendini-92D-1-Piece-Shoulder-Strings/dp/B002026DLG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1507874630&sr=8-4&keywords=Yamaha+violin

Now for me at least, I prefer a solid back. (That means that two pieces aren't glued together to form one piece).

My memory isn't serving me very well but I don't remember the difference between a solid back and two piece back having too much of an effect on the sound the instrument is able to produce. I can't even remember if my old instrument had a two piece back or a solid back. Kinda regret selling it, it was such a pretty instrument.

[pinksnowmanshandle]

Heads up though, at least reading the reviews of the one I suggested, it might be a good idea to either have the pegs fitted to the box or possibly look into getting a new set of pegs fitted for it.

[pinksnowmanshandle]

25 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

really? i would expect violin players to be pretty common but ill ask somewhere else as well i guess

Oh god yeah, they're a dime a dozen. That's why I really wished I would've taken up cello or viola as I had wanted to but my mom played violin and we had a few violins so it was just easier from that standpoint.

[Hiitchy]

I played the violin for a very very short while but couldn't manage because my hands would do this awkward thing where I'd make the violin squeak so I gave up. Now I'll never live up to being Lindsay Sterling...

 

Anywho, there's tons of musicians on the forum. I'd like to find someone who plays the piano so they can recommend what to watch on YouTube in terms of theory, and even help me pick out a midi keyboard. I do have an actual piano, but can't move anything into my room since it's small as balls.

[it_dont_work]

30 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

 

Both are near identical really and will make and average sounding student instrument, probably wont hold tune amazingly. May as well spend the money here and get something meh sounding to begin learning on, not always the best to spend 250-300 for a decent second hand student instrument from Yamaha or similar and not know if it needs fixing or if your even going to keep playing.

 

Both my saxophones are probably the most cherished items I own, even though one of them is cheapish Taiwanese one (even tho that was still more than most peoples pc's)

 

The lower quality of those violins will make it a little more difficult to play, but should be fine to learn on for a while if you get some lessons, pretty dam hard to teach yourself violin

 

[pinksnowmanshandle]

2 minutes ago, Hiitchy said:

I played the violin for a very very short while but couldn't manage because my hands would do this awkward thing where I'd make the violin squeak so I gave up. Now I'll never live up to being Lindsay Sterling...

 

Anywho, there's tons of musicians on the forum. I'd like to find someone who plays the piano so they can recommend what to watch on YouTube in terms of theory, and even help me pick out a midi keyboard. I do have an actual piano, but can't move anything into my room since it's small as balls.

so many views but I love this video lol

 

[Hiitchy]

Just now, wcreek said:

so many views but I love this video lol

 

LOL, I give up.... I want to learn piano but not like this!!!

[spartaman64]

im also interested in learning how to play the carillon but the only teacher at my university only takes 5 students maybe ill get it next year lol

[it_dont_work]

Just now, spartaman64 said:

im also interested in learning how to play the carillon but the only teacher at my university only takes 5 students maybe ill get it next year lol

lol now that is fucking hard.

 

I started learning a didgeridoo recently thats been really good

[pinksnowmanshandle]

10 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

I'm a baroque trained guitarist who started on clarinet and the snare drum.  I can also play older guitars used for baroque.  I can play upright bass and standard bass too.  I'm also a tenor.  Did I just break the forum?

Clearly. 

Neat though.

[pinksnowmanshandle]

1 minute ago, valdyrgramr said:

I also suggested two violins to the op in an edit.   

Yeah lol

Your edit was kinda saying what I was saying earlier. Neglected the idea of a rental, which for a beginner is actually a really good idea in case you fall out of love with the instrument and then you're not as financially invested into a piece of junk. Though OP did say he won a $160 Amazon gift card or something so.

 

[FuzzyLogic]

I got started out on one of the mass-produced violins, but I thought the sound from it was pretty muffled. So two years later, we go and buy an old violin. I mean old as in made after 1890, but before 1930. It was made somewhere in Eastern Europe and I still use it today.

 

If you need tips... Play like the professionals and be expressive, use light fingers, be careful about not letting your bow touch strings other than the one you're playing on, and don't be afraid to go slow to perfect intonation.

[pinksnowmanshandle]

7 hours ago, valdyrgramr said:

Problem with cheaper violins, even student ones is that you're going to get annoyed with tone and sound limitations.  It's not really ideal for a starter musician as that limits creativity and desire to continue.  I started on one of those crappy Squires, and had to replace the stock pickups with a humbucker because the tone on a cheap guitar is horrid.  I play an Ibanez RG now.  For them, I'd rent the Kohr K500 and then invest in it.

Oh yeah for sure, I've had some experience with how those cheaper ones tend to sound. 

 

Now fixing a few things about the one I recommended, it's within the realm of possibility for it to sound decent for a mass produced instrument.

 

We had a Washburn Mandolin that thing was interesting to say the least lol. Before that we had something worse, I forget what it was. But the Washburn was good.

 

[spartaman64]

i wanted to go to a music store to try out some violins but they only have 5 violins and the cheapest one is 3000 dollars like wtf