Mendini by Cecilio 3/4 Violin Set For Beginners - Hand Carved Acoustic Violins Kit - Fiddle Solid Wood Kit with Hard Case, Bow, Rosin, Shoulder Rest, Bridge and Extra Strings

I have always wanted to play violin, and a few weeks ago I decided what the heck, I'm going to just get one. I did some research on Amazon and came across this set; the negative reviews made me question if I should buy it or not, but the amount of positive reviews helped me decide to just go ahead and get it. When the violin first came, the strings were all set and everything, but (as expected) it was not in tune. I tried to tune it and I had some trouble. I've tuned a guitar before, so it's not like I was completely clueless- the problem was that I never used an instrument with a bridge before, so I knocked it over when tightening the strings. I wasn't 100% comfortable setting the bridge back up because everything feels so fragile and I didn't want to break anything. I took it to school (I'm a teacher) and had someone in the music department help me. If this is your first experience with tuning a stringed instrument, especially one with a bridge, I would highly suggest taking this to a music store or to someone who can help you. Tuning it after that initial setup isn't so hard; I purchased an awesome tuner to help me. I would HIGHLY recommend this tuner to anyone: Snark SN-5 Tuner for Guitar, Bass and Violin . It's easy to use and really helpful!! Next, I tried to assemble the shoulder rest. Lo and behold, I found that it did not fit...it must not have been made for a 4/4 full size violin because it wouldn't even reach across the bottom. Since the order was fulfilled by Amazon, I contacted them to see if they could replace the part. Amazon customer service is amazing and they said I could either return the whole set for a new one, or they would credit me for part of the cost of the violin so I could buy a new shoulder rest that did fit. I did not want to send the whole set back after the bridge/tuning business, so I had them credit me and I bought the Everest EZ Series Shoulder Rest for 4/4 Violin . It fits perfectly, is affordable, and I can tell it's more comfortable than the one that came with the violin would have been. After that, I took out the bow and began to work on that. I am not thrilled with the bow; when comparing all of the hairs on the bow, some of them were (and still are) more loose than others. However, when you buy a violin set for 60-70 dollars, you can't expect something mind-blowing and amazing. I used the rosin (you have to start it with some sandpaper or something) to get the bow ready to go. I actually ended up buying some better rosin because the stuff that came with the violin set seemed really cheap; after doing some research, I went with Pirastro Goldflex Rosin For Violin - Viola - Cello . I'm sure the cheap stuff is good enough to get by, but I wanted something of just a bit higher quality. The violin set does come with an extra set of strings and an extra bridge; I like having those extra pieces as backups just in case. As for the quality of the strings, I've seen from other reviews that the strings really make a difference in the sound the violin makes; maybe in the future, I'll get some nicer strings, but for now the ones that came in the set work fine. I have friends that play the violin and I know the one I bought off Amazon doesn't sound half as nice (and it never will), but this Mendini set is such a great starter. It's affordable and sounds pretty good, which is all I need since I'm just teaching myself in my free time. One last thing- I live in the middle of nowhere and do not have access to lessons (and the school I teach at doesn't even have orchestra- band only, so sad), so the book I've been using is Essential Elements 2000 for Strings Plus DVD: Violin Book 1 . It's easy to use and comes with a DVD (which I didn't find too helpful) and a CD so you can play along with the tracks (which IS very helpful). I have also been using various YouTube videos for technique, like the bow hold, because those aren't covered as well in that book/on the DVD. I am very pleased with this violin and I would highly recommend it- especially if you're an adult looking for something affordable to putz with!

