How to Choose a Violin

So you have decided that you want to play the violin. Congratulations! You are probably thinking, “Now what?” I have no idea where to start. Where do I find a violin? How do I know what to look for? I don’t want to get ripped off and waste my time or money. 

Good news! I can help you with that. First of all, you want to buy or rent a violin that is of good enough quality to stay (mostly) consistently in tune, and to make a good sound when played by an experienced violinist. In short, I would think of it as being a good enough instrument for a professional violinist to play as their “second” violin at, let’s say, an outdoor wedding gig or for teaching young children (so that their primary instrument does not get damaged). 

Even if you have the funds, I see very little reason to spend more than $2000 (US dollars) on a violin if you are a beginner. That being said, you can buy or rent one for much, much less! If you are going the route of buying an instrument, I would say that the “sweet spot” for buying a full-size violin outfit (violin, bow, and case) is between $400 and $1500 (provided you are taking my suggestions in order not to get ripped off). Full-size violin outfits under $250 are generally going to come with a violin that is NOT playable if sold as new. (Fractional-sized violins are often slightly less expensive.) 

Yes, once in a blue moon, you may find an amazing deal, but I would make sure that those deals are being sold by a reputable string instrument company. I would personally recommend looking at Sharmusic.com’s Black Friday deals or their Dutch Auctions. As of this writing, I was not paid by them to say that, but if anyone reading this works for Shar and would like to offer me the ability to do affiliate marketing for them, I would not be opposed! 

Amazon is great for many things (I even subscribe to Amazon Prime), but NOT for buying a violin. You may find violins being sold through Amazon, but I would stay far away from these. I have had the negative experience of teaching some students who went ahead and bought a violin through Amazon before meeting with me as their teacher. I have been tuning violins for many, many years, but I was not able to tune some of these instruments even after spending 15 minutes trying because of the poor quality of the instrument and the strings. The pegs were not fitted into the pegbox correctly, so they did not stay in place, and some of the pegs would not turn. The strings used in these cheap instruments are often made of poor materials. 

I was even once told by a parent of a new student who bought one of these instruments, “But it was rated highly on Amazon!” I don’t remember how I replied to her at that moment, but in my head, I was saying, “You have to keep in mind that most of the people who are spending time rating these cheap violins are NOT professional string players. It does NOT mean that they or their children do not have the potential to be good string players someday, but at that point in their journey, they have not yet learned what to look for when purchasing a violin.” 

Please take my advice. Avoid future frustration for yourself, your teacher, and anyone listening to you. Spend at least $400 (for a full-size violin), or find a used violin that was originally valued at no less than $400, and have it checked out by a professional. If you don’t, you will waste so much more money trying to make it sound decent through extra “wasted” lessons when you could have progressed much more quickly. You may also end up having to “repair” a super cheap violin so that it is playable. This will cost you much more money as well, and it won’t make enough difference to justify the money spent. This doesn’t even include all of the valuable time you spent in frustration at trying to make a decent sound, as well as the anger or tears that may result in not purchasing a decent quality beginner violin.

You may be wondering about renting versus buying. If you are not sure if you will stick to playing for more than one year (and I would give yourself at least six months before throwing in the towel), then you should probably rent. If you are determined to stick it out no matter how difficult it may be at the beginning (and it does get easier to make a decent sound), then go ahead and buy the highest quality that you can afford within the $400-$1500 range. You can always find a place to resell it. I will cover the renting versus buying dilemma in more detail in another blog. 

So what do I recommend? If you live near a city, there are often music stores that sell or rent instruments and even have a damage/repair plan for a small extra fee. This comes in handy when you need a string replaced or any small repairs made. Before you visit one of these shops, ask a local string teacher if they recommend this shop or not. If so, ask which instruments the shop carries that he or she would recommend. Where I live, there is definitely one shop that I would recommend over the others as far as instrument quality. 

If you are able to take private in-person lessons (or even online lessons), I would recommend contacting your teacher and asking for recommendations before purchasing or renting an instrument. In some cases, especially if the violin is near the upper price point mentioned, you may be able to try several instruments on loan before purchasing one. If this is not the case, sometimes shops will even let you exchange an instrument for the difference in price, but make sure this is the case with your shop before you try this. Find out about any fees associated with this.

There are online string instrument companies that also let you try several instruments before purchasing. You will generally have to cover the shipping costs, and this may include shipping insurance. It is always nice to play your instrument for your teacher and/or other professional or advanced string players before purchasing. Even professionals gather friends and colleagues to listen to the difference in sound between their final choices. It is nice to have “another set of ears” far away from the instrument to hear what it sounds like from a distance. They can play different varieties of pieces and tell you if the sound projects well, how the higher pitches, middle pitches, or lower pitches sound, what type of tone color the instrument has, and even how easy or difficult it is to play on an instrument. 

If you don’t have access to any teachers or professionals, I have some recommendations based on my own teaching experience. (I am not being paid to give these recommendations.) The local violin shop in my area carries the Eastman brand of violins. I would not go with a model number in the “100’s,” but the “200’s” and beyond would probably be fine. (The higher the number in the hundreds’ place, the better the quality will be.)

In my next blog, I will discuss some online string companies that are reputable. In the meantime, check out this free guide for what to look for in buying or renting a beginner violin.

Thank you for reading, and happy practicing!