Well, being fairly new to ebay and all the internet acutions for violins, I`ve decided to post here asking all you violin lovers, "Whats in a good violin?". Seeing as how you cant actually play the insturment to test the sound, what should you look for? I know that "flaming" of the back of a violin is a good sign of good wood. I`ve also heard that when you look at the growth rings of the wood used for the violin, they should be very close together, showing that the wood used is old and matured.

Is there anything else?

And, when I DO go to a store and actually play the violin, what should I look for closely? I know that the sound quality is basically it, but how do I notice a crack? How do I identify a sound post crack.

Thanks to all who reply

Andrew

The experts on Maestronet say the flaming actually does not affect the tone at all, it`s just that cheap violins don`t use flamed wood because flamed wood costs more.


Close growth rings don`t mean the wood is old, just that it has grown slowly. There is a difference. Most ebay photos won`t be clear enough for you to tell.

The received wisdom is that you go for a close grained front but I have heard some good ones with quite wide grain too.

My advice would be for you to avoid buying a used violin on ebay (unless from a guaranteed source) unless you are prepared to spend ay least £200 on set up and repairs. We deal in violins for a living and we used to buy on ebay, but even with our knowledge we found that at least half the violins we bought had to go to our repairer. just two days ago we had an email from someone telling us that they had bought a seemingly good old German violin described as "ready to play" which did not even have a soundpost. The quoted repair bill was £150 and the view of the repairer was that the violin was not worth even the cost of repair. The buyer paid something like £155 for it. We hear this sort of thig all the time.

New violins are a much safer bet provided you stick to someone who knows what they are doing. There is one common trick and that is to sell a outfit type violin (such as a Primavera) and fail to mention the little detail that the bow and case are not included: the price you see is lower than anyone else`s on ebay and the vioin is new so you think "great, a bargain" and then you find the case and bow will cost you another £50 ...

There ARE good sellers on ebay of course (us for a start!) but i would certainly avoid anyone with a feedback of less than 99%.

lzi

Cool... your going to get a violin! :D I`d try and get one where the user has provided heaps of info on the violin... I myself have bought a VERY good quality violin... but I can`t remember who from! :P lol
Hmm.... what makes a good violin? One that is a very well known brand of violin is usually the best (to me).

Just don`t make the mistake of looking for a Stradivarius

Lzi

oh yes i`d also use izi`s info too. :D good advice izi

You`d think I would be able to type LIZ by now wouldn`t you ....

Liz

I`ve heard that Stringworks, Scott Cao, and Knilling make reasonable quality "adult student" instruments. Are there any other names I can use to search eBay?

Gliga