Hello. I`m a college student, finally pursueing the violin (after years of loving them, I`ve finally decided to learn). My problem is this: I`m working on a limited budget (no more that $125 to get set up), and there are alot of options out there. I don`t necessarily need a new violin, just something decent, something good to learn on, and that`ll do well for the next few years (until I`ve surpassed Bill Gates monetary wise and can afford a nicer one) What should I look for? Where should I look? I live in California, US. Thanks!

On the recommendation of my teacher and after researching on my own, I decided on a Cremona SV-175. They sell on Ebay for $87 to $129 at on-line retailers. I couldn`t find anyone with a bad word to say about the mid-level student Cremonas, (SV-175 and up) that they were a nice quality student violin with surprisingly nice sound for the price and were designed with students getting started in mind. The lower-level Cremonas like the SV-50 do not use the higher quality wood, but anything from the SV-175 and up seems regarded as a good place to start. If you`re on a rock-bottom budget, Ebay has the cheapest price and new ones sell regularly there. But if you have $129 to spend, it`s a better investment to buy from
http://www.folkofthewood.com
because they have a wonderful trade-up policy. When you are ready for a better level violin, they will credit your full purchase price of your violin towards the next one. So lets say you buy a $129 violin now, you`ll get $129 off the price of your next violin once you know what you want to get! :-)

Thanks for that info, Folk of the Woods looks like a good shop.
Has anyone else had experience with them? Or with the Cremona SV-175? Or with the Siegler fiberglass bow? Would I be better off purchasing a higher quality, used violin somewhere?
Thanks once again.