I'm thinking about buying a cheap violin. I'm a multi-instrument, most proficient at guitar and saxophone, mediocre at drums, bass, and piano, and with minimal skill on the flute. I'm looking for something just to play with, maybe record some demo-quality stuff just for fun, but will probably never use the violin live. I don't want to spend a lot of money at all (to leave more for more instruments ), so I'm looking at the real cheap ones they have on amazon, like this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007KPI2S/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=A3C1OYEM4FMOSU&v=glance

I obviously don't expect a great instrument for that price, but I'm trying to figure out if it would be good enough for my purposes... so my question to those of you who know a thing or two about these things, is what specifically will this violin do poorly that others won't? Will it not stay in tune? Is the bow likely to break? Or is it just cheap wood and the resulting tonal inadequacies that come with it?

In the event that I love playing and it becomes something I take more seriously, I'm looking for something now I won't feel bad about not using it after I upgrade, as opposed to buying something half decent now.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Weeell, it's sometimes hard to tell by the price; I think in general the cheaper violins don't produce as nice a tone as the ones you can get for a higher price, but then, there are exceptions-- I think it depends on the violin itself a bit more than the price. Maybe you could do a little research on the maker or find out more about the violin. Also, a lot of the quality of the instrument on the whole has to do with the pegs, strings, etc. It might be better to purchase a violin from a music store, where the employees might be able to give you recommendations for the right instrument or strings... that is if you are concerned about the quality. I got my first violin from a music store for around $400, and played wonderful even though it was a bit on the cheap side. But if you aren't that concerned about the tonal qualities, etc., probably you could go for it. Just be aware that every violin is different, and you never can really tell from a photo what the quality of the violin will be until you've had and played it for a while. Hope this helped, and gooood luck!

I agree with strathspey. It's very hard to tell the quality of a violin by it's price. When i started i was renting a violin for $16/month,was a $150 violin, and my buddy bought a $400 violin and my cheap violin has better sound tone then his $400 one. But this, again, isnt always the case. You can usually expect more out of higher price, brand name violins, where you get more of a random lot when it comes to cheap violins.

If you have a local music store, you can also try out their used violins. They usually have a better price/quality ratio in my experience, though I've never worked with sub $100 violins.