Let me clarify that I am not a teacher, I have never played more than six months when I was 5. So to some people I don't know everything. This is just a review on this product of what I have found. I was hesitant about ordering this product. From all the bad reviews and different people were complaining about odds and ends. I chose to get the Black Mendini 4/4 MV solid wood violin. Let me tell you a few things that I questioned that no one had posted about. The violin does come with the strings already put in place with the pegs. You have to insert your bridge and tighten the pegs so that the bridge isn't going to fall out or anything. One thing people complained about was the pegs slipping. All I had to do was push and twist so that it tightened into the wood on the other end of the peg. I have listened to a lot of violinist and heard a lot of tuning things. I was able to tune my violin by ear. At first when you are trying to tighten the pegs so your bridge will stay in place, you need to be careful not to break the strings. Especially your littlest and thinest string. You have to move slowly and carefully. The rosin that came with mine was cracked and flakey. But you have to scratch it up a little bit to make it powdery anyways. If you take it straight out and try to play it you will get the worst sound. You need the rosin on the bow. and quiet a bit at first or you will get a cracky sound. Last night I was able to learn how to hold the bow, was able to play my open strings. and also learned the rest of the notes down the neck. The only thing I am worried about is I have already had two hairs fall out of my bow. I will see how it does over the next few weeks. If it loses to much then I will contact the seller since it is under warranty. I haven't tried out the shoulder rest yet. But if I do I will be sure to come back and update if it is good or bad like some people have said. Also Some people complained about the body being in bad shape, or the neck being crooked. Mine looks perfect. My neck is straight, and there isn't any buffs or marks or scratches anywhere. I am hoping for luck since I am 23 now and learning to play. I think I have a great start, It takes a lot of determination to get it all down!! Overall I would say this is a great beginners violin especially when you don't have 300 or more to put down on a violin that you may not continue to play! I do enjoy it though I feel I will be purchasing something better in the future!

I bought this for my 8 year-old niece for Christmas. She's been begging to have a violin for as long as I can remember, and I can guaranty she won't be disappointed with this instrument. There are some things that need to be said in this review though. First of all, I've played guitar for the last 33 years. I began playing when I was ten. By the time I was a teenager, I was not only playing guitar and bass, but I was doing repair work for myself and other people. I know electric guitars and basses inside and out. About the only thing I can't, or won't do with one of these instruments is a re-fret - mainly because I don't have the space or the tools for it. I've been setting up stringed instruments for more than half my life. That being said... I firmly believe a lot of the negative reviews I've read here are written by people who felt the violin should have been in tune and playable right out of the box - which is ludicrous. This is a small, acoustic instrument. Shipping one of these things tuned to pitch would nearly guaranty a broken instrument upon arrival. These are shipped out with the strings slacked. The one I purchased had the bridge in place, but it was by no means in the correct place - directly between the middle of the two f-holes. It couldn't be. With the strings slacked, the slightest bump to the package could dislodge it. I presume the majority of the negative reviews I read were written by people in the United States, where the people are taught by their televisions that everything is easy, nothing requires effort, and when you buy something, it has to work right out of the box - otherwise it's defective. I know, I live in the US. If you're considering buying this, or ANY acoustic stringed instrument through an online retailer like Amazon, you're either going to have to learn some new skills in setting up an acoustic instrument, or take it to someone (reputable) who has the skills the set up an acoustic instrument for you. If you bought one of these instruments in a local music store, the set up would be done in the store prior to sale, and I'm sure the house luthier (instrument repair guy) would give it a "once-over" and a final tuning before you took it home. You're paying for this. It's why this same violin would be twenty or thirty dollars more if you bought it in a local music store. For a guy like me, learning how to set up a whole new instrument was a joy. Here are some quick tips on how you can do this yourself: 1.) The rosin cake that comes with the violin has a glaze over it to keep it from powdering up everything in the case during shipment. You'll need to "get it started". Take an emery board (nail file) or a little bit of sandpaper and sand off that top glaze until the cake starts to get powdery. 2.) The tuning pegs WILL NOT hold a proper tuning on the strings right out of the box! I don't care if you paid fifty grand for a new violin - if it has new pegs and new strings, they WILL slip. Take the strings off one at a time (I started with the G string) and apply your now powdery rosin to each peg - get the ends really good - and also apply some rosin to the holes in the headstock where the peg was. Replace the peg and the string. You'll now notice that there's a stiffness and a tackiness when turning the peg in its holes. This will prevent string slippage. If it's still a little loose, rap the peg head loosely with your knuckles to seat it a little better in the peg holes. Don't pull out a mallet or anything drastic like that - just knock on the peg head as if you were knocking on a door. It should seat it better. Again, even the most expensive violins require these adjustments to stay in tune. Follow these steps for each string, removing only one string at a time. When you tighten each string back up, only get it tight enough to allow the bridge to stand up. Don't try to tune the strings to pitch until you completed this process for all four strings. 