You can get a violin for £40...but is it worth it at all?

What Grade do they last up to?

Depends who its for. If its for yourself, then you may well be in for a big dissapointment tone wise as you are mature enough to know how good a violin can sound and beat yourself up over what will probably never sound like a good violin. Otherwise, maybe grade 3 before seriously thiking about upgrading, or at the very least, stick some better strings on it which may improve it a bit as the ones it will come with are probably just factory ones.

However...

If it is a chinese instrument, I advise you take it to a luthier, ask him to take it apart and sand the back and front till the wood goes 'ping', stick is back together, maybe re-shoot the fingerboard aswell then you may well have a decent instrument. My dads partner used to deal in violins/fiddles and when she came across one of these cheap violins, this is what she did and the sound improved dramatically.

This is true, but doing that sort of work is likely to cost about five times the price of the violin Seriously, set up work on cheap violins can be done, and a basic student set-up will only double the price of the violin at most, but removing the back and the belly does not come under the category of set-up work. My guess is that the lady concerned was experimenting to see what could be done. Commercially speaking it isn't remotely worth it.



Well, they're probably as good as anything you'd find in a school music cupboard, or better. Grade 3 perhaps?

Liz

I suppose it really depends on how serious you want to take the instrument and if you are able to spend any more money. If you want to learn seriously and can afford it don't buy something so cheap that you will regret it having to upgrade in a year or two.

My first violin was a stentor student I costing £70 and as a beginner it felt like an excellent violin as I knew no different but within 2 years I wanted a new violin as it just sounded like a tin can with strings attached. I think I made it to grade 3 on it.

It might also be an idea to buy a secondhand student instrument of better quality than some of these extremely cheap ones and therefore last you longer.

Thanks guys!

It wouldn't be for serious playing, just to learn the basics...

I'll have a think about it.

I'm baffled as to why anyone would think you can get a playable violin for as little as £40. Most of us have TV's and computers and cars so why do we want to economise so much with musical instruments? In fact we've probably all got our own computer and unless we got it second hand or it was given to us, must have spent at least £400 on it, an there's the printer, the inks and the broadband deal etc etc...

So why even consider spending £40 on a violin? Unless we're unbelievably poor and can barely afford to feed ourselves, have no TV, computer or car etc etc... in which case I'd say 'snap it up!' But otherwise - why not wait a few weeks, save up and get something decent? For £200 you can get something that makes a decent sound.

True, but she had someone close to her do the work for very little as he was old, liked the work and did it more as a hobby rather than for making money. They both did it really for pure enjoyment and the benefit was that they got a little money out of it. It doesnt take a rocket scientist, nor an expensive luthoer to take a fiddle apart, sand it down and put it back together and still end up with something better than you started out with. My dad did it with a cheap old violin we got from an auction. I phoned up a place in blackpool, they sent me some skin glue free of charge, we looked up ithe instructions and with patience and several g clamps, we had a playable violin afterwards.

Ah, such people are well worth knowing

Nope.

They suck.

They sound terrible. If you're gonna keep up with the violin, get something decent.

A month or so ago I bought a Hudson violin from Ebay - in fact from the online version of Cranes Music Store. It was 49 quid including bow and case. And it's blue (VERY blue - look at the picture on my profile!). All my comments relate to that brand: I can't speak for others.

It's not a Strad, but I'm very happy with it. I bought it mainly to play folk fiddle, so if it gets a pint of beer poured over it I won't weep too much.

Here are the main weaknesses (pretty much as Liz from Elida describes them). To give of its best:

- the bridge needs replacing and setting up
- the strings are cheesewires
- the bow is weak and needs rehairing

Yes, the sound is a bit boxy, and changing all the above would help. But so far I haven't bothered with any of them so far because it's perfectly playable as it is. As Liz says, the cost of the above work would be more than the cost of the instrument. And a lot of the sound depends on the player. (By the way, I'm not completely undiscerning: my viola is a beauty, and was made for me!)

