I have been poking around looking for a good beginning viola. I was recommended the "Genial-1 Oil" violas from violinslover.com, but I stumbled across this instrument and I was wondering if anybody had any opinion of it.

Its from http://www.swstrings.com

http://www.swstrings.com/Store/Shopping.jsp?Category=Instruments&SubCategory=Viola&Group=111D

First of all, how tall are you? 16 1/2 inch is a rather large viola.

Oh, I hadn`t selected the size when I bookmarked the page. I am only about 5`6"/5`7". My guess is that I am more around a 15.5, but I really have no way of knowing unless I can get my hands on several sizes and see how they feel.

We had a Klaus Mueller etude in once. it was just a basic Chinese instrument with flaming. The Genial 1 would outplay it by miles. The deluxe would have to be very significantly better to be worth buying.

You`d probably manage a 16 inch but I wouldn`t o any bigger if I were you.

Liz