And now you need a violin, right?
After many years of teaching experience, I decided to go ahead and write a blog post to help beginner students who are about to start lessons, but have yet to purchase an instrument: buying a violin is a very big step, cause it could be an expensive investment, so better be prapared and well informed on what to spend money on. You found the right teacher, so now you need a violin, right? Here are the questions I get more often:
“which violin size do I need?”
“how much money should I spend on a violin?”
“where do I buy a violin?”
Fiy: your first violin doesn’t need to be perfect and it won’t sound great either, since it takes years to get a very good technique and to master the instrument, so the very first years the quality of the sound will probably depend more from your skills than from the instrument itself. However, it is very important to get the right instrument for you, because it will impact your learning curve and how much you practice.
Size
Violins come in different sizes: they can range from the smallest one (the 1/32) to the biggest one (4/4). Which one will you need? I usually suggest, if possible, to go to a music store and try the instrument in person, because that is the most accurate thing you can do. However, this is not always possible, as many small towns do not have a music shop in the proximity, therefore the next choice is an online purchase. Before buying a violin, you’ll need to have at least a general idea of which size to look for. The basic rule is to measure your left arm’s length first: extend your left arm straight with your left hand’s palm facing upwards, then measure from the base of your neck to the middle of your palm; how many inches/centimeters is it? Here’s an approximate chart that you can refer to:
size arm length age
1/32 Up to 13” (33cm) 1-3 years
1/16 14” (35.5cm) 2-4 years
1/10 15” (38cm) 3-5 years
1/8 16.5” (41.9cm) 4-6 years
1/4 17” (43cm) 5-7 years
2/4 (1/2) 19” (48.2cm) 7-8 years
3/4 20” (50.8cm) 9-11 years
4/4 23” (58.4cm) 12 to adult
Price
How much should you spend on your violin? Well, that’s really up to your wallet! However, is very important to start with a good quality string instrument, which usually are a little bit more expensive, but if the money is gonna refrain you from playing a violin at all, then you should go for the less expensive one and reconsider for the future the bigger purchase. If you’re an adult and can afford it, I would stay around 150/200$. In case of young children, it’s different: being a mom myself, I would personally avoid spending too much money for an instrument, especially at the beginning, when there’s no way to know if my son is fully decided whether or not going down this path. My tip is, if you have a young child starting lessons, do not spend more than 100$.
There are several violin brands on the market that can accomodate all budgets: they can start at 40$ for beginner violins, to 200/500$ for intermediate and 5000/8000$ for advanced, to finish with 10000$ for professional violins.
Shop
Where are you gonna buy your violin? As I mentioned earlier, the best thing to do would be to go in person in a music or violin shop (or pawn shop if you’re looking for a fiddle – see here to learn the difference between violin and fiddle), but I’m aware that this is not always possible; where I live in Hickory, there used to be only one violin shop selling very good string instruments for students, but the owner is retiring, so now we have to drive 40 minutes to get to the closest place. It becomes challenging for people who live in smaller towns or far away from big cities to try out violins in person, therefore the next choice is to order online. You can choose to buy the instrument from online shopping sites like Amazon, that offers a wide choice of almost every violin size, price range and quality: when purchasing, please remember to select the correct violin size, check if it comes with a kit (rosin, tuner, new set of strings, one extra bridge, shoulder rest) and make sure you can return it, just in case something is damaged. Same rules apply if you shop on Walmart, the delivery system offers lot of affordable options. If you’re not a big fan of these titans e-commerce, you can look to other online websites, like Fiddler Shop, Thomann, Guitar Center, Sam Ash, Shar Music: be also prepared to spend a little bit more on here. Another online platform you can shop is eBay, offering used items, but please be careful: eBay is not for those inexperienced in the articles being bid on, let alone string instruments. Violins are hard to judge by vision and even experts get fooled. On eBay, you will need to make sure that the seller is legitimate, offers return policies, gives accurate description of the instrument and sell at a fair price; also when you look at the photos, make sure they are detailed and complete. Why are violins on eBay to start with? Well, maybe a good number of them are being sold because owners don’t need them anymore, or some of them are being dumped because they don’t work well enough and have some type of damage: in this last case, you will need to bring them to a violin shop anyway and have them repaired, so you need to decide if the bargain is worth it, cause you may want to avoid bidding more than you can afford to lose. Last option for online shopping, is to buy directly from the instrument’s brand website (for example, if you like the Stentor like me as student violin, you can purchase it from the website).
You’re ready
Now that you have all the basic information, you’re ready to buy your violin! Belive me, it’s an exciting moment, whether it’s your first violin, or second, or third, or eightyseventh. If you’re going for the in-store experience, you’ll get to try many violins and see which one will be more comfortable on your body and go with the one that gives you the best feeling. If you’re going with the online purchase, it will be thrilling to wait for the package to arrive, and then find it on your doorstep and finally opening the case at home and get to meet your new best friend! It’s a special moment worth to be shared with your family and friends, and it will be a beautiful memory that will stay with you forever.