3.) When all your peg holes and pegs are rosined up and back in place, make sure those strings have enough tension on them to keep the bridge erect, but not so much that the bridge is immovable. Start turning your pegs, G-string first - tune from low to high. The bridge will move around as you tune, that's fine. Just keep nudging it back into place. You're not tuning yet, you're putting tension on each string to secure the bridge in place. Once you feel you have an even tension (more or less) across all four strings and the bridge is staying where it should (between the very middle of the two f-holes), then you can start tuning the instrument to pitch. 4.) Rosin your bow. Without rosin on the bow, the hairs will just glide across the strings without producing any appreciable vibration - in other words - no note. The rosin creates friction between the two surfaces and causes the string(s) to vibrate. Playing your new violin without rosin is about the same as playing it without strings. 5.) Your new violin will still go out of tune! Yes. Why? Because it was shipped to you with new strings, that's why! I know this from playing guitar for as long as I have. New strings have a certain "breaking in " period. Once the strings settle into their tuning, try to avoid tuning with the pegs and use the fine tuners in the bridge to make minute adjustments to the tuning of your new instrument. Righty tighty, lefty loosen. Tightening the fine tuners will bring the pitch of the string up, loosening the fine tuner will bring it down. During your initial set up, make sure the fine tuners are tightened mid-way - that way you have room to move either up or down in pitch once the strings are broken in. The fine tuners on the instrument I purchased pretty much arrived this way, but it doesn't hurt to check. 6.) One last piece of advice, if you break a string, change them all, don't just change one. It's like tires on a car. It's better to replace all four at once than it is to replace one at a time. Your violin will just sound and respond better if you do. Now that all that stuff is out of the way, I'll conclude this review with an actual review. As far as the construction of the instrument goes - it's okay. It's maple - maple is a good, solid, tone wood - not too expensive, but certainly not plastic, like I've seen for other instruments in this price range. The maple finger board (stained dark to resemble ebony) is okay, again MUCH better than plastic. I'd personally like to see rosewood or pau ferro. It wouldn't be too expensive in violin size to substitute one of these tone woods - either one would have a "slicker" feel than stained maple and still be cost-effective for a beginner's instrument. The stained maple pegs are just fine, they do the job and again, infinitely better than plastic. The tone bar seems to be seated well and in its proper place. I'm happy it's there to begin with. At this price range, it isn't unexpected to not see one at all. I'm not an experienced player by any means, so I don't know much about the accessories, but the included chin rest and shoulder rest seem pretty adequate. Adding the shoulder rest made it a lot more comfortable for me to play - well, squeak out some notes anyway. I'd say, all in all, it's a solid little first instrument. It's not mind-blowing. You get what you pay for, and I think in this case, you might even be getting a little more. The instrument itself, aside from its chin rest and shoulder rest, is all wood and metal - no plastic - which is a wonderful thing. In conclusion, I'd say, put in some TIME. Put in some EFFORT, and you'll have a decent instrument to learn with.

I have to start by saying that if you are hoping for a good musical instrument that is ready to play right out of the box, then this one is probably not what you want. It can, however, be a reasonable value if you are willing to put some work into it or pay a shop to put some work into it. When this violin arrived, the bridge was already on it and to be able to rosin up the bow and get some sound out of it only took tuning it up. That is probably the good news. The bad news is the bridge was poorly cut. It was neither centered correctly on the instrument nor were the string notches cut in the right places on the bridge. So all the strings were about 1/4 inch off from where they should be. Both the nut and the bridge were too high, so the playing action was awful. The strings that come with it do not sound very nice, and the rosin was broken. When you go to open the rosin, open it carefully and not over the instrument or case, so you won't have to clean the bits of it off those if yours is broken as well. Good points: The case looks nice and seems reasonably well made. The bow is nothing great, but it is playable. The shoulder rest isn't anything great either, but it didn't fall apart and it holds on to the instrument reasonably well, so I'll call it usable enough. The extra bridge looks like it is actually maple, and also usable, if not particularly good. The satin finish actually looks sort of nice in person. Mine is a bit more orange than the pictures shown of the item, but it is not really what I would call a bad color. Weight and balance of the instrument are pretty good, and the neck is nicely thin. The belly does appear to be spruce and the back and neck do appear to be maple. Bad points: Where to start? I already mentioned the bridge being badly done. I needed up needing to re-trim the bridge and set it in the proper place. If you didn't want to learn how to do that, then it could be done at a local luthier or music shop, but the cost to have it set