I have a 2001 Samuel Shen Wide Body and am trying to find some place to sell it. Does anyone know of a reputable shop or web site where I could put it up for sale? Also, what seems to be a fair price? It is in near perfect condition and was played a lot.

Thanks,
Jacob Hawkins

What`s the model number? (not the serial number, I mean SA100 SA300 etc)

If you`re trading up to a better instrument then by far the best way to sell is to trade it in with the shop you are buying from. Otherwise the answer rather depends on the value which is why I asked for the model number. Cheap instruments go well on ebay, good instruments go best on commission in a specialist shop.

Liz

It is a SA1000 viola. The shop where I bought it wants to give me $1600 for $3300 worth of equiptment. I think that that is way too low considering that it is in terrific condition and violas only get better with age.

Assuming you`re not trading it in, that`s probably not unreasonable: look at it like this. The shop could easily get another new one from the wholesaler, and the new one would sell for a much higher price than a used instrument and cost the shop, frankly, not all that much more than they are offering for yours.

I can`t find an SA1000 anywhere but elderly.com have an sv1000 violin at $1725, and that is on consignment which means elderly will get probably 30% of that price leaving just over $1200 for the seller. Violas are more expensive of course but not THAT much more expensive.

You could try ebay but I`d rate your chances of getting more than $500 for it there as closely approximating to zero. It has the huge disadvantage of being Chinese.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings! You don`t say where you bought this viola from but it sounds as if it was a shop which used a very high mark up. Selling instruments from such shops is always going to be a problem because you as a private seller can never hope to recoup even a fraction of the value originally added to the instrument by the fact that it came from a respected violin shop

Liz

That`s rather depressing...I`m glad I`m not planning on selling my Shen .

I have to say though, that I still really like it. If it has a major fault (for an instrument in it`s price range) I couldn`t say what it is.

And you were right Liz...although I`m not giving up on my violin...I think I like the sound of the viola better...heh...it give me the chills when I`m having a good day and play it well...

BTW...are all Chinese instruments at a resale disadvantage? Or only these beginner and step-up instruments? I looked up Samuel Shen and they are American-based which I understand means that the quality control is good...

O no, the basic models hold their price really well, provided you don`t pay through the nose for them in the first place. I have even seen used bottom end violins sell for more than you can get them new!

The trouble is selling anything Chinese that is above beginner level. At least over here. Perhaps it is very different in the US, but on the secondhand market i would doubt it.

As far as ebay is concerned, at least over here, if it`s Romanian or Czech or German, it sells. If it`s French it sells easily. If it`s Italian people will pay silly money.

The other problem you`re up against as far as Chinese instruments are concerned is that there are an awful lot of them, they get better literally every year, and they all look pretty much the same within the same price range. How do you convince someone that your highly flamed Shen SV1000 is significantly better than the highly flamed new junk that sells on ebay for $100 including a nice case and two bows? What`s the difference? How are you going to convince someone that the difference is significant?

Liz

...I see your point...

...and I have NO idea...I suppose you`re really plagued by these things...as a seller...

I haven`t yet worked out any way of convincing someone that one highly flamed Chinese violin is better than another, that`s why we can`t sell highly flamed Chinese violins, even good ones. It`s a pity.

Liz