VIOLIN BUYING GUIDE
Our Violin buying guide will help you make the right choice!
Choosing your first violin can be confusing for the first time player. If you want to truly fall in love with playing the violin, you have to make sure it’s the right one for you. But with hundreds of different violins on the market and so many tiny variables which can impact greatly on your playing experience, how do you make the right choice, especially when you’re a novice?
We’ve prepared this violin buying guide to help outline a few of the things you need to consider. At Seltaeb Music we are violin experts and we can help you make the choice thats right for you.
The timber used for the construction of the violin is very important. Avoid cheap violins with poor quality cheap timbers. Axiom Beginner Series Violins all use quality flamed maple tonewoods. The timbers used are selected to have straight grains and good resonant qualities
Many cheap violins use poor quality wooden pegs, usually made of low grade timbers. Violin pegs need to be made of EBONY to ensure smooth tuning. All Axiom Violins feature Ebony Pegs. Ebony pegs fit firmly into the scroll and do not warp or swell. Ebony pegs are usually only found on higher priced instruments.
The Tailpiece is the part of the violin that holds the strings. Some cheap violins have plastic tailpieces which are worse than useless. Ensure the violin has an all metal tailpiece. A simple way is to tap the tailpiece with a coin. If retail it will ping, if plastic it will have a dull sound
The Fine Tuners on the tailpiece must also be made of metal parts. There are many cheap violins available which use soft plastic parts here. Avoid! Plastic pieces will bend and stop working after a very short space of time
The violin bow is a vital part of the sound. All Axiom violins feature high quality horsehair bows with all metal adjustment screws, unlike some cheap instruments available. Hair on the bow is very fine so a few will break from time to time – this is entirely normal. Check that the stick is straight and of good quality timber
The quality of finish of the violin is important, as if the lacquer is too thick it will dampen the natural tone of the violin. Avoid cheap instruments with a satin finish. Good quality violins will have a nice gloss but the lacquer will be very thin and not disturb the resonant qualities of the violin.
The bridge transmits the vibration of the strings to the body of the violin. Many cheap violins have a bridge which is unshaped and requires fitting. Our Axiom Violins all have pre-shaped bridges matched to the violin (removed for shipping)
The violin strings should be good quality and strong. Most budget violins come with a solid but basic set of strings. At a later date a higher quality set of strings ($50-$80) will greatly improve the tone of violin
Some cheap violins have a very flimsy case – Axiom violins all feature a hard case covered in water resistant nylon and firm padding inside. A block of rosin is also included.
We hope our violin buying guide has helped you make the right choice.
If you need further info please contact us and we’ll do our best to help!