I wasn't planning to do any grades or anything, but it would be perfectly adequate up to grade 3. I played it with my string quartet the other day, and it was fine: a bit weedy sounding at first, but as I adjusted I was able to get quite a strong singing tone from it. I shall be interested to see if the tone develops at all: early signs are that with consistent playing it may - but I have no exaggerated hopes!

Before I bought it, I tried a whole lot of cheap fiddles in music shops. The cheapest one I would have considered was £200, and honestly this Hudson is as good as anything I tried under that price.

So here are the strengths:

- it's a violin
- it's a fab colour (it makes me happy just to look at it!)
- it's perfectly playable
- you're getting a violin outfit for less than the price of the case!

Violinia asks
Well, I'm not going to play in public (except maybe some folk fiddle). It's just for fun. I wasn't sure how much use I'd get from it. I needed it to help my grandson who I teach - me playing along with him on viola was getting confusing for him. And lastly, I'm poor fiscally challenged at present.

Quincy says
I don't think that is fair (or even English!). They are made to a price. At that price they are fantastically good value for money. I might try and upload a sound file later and you can all sneer...

So in summary, if your choice is to buy a fifty quid violin or not buy one at all, I'd recommend the Hudson. I've already had much more than fifty quid's worth of fun out of it. If you can stretch to one of Elida's models, or any violin that has been been properly set up, then obviously that would give you an instant improvement.

But don't dismiss them. If a fifty quid violin infects someone with the violin habit, then that can only be a good thing in my book.

join the club!!

OK - get your best sneers on...

Here is a few bars of Westering Home on a fifty quid violin. (Recorded without reverb in my 8'x10' studio on an Edirol R-09).

Be gentle...

EDIT:

Ah. Well that didn't work. Stick with me.

Not all chinese instruments are bad. My first violin was a chinese one which I bought for SGD$125. It lasted me till last year when my mum promised me a new violin as a birthday gift. I was around Grade2-3 standard then so I think cheap violins will only last you till then because as you advance, you will demand a better sound from your violin. My current violin which my parents bought cost over $1k but the difference is sound is very very obvious. My new violin was so brilliant when I first played it and I experienced one of those moments where you kinda feel everything's right in this world! ( Very cheesy I know!) It is a chinese violin though. On that note, I would disagree saying that ALL chinese instruments are bad. I tried Czech ones before deciding on this current one. Some of the chinese violins are smaller because it's said that it was made for Asian hands lol which is true, my old chinese violin is slightly bigger than my current one. The more expensive chinese ones are quite comparable to European ones. It's just the cheap ones that we gag at.

The general advise is to be careful with violins bought from eBay. However, I have been very impressed with the 3 chinese violins I have purchased thus far, ranging from £40 for a beautiful handmade 1/4 violin that is miles better than the top-notch Stentor models, to a Bird's eye full size violin that cost £150 (costs for both incl. p&p, case and bow). You can't expect them to have the mature richness of an old violin but for what you pay they're certainly well worth the money spent and will only improve with playing and age. Beware - there are sharks out there!! The reputable companies have sold violins in the thousands so aim for those.

OK - get your best sneers on...

Here (my second attempt!) is a few bars of Westering Home on a fifty quid violin. (Recorded without reverb in my 8'x10' studio on an Edirol R-09).

Be gentle...

Sounds fine to me!

Your playing sounds nice but try and convince me that a child won't sound better on a Stentor 2 that's had a bit of work done on it (better bridge, nice strings) than a Stentor 1. A decent bow makes a lot of difference too.

Flattery will get you everywhere!

I won't try Violinia: I am certain you are right. This is just as it came out of the box - and even with work, I wouldn't want my grade 3 pupil to have one: a bad instrument could so easily put him off.
Yes. The bow is pretty bad I admit!

Please don't misunderstand: I'm not promoting this kind of fiddle as the solution to anyone's problems. As I said, one of Liz's Gligas would be far nicer. I just wanted to say that they are not absolutely useless: they do have a purpose. Just saying "they suck" is too simplistic.

Because, I'm 13 years old, it would be for fun, not serious, it's only to learn on, and I don't have a job - it would be pocket money.