What Kind of Violin Do You Have?

I've bought a couple violins on Ebay, but I'm thinking this time I'm hoping to try it first if possible. My Ebay violins weren't duds or anything, but they weren't as great as they said. My 5 string I have is from Ebay and it is constantly in need of repairs. It's sort of coming back to me, but I used to practice like an hour a day so it is not coming back to me to that degree. I guess sort of like a bicycle... I used to have only a bicycle for transportation and could easily ride 100 miles a week and sometimes 40 miles in just one day. If I hopped on a bicycle today, I'm certain I could still ride it, but I couldn't do 40 miles today.

An hour a day is great amount of practice time.maybe because I played for 9 years straight that whenever I pick up the violin it is second nature.

I played about 8 years in orchestras (3 years in middle school, 4 years in high school, and 1 year in college which is where the conductor and I hated each other and I quit). I can still play, but if you handed me some crazy movie score with 6 sharps, I'd be lost now. Or if I have to shift higher than third position, forget it. I know part of it is that I'm left with an evil violin. But a lot of it is just that I don't practice for at least an hour a day anymore. Now I rarely pick up my violin at all, and when I do, I just play some fiddle tunes on it and that's about it.

I'm not going to be able to afford a violin that nice unfortunately. I got my viola for $600 and even that was a stretch. It still wasn't the greatest thing ever, most of that price was probably because it was a small store where I bought it. I'm probably staying away from eBay though, I don't mind machine made, but I'm too afraid of buying one I haven't heard and especially there where I probably will not be able to return it. I do have one violin that's probably handmade. However, it's also an antique (over 100 years old) and I'm too afraid of restoring it. It will be for sale eventually I'm sure, so I don't want to ruin it by trying to restore it without knowing what I'm doing. Unfortunately, that's probably the only handmade violin I'm going to see. I do hate the tinny sound though, and try my hardest to find one without that. I think I'm not really going to "move up" so much though as just play for fun now. I used to play in orchestras, compete, etc. I thought I'd play in a studio orchestra eventually, but gave that up and now am totally out of practice. Basically, I just want to learn again so that I get good enough to play a few cool classical and movie pieces, and then just have fun. I'm almost done with college so I doubt they'll be many orchestra opportunities for me later anyway.

Now that I understand your circumstances, it does make sense. Try several out. You might find a little gem. So if you go to a shope or individual, try out all that they have in your price range. Sometimes also colleges where they teach students to make violins, if one is near, you may want to see for low prices there. Other possibility is renting. Good luck! And who knows, you may join an orchestra in the near future. They have them for all different levels around. :o)

That's an interesting idea, looking for schools that make violins... thanks! I will try to find some. I've rented before and I've never rented a good instrument it seems. The instrument I rented in college orchestra was what made me finally give up orchestra (the instructor insisted I was too big for a 14" viola and wanted me to rent a full size from her, which she insisted sounded much better, but it was a plasticy piece of junk).

I've seen a couple of those before... how do you like the sound so far? How long have you been played it?