up by a professional could easily run you as much as the instrument cost in the first place. Getting the bridge right will help with the action but it is still high. The nut is just a rectangular block of ebony with some slits cut in it, it is not shaped properly for any sort of violin. The nut also had the string at least 3 mm high, when the string height at the nut should be less than 1 mm. When I was reshaping the nut with files to make it right, I found out another interesting thing. If you are expecting actual rosewood for the fingerboard, you may be in for a disappointment. Under the black paint, the fingerboard on mine was made of some very light coloured wood. I understand that not all rosewood is a dark red, but one of the distinguishing characteristics of rosewood is that it is at least pinkish. This is not rosewood. At least mine wasn't, you may have better luck with that. I decided to strip off the black paint to get a better look at it. Some sort of a hardwood, people who know more about wood types than I do guess it to be a light walnut or perhaps hickory. It has a knot in the middle as well. But since it seems to be at least some sort of hardwood, I decided to just sand it and finish it with a coat of tung oil and it seems to be working ok. The tuning pegs are also painted and slip badly. I scraped the paint off the shafts and roughened the wood a little with some 200 grit sandpaper and now they hold quite reasonably well. Some of the pegs do have a reddish colour under the paint and may be some sort of rosewood. The chinrest is made of some fairly lightweight wood that is almost white. Again, not rosewood. I found the chinrest uncomfortable enough that I left it off and play the violin without it. But to be fair, getting a chinrest that actually fits the player already installed on any violin as it comes from the factory isn't very likely. If you want one that fits, you go to a music store and try some and buy the one you like. There is also a small knot on the back, but the wood grain is tight around it so it isn't about to come loose and fall out or anything, so I don't care about that. If that would bother you as an aesthetic consideration, be warned that these violins may have such flaws. At the price, you are not paying for perfect looking wood. After all that (which was about a weekend's worth of work) and putting on a better set of strings, and playing it with my usual bow rather than the "free" one that came with the violin.. It doesn't actually sound too bad. The blonde fingerboard I ended up with is rather an unusual look, but I like it better than I liked the poorly applied black paint. To summarize, this *can* be a nice little instrument if you are willing to put some work into it or pay someone else to work on it for you. I got mine to where it plays and sounds reasonably decent. The look is unusual and not perfect, but likeable enough in my opinion. However, if you are looking for a violin that will play good and sound nice right out of the box, then this is probably not the one you are looking for. I can even say that after the work I put into it and upgrading the strings, rosin and bow, I rather like it. I had fun working on it, and I feel what I got was worth what was paid. However I will only rate it one star, because the chinrest and fingerboard are NOT rosewood, even under the paint. I understood when I bought it for about 70$ through here that I would not be getting something on a par with a $1000 dollar violin, but I feel this product deserves the low rating for being misrepresented in the description. In good conscience, I also could not recommend this instrument to anyone expecting to play it at a gig the same day it is delivered nor for a beginner looking for an instrument that arrives in a playable enough condition to at least learn on.

I have had this thing for about a month now and I have almost completed the Essential Elements 2000 book 1 I bought to teach myself. I notice that the reviews can be split into two camps, great instrument for the money, and cheap (insert derogatory Chinese factory term here)and or damaged. After reading the reviews, it seems you got two ways this thing can go. Either it arrives in good condition or it arrives damaged. Mine came in good condition, with the bridge still standing. Now a few things about this instrument. I noticed a lot of folks who were having trouble with keeping the instrument in tune. I did too, until I invested in Peg drops. I also had to learn how to restring the instrument via youtube. After that, I can play it hard for several days before I need to tune it again. Oh and I did not use the rosin. I got the standard wood block sensitive rosin and it works great. My bow has lost about 5 horse hairs, and I gotta say that I have been practicing about an hour every day since I got the thing. I have had one of the fine tuners strip out on the A string, but I think it may have been due to user error rather than product defect. I also recommend a electronic tuner like a Snark. You can get them for about 5 dollars on this site and it works for guitar and violin. Shoulder rest is not the best, but it is workable for me. I recommend that you watch a lot of you tube videos on setting up, tuning, and rosining a bow for the first time. It will help you avoid a lot of issues mentioned in these comments. The old adage, "tis a poor musician who blames his instrument" comes to mind when I read some of these post. I will post a video soon showing its sound. Bottom line, for the price, I would have never believed I could be this far along in learning how to play a classic instrument. 11/13 OK a bit of an update. Still a great instrument. I did pick up an instructor and I upgraded the pegs, chin rest and end peg to ebony. This ended my problems with keeping the instrument in tune. (kit was about 15 dollars, and I actually shaved down the pegs with a pocket knife, but I recommend you go to a luthier to get the pegs fitted correctly. I did it by shear dumb luck.

