Hello

A friend of mine has decided, at the age of 26 that what has been missing in his life all these years is... violin lessons! It's completely out of character and he'll probably get some looks on his motorbike but I'm giving him all the encouragement and support I can to fulfil his new dream :-D

Thing is he has £120 to spend on a violin and is willing to pay extra for new strings etc. I recommended that he looked at the stentor student violins, new or second hand and changed the strings to some dominant with perhaps a hill 'e' string. However, this little bundle would only come to £70 or so with careful research and he insists he would like to get the best he can for the money he has to spend.

So.. can anyone recommend another make or brand within his price range or good shops or websites to try? I am pretty convinced on the strings as they are what I use, but if you have any other ideas there that would also be helpful as I'm no expert.

Thank you lovely violin people!
Penny xxx

For that budget, he'd be well off looking at Elidatrading.co.uk where he'll find some fiddles that will be reasonable for the money, and in my opinion, far superior to the stentor fiddles. The Genial will set him back 150 as an outfit, including bow and case, and there is also Elida's own range. If he can make the push to the gems, I would heartily recommend it.

As for dominants, it may be worth waiting to see what the fiddle sounds like first, before recommending a particular brand - the people at Elida will usually select the right strings for the fiddle.

Good luck for your friend, he'll have a whale of a time learning the violin!

Allan

- at the risk of being dead boring You'll get good value from Elida.

Dominant strings are a good starting point but they honestly don't suit every violin. Many cheap Chinese violins need toning down a bit with something like Pro-Arte or Corelli Crystal in order to get the best tone.

Liz