Any string players here?

[thetroy]

I played my sister's viola for a few minutes the other day and it was really cool. I couldn't figure out how to do vibrato while holding up the instrument with the same hand and my intonation was horrible but it still sounded cool. Now I want to get myself a violin, perhaps electric to throw some distortion at it and see how that goes.

What's the deal on cheap violins? I see they start at like under $50, but at what point do you get stuff that is actually playable and sounds halfway decent? My sister's viola is nice and sounds good but costs like $2000 that is 10 times more than my guitar at the moment

[skorb]

we just got my 9 yr old a brand new 3/4 scale student violin for $150, which is pretty much the price point where you avoid the junk and get into the decent student instruments. it looks and sounds great and even has a bit of flame on the back. that price included a hard case and bow.

btw, made in china but really a fine instrument, I inspected it closely prior to purchase.

[DrDoug]

My wife has a Barcus-Berry that I got her, and she absolutely loves the sound. I researched the violin world for over three months, and the B-B Vibrato AE came out the winner in the cost/quality ratio for me. This is the one I got her(in blue):

http://barcusberry.com/product_html/barae.html

Sweet, smooth sounding instrument, mellow yet bright and sharp when you call on it. It comes with DiAddario strings, fine tuners on all strings, Carpathian Spruce top and Maple body, hand rubbed lacquer finish, Romanian made and it has a piezo pickup. The ebony is dark and smooth, and the hardware is excellent.

My wife is a former concert violinist, and owns a Hopf (a real Hopf, not a fake copy) and she still has her student violin too. She has not touched her Hopf since February when she got her new B-B from me. I tease her about it, but she points out that she now can save further wear and tear on her Hopf (which is worth a few bucks). That and she loves adding electric effects to her playing (a touch of chorus, reverb and EQ) as it gives it more depth like when she played in a concert hall. She has to really like it to put down her Hopf. She plays every other day, every evening. She recently played a party and got nothing but compliments on the instrument, her playing and the sound.

She even has a few patches on my gear that she loves to plug in and use...lol

You should hear her playing Crazy Train on the violin. I may have to record her one of these times and post it, she plays it spot on and it sounds cool. She mostly plays Brahms, Bach, Haydn, Motzart, Handel, Schubert, Strauss and the usual classics, but she also likes playing/figuring out modern material. I love to listen to her play, and the melodies stick in my head until I pull out my gear and jam them away...lol

[atomic charvel guy]

My sister was a concert pianist, and she also built her own harpsichord (sp?) she is pretty amazing at everything. Except the guitar-lol

[AfterForever]

I used to play violin, but I couldn't combine it with playing guitar.. If I played the violin for a long time, my hand would cramp up while playing guitar (and the other way around too). I wouldn't recommed getting a cheap electric violin.. but check out these 4-7 string V shaped electric violins: http://www.woodviolins.com/

[thetroy]

The Mark Wood stuff is probably not in my price range for something to just fool around with once in awhile!

[AfterForever]

You might want to have a look at a Fender FV1.. Electric violin in black or white, looks really cool. Only downside is the weight.. it's like a brick.

[Norton]

If you're lookin' for an acoustic one, start at the 150-200 range. They're gonna sound decent with good strings, as long as you can play decently. The strings do matter A LOT. Good strings can make a crap violin, playable.

[delt]

Do they still make the Original Floyd Rose trem's for violin?

I need to fix the tailpiece on my violin and get'er some new strings..... i miss playing it (tho i suck at violin) Once you got the technique down - or in my case, sort of most difficult thing is the 5th intervals between strings.