I’m making this based on knowledge and deep consideration of the other reviews before I bought this. It’s just bad. To be completely fair I got this for pretty cheap, but it was still enough money to make me want it back. As shown in the photo, one of the strings are broken, both the original and the replacement that came in the box. The strings are terrible, and the tuning pegs slide so much. It’s honestly infuriating trying to tune this, and it doesn’t stay in tune for more than like a week. The violin itself I’d say is fine, bow is pretty decent, the rosin mine came with was kinda meh because it’s hard and doesn’t work too well, case is very nice, string durability is terrible, string sound is alright (kinda scratchy even with rosin), it’s an alright violin. I don’t know too much about actual violins but I have enough musical knowledge and review knowledge to call it crappy. It lasted decently longer than I expected, at first I kinda thought it would just be a crappy toy and I’d hardly use it. But I actually got a few good weeks out of it, didn’t last a month before this condition though. Would I buy it if I were you? If you’re doing it for a video or to mess around with it then sure, otherwise, NO. Don’t buy it because especially after the price increase it is NOT worth your money. If you want a good violin, don’t buy this one.

I am a decent amateur pianist with a masters in music, but I have never played a violin and thought it would be fun to give it a try. I didn't want to spend a fortune in case it didn't "take." I listened to the comparison on Youtube between a $62 violin from Amazon and some 18th-century, $150,000 (or more) violins, and concluded that how a violin sounds depends a whole lot more on the player than on the instrument. So I ordered the Mendini MV200, which cost about $45 with the Amazon Prime discount. It comes with everything you need -- nice case, bow, rosin, shoulder rest, extra bridge, extra strings -- and it looks beautiful. At time of delivery, it was set up with the bridge in place (centered between the notches on the F holes) and the strings attached to the pegs, but not tuned. When I tried to tune it, the bridge, which is held in place by the strings, fell off and had to be put back, which was no big deal. Because all of the strings were loose at the same time, I was concerned that the post inside the violin would slip once the pressure from the bridge was off, but I treated the violin very gently and fortunately that did not happen. While I was tuning, the pegs kept slipping, and at some point in the process I broke the E string -- not a rare event among violinists. To solve the peg problem, I applied rosin powder (after scraping the rosin with sandpaper to rough up the surface), and that made the pegs more difficult to turn, which kept the strings in tune. I rosined up the bow so that the violin would produce a sound. Then I produced a sound that made even the mice run for cover. Now I'm reading "Violin for Dummies," checked out of the library, and I've acquired some violin-lesson books, also from the library. I'm on my way to playing a scale! In addition to the violin package, I purchased from Amazon an Eno Professional Violin Viola Tuner, Colorful LCD display Easy Control Clip on Tuner (ET-05SV) ; and, as backup to the rosin that came with the violin package, a small, rectangular container of Super Sensitive Dark Violin Rosin . I then ordered different kinds of strings from various companies, including on EBay, to allow comparisons. From Amazon I added a Fretless Finger Guide for Full (4/4) Size Violin , a ChromaCast CC-MSTAND Folding Music Stand with Carry Bag , and an eBoot Rubber 4/4 Violin Practice Mute, Black (to protect the other members of the household). I have ordered the highly recommended Essential Elements for Strings - Book 1 with EEi: Violin and some sheet music with technical exercises. Everything cost me less than $100. Now I'm good to go. Eventually, I'll have to replace the bow, which is already losing a few hairs, or have the existing bow restrung. Now that I know I'm not supposed to touch the rosin, but instead hold it through the cloth it came with, I expect it will last for a while. Note to other reviewers: Rejecting the violin because of the rosin or the bow is like rejecting a house you like because a light bulb is flickering and may need to be replaced. Rosin costs about five dollars and, fortunately, there are plenty of reasonably priced bows on Amazon (or EBay, which is a good place to go for accessories that can cost less than they do on Amazon). I am amused and bemused by the angry, dire reviews left by a few violin teachers and music store owners, as if the existence of an inexpensive violin is an attack on all things beautiful about Western civilization. I can see nothing to regret and no reason to return the instrument, which delights me. My limitations as a player are so great that the violin's limitations make no difference. I can still learn how to hold the violin and the bow, bow technique, where to put my fingers to create different pitches, how to do vibrato, how to play double and triple stops, and a lot more. If the violin starts holding me back, I can get a new instrument, but I don't expect that to happen soon. If it does happen, I'll be thrilled.

I bought this violin back in July 2018, Mendini MV300. I am 63 and purchased it for myself. I did not want to spend a lot of money on a more expensive one and find my old body could not hold and bow it properly. I was able to. At first I wasn’t too impressed. I was hearing professional violin sounds in my mind (no, not senility!). I was hearing the tone, not talking playing quality, I wanted in my mind, but the sound from the violin was not it, it was rather scratchy and weird, and empty. I read up and purchased Pirastro Tonica strings for it and used my cello rosin instead of what came with it. Wow, 100% better. I really liked it. Then we, my husband and I, found a viola for sale rather inexpesively, about an hour away, so we went there to have a look. We bought the viola, it suited my purpose. While we were there, we were shown a Windsor violin outfit. It sounded pretty good (for a non-violinist test) and we bought it. I put the Celilio strings I removed from my Mendini onto my Windsor and it immediately improved in tone, but was not anything like the Mendini with the Pirastro Tonicas. Did not expect it to be, but it did sound better than the no name strings that were on it. It was a little brighter and little bit of a hollower sound than the Mendini, basically, not as good, but playable and gave a different sound. I wanted a better violin, and in my mind I am thinking a bright violin. So we went to a violin shop an hour away and purchased a way better quality violin. After I purchased a violin that had a bright tone, I decided that bright was really not what I wanted in a violin. I brightened my cello, but that has a deep sound anyway, so there was a difference that I did not think of. Now, this is the reason I have mentioned all of this and how it applies to my Mendini MV300. I am trading my bright good violin for a mellow dark toned violin next week, at the violin shop I purchased it at. I was curious, though. What was the difference in the sound between the three? I have learned “English Country Garden” and have it memorized. I played it on all three of my violins, and recorded them. I used the same exact bow, the one that came with the Mendini (I like it better than the carbon fiber one I purchased for the more expensive bright violin). After listening to all three, this is what I found: Naturally, the more expensive one had more depth, tone, etc. The Windsor sounded pretty good but was weak. The Mendini with the Pirastro Tonicas sounded very clear, and has as nice sound. It is hollow, though, but it is robust. That is not a complaint. It did NOT cost a lot of money and the wood is not the age and quality of the more expensive violin. This surprised me. It is hard to tell when you are playing it and it is right up against your ears. What I did change on the Mendini is the Celilio Strings, that were on it, to Pirastro Tonicas. I purchased a chinrest at our local music store that is more comfortable to me. It is not a center mount, it is side mount chin rest. I have no idea what brand it is. I also do not use the rosin that came with it, I used my Jade cello/violin/viola rosin (although I now use violin rosin I bought with the more expensive violin). Now, about this Mendini. I actually like this violin. I will be using it for songs that really need a brighter sound, after I get my mellow darker toned violin. I am not going to just put it away because I have a better more expensive one. It plays well. It is very comfortable to hold. It appears to be solidly built, just not the good quality aged wood of the more expensive violins. It is definitely worth the money and is definitely a quality that a student can learn on and them step up from. I really recommend changing the strings before using it for lessons. For some reason, from what I learned, sometimes an instructor will tell students that they need to get a better violin. They do not always realize that maybe the student can’t afford a better one and a whole can of worms is opened when (s)he tells her/his parents the instructor said I need a better violin. CHANGE the strings first! You will not believe the difference. Like I said, I did research and for what I wanted, the Pirastro Tonicas are beautiful! I use a washcloth folded in half for a shoulder rest. I do not use the shoulder rest that came with it. I had purchased a should rest, but found that for me, the washcloth folded in half on my shoulder up by my neck, with the chin rest I purchased, is extremely comfortable. I don’t use the one I purchased. This is different for pretty much everyone, so if there are issues holding it, etc, check out your chun rest and should rest options. This violin is simply wonderful for a beginner, and a little beyond, actually. The look (the least important factor as far as I am concerned). I have read where people are complaining because of the satin finish, not the shiny varnishy finish. It states in the write up and shows in the photos that it is a non-shiny satin finish. I really like it! I think it has charm and is so different from other violins. The bow. I love the bow. I love the weