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Common Problems With Cheap Violins
In case you’re the parent of a younger child who’s thinking about learning to play the violin or a grown-up beginner, you’re going to need to rent an instrument or buy a starter violin. For some parents or grownup beginners, buying an instrument is vital, so they go online. Once there, they’re going to search out quite a lot of cheap violin outfits on Amazon, eBay, and other online retailers – they usually may be tempted to buy one among these cheap violins; after all, what if the student decides to give up if he has problems with cheaper violins?
However, as the saying goes, “Caveat emptor” or “to the buyer, beware.” Learning to play the violin goes to take lots of practice and persistence. Shopping for inexpensive violins is only going to make the training process tougher and more irritating. The end result? Many college students are going to resolve to throw in the towel.
While an excellent violin isn’t cheap, it’s necessary to keep in mind that a high-quality instrument is an investment, and, over the years, it is going to pay you back by playing music and the pleasure that comes with playing it.
For beginners, specifically, shelling out a thousand dollars for a brand-new violin might look like a giant commitment. In case you just began taking violin classes and haven’t yet decided if it is the instrument for you yet, the cheaper violins could seem more cost-effective. However, there are some common problems with cheaper violins to be careful of.
Price isn’t everything, in fact, and just because a violin is expensive doesn’t imply it’s of good sound quality and playability. So how will you know you are getting the very best quality for your money? Well, there are some things to keep an eye out for whenever you start the violin-buying process. Listed here are our suggestions for choosing your first violin.
Look Beyond the Violin Itself
When shopping for a violin at a violin shop, additionally, you will need to consider violin outfits. Violin outfits are sets including the instrument itself, a violin bow, and a violin case. In case you’re undecided about your preferences for each individual component of the outfit, buying them together can save you cash and be a better method to acquire the mandatory materials.
Student and beginner violin outfits are quite common in music shops, which makes it easy for burgeoning musicians to assemble all the tools they need to begin their musical careers. As you progress in your musical journey, you’ll develop your personal preferences for bow strength, violin strings, and instrument brand. When you reach this level and are searching for better violin cases and equipment that fit your playing style, buying items individually, rather than in an outfit, might turn into a better selection for you.
From Instrument to Case
What do you have to look for in a beginner violin to find out whether or not it’s a high-quality instrument? There are 4 major differences between cheap violins and quality-made instruments:
Quality of the wood and features: Woods used in good violin making are spruce and maple, and ebony for the fingerboard. If inferior components are used to make the violin, the sound (sounds pretty good?), structural integrity, and playability can be compromised. The wood could be prone to warping, cracking, and going out of tune.
Quality of the setup: Correct bridge positioning between the inside F hole notches, fingerboard shape and curve, tailpiece and fine tuner adjustments, correctly fitted pegs, and soundpost placement are among the details a craftsperson follows after they set up a brand new violin.
Quality of the case: The first technique of protecting a violin is its case. A case needs to be made from solid materials such as wood or carbon fiber with a handle that’s solidly attached. Cheap violin cases, similar to cloth-based cases, are leaky and provide little or no protection. An excellent case should have a way to secure the bow in order that it doesn’t touch the violin when the case is closed.
Quality of the bow: A violin bow has a big influence on the quality of sound and ease of bowing when playing the instrument. The hair needs to be uniform in length, without lots of crossed hairs inside the ribbon. Be sure the tip isn’t cracked and that the “button” turns easily, permitting the hair to tighten and loosen as needed.
The instrument, the Violin Itself
As you can think, the instrument is essentially the most complicated part of this complete endeavor, and lots can go wrong.
Step one is to ensure the “setup” is “up” on the new instrument. Check that the bridge is positioned correctly between the inside F-hole notches and held in place by the instrument’s strings. Then, look inside the F hole to ensure the soundpost which seems like a small wood dowel rod is standing upright between the top and back plates.
Ensure that the bridge isn’t too thick, has string grooves notched into the top, and correctly fits the face of the instrument. If any of this isn’t true, you are looking at a big cost for bridge adjustment or replacement!
On top of the instrument, examine the nut piece between the neck and peg box to ensure there aren’t any sharp edges. This might cause danger or discomfort while playing.
Look next on the tuning pegs. Look carefully at the hole that’s drilled in the peg and just be sure you don’t see white wood. In case you do, the tuning pegs are produced from a softer wood which can likely deform and turn nearly unusable over the course of a few months (ideally, good quality pegs on a beginner violin instrument are made from ebony; that is the case with the aforementioned Hoffmann instruments).
Be sure the pegs are making their way all through the pegbox. You shouldn’t see a deep recession at the skinny end of every peg.
The impulse to purchase the low-quality inexpensive violin you could find is understandable: in spite of everything, who knows if a brand new violinist is going to keep it up? However, one way or another, shopping for the cheapest violin will cost you. Whereas it can save you cash upfront by shopping for a Violin Shaped Object, having to address the most important issues these instruments usually have will require the work of an educated professional.
It could easily cost more than the worth of the instrument itself just to make it playable at all, to say nothing of truly sounding good.
Briefly, while they may be cheap, VSOs are in the end a waste of money. For many potential musicians, VSOs are destined to be your first and only instrument purchase, not because they’re going to last the player for life but because they’ll make them wish to give up.
When somebody is simply beginning to play the violin, they usually don’t have a great deal of background information on how the instrument works, and are unlikely to have the ability to point to issues with an instrument when it is not up to the job. As an alternative, they assume it is simply the fault of their playing, that they are “not cut out for music”.
It should not be that way, and it doesn’t have to be. Music should deliver pleasure to your life, not frustration. If you choose your first instrument carefully, that pleasure quickly turns into much more likely.
Problems with Cheaper Violins
Conclusion
If inspiring your youngster to play an instrument is your objective, investing in a properly made and fitted violin will give them the perfect chance for a successful and rewarding learning experience. The same goes for the grown-up beginner.
Shopping for your first violin could be a bit overwhelming in case you don’t know what you’re searching for, and violin outfits can ease some of that burden. However, rentals are additionally a good choice for beginners who wish to try an instrument before they purchase it.
The only biggest question is, would this violin be appropriate for a beginner? Or anyone else for that matter.
The simple answer is no. Playing any instrument goes to take some practice and patience, a violin of this quality will make the task a lot harder, and can often lead to giving in. It makes no sense at all to purchase something that simply isn’t a match for purpose and that has simply been made to hit the lowest price level it can.
In case you have decided to take up the violin, or you might be eager to get back into playing, then purchase or rent a setup, high-quality violin that can assist and encourage you to learn to play.
