3/4 Violin Set For Beginners - Hand Carved Acoustic Violins Set - Fiddle Solidwood Kit with Hard Case, Two Bows, Tuner, Rosin, Shoulder Rest, Extra Strings, Lesson Book

This violin is fantastic for its cost. I will try to briefly touch on the important things. For background, this purchase was for my five year old son, who is just starting out. I am not a violinist, but have a lifelong history of playing various instruments and can play the violin a little bit.First, build quality. Like most production instruments, this violin is overbuilt. What that means is it is sturdy and can take a little bit of abuse. What that also means is it will not resonate as much as a high end or custom built instrument. For the target audience here, robust over sound projection is preferred. It is a beautiful instrument aesthetically with a good finish. Remember, kids drop things. A lot. These are for kids, so this build quality hits the target.Next, sound quality. It is loud and clear. Out of the box it has decent intonation. It projects a nice sound (when played correctly). An important thing to consider, it is a 1/4 size. ALL 1/4 size violins lack that full vibrant sound. I will not penalize it for being what it is and neither should you. As a comparison, my son started with a rental. MSRP on the rental was ten times the cost of this one. This one sounds better. The rental had very old, dull strings that needed replacement. Changing them probably would have helped tremendously, but that’s typical of how rentals come—beat up, abused and neglected. I feel like this instrument, being a 1/4 size, is aimed at the youth who would otherwise consider renting. This is better than renting. It’s paid for in about four months worth of a rental and sounds better than most rentals you will likely be issued.Finally, accessories. The case is nice. The bows are nice. The tuner is superb. It comes with extra strings, which I have not used, but I assume they are probably the same as what came installed, so likely perfectly adequate. The shoulder rest is complete trash. Don’t bother. File it in the trash can where it belongs along with the rosin that may not actually be rosin but resembles something more like plastic. It’s no big deal, pick up a good quality shoulder rest and rosin before you get started. The way I see it, for the price, those accessories were thrown in as a bonus anyway and the quality of the case, bows, and tuner are a great bonus. The instructional book looks good from thumbing through it, but we haven’t really gotten into it as my son has been playing the music issued to him by his teacher.I definitely recommend this violin. Just remember, 1/4 size violins sound like 1/4 size violins. We deal with them because our kids’ arms and hands are small. We take their limitations that result from that size decrease. If your kid shows any interest, this is a great way to start. My five year old has longer arms than most of his peers, so this is probably more for 6-8 year olds. Most 4-5 year olds probably fit a 1/8 size better, but do your research or have your child fitted to be sure.Hope this is helpful.

If you are a professional violinist, this violin is not for you. If you are a violin teacher with an elite mentality, then NO VIOLIN FOR YOU!To my semi-trained ear this is a good sounding instrument. There are several reviews on YouTube from actual violinists who say this is a great beginner violin. If you want to try out playing a violin without having to rent one, this is a great choice.I've never played the violin, but I do play other instruments and I can read music, so this isn't exactly starting at zero for me. However, I was able to rosin the heck out of the bow and get the violin tuned using the included tuner. I got some fairly nice sounds (again, to my ear) out of it. I can tell when a note is flat or sharp and it takes a bit of fiddling around (pun intended) with the pegs and fine-tuners to get this thing into tune. You tune one string and then that will throw another one out of tune, ad infinitum. But eventually I found that the best way to tune this is to turn all the fine tuners to the middle of the screw and then use the pegs to get close (within +/- 15 cycles) of the note you're tuning. Once you get that done with the pegs, then go back and use the fine-tuners to get it as close to the note as possible. You could also do it by ear if you have a nicely-tuned piano if you have the musical background for it. I don't have a piano, so I trusted the tuner. And the GDAE strings sounded close to the violin tutorial I found on YouTube, so I know the tuner works and is useful.Once I started playing I was able to get some clear and very resonant sounds from the violin, with the help of a nice tutorial on YouTube, I also discovered what too much rosin looks like. Like I said, I rosined the heck out of it and spent a fair amount of time wiping the fine rosin dust off of the violin. Then I loosened the bow very slightly and rubbed the back side of the bow lightly with my fingers until all of the small rosin clouds disappeared. So, I recommend starting off with maybe 10-15 swipes along the included new rosin then test and add more if necessary. Also, rosin dust will make you sneeze and leave you with sticky-fingers.I've always wanted to learn to play a stringed instrument, but never really looked into it seriously. I have several friends who play professionally and I learned from them that good violins (I mean really, really, really GOOD violins) can run into the 6 figure range, so I never pursued it seriously.For me it will likely be just a hobby, so for less than a C-note (pun intended) I can try out playing the violin. It may not be the best, but look at it this way: If I go to the store to pick up a gallon of milk and bring it back home, whether I drive there in a 1972 VW Bug or a brand new top-of-the-line Jaguar, the job gets done and the milk tastes the same either way. People may sneer at you for driving a "clunker", but that's their problem, not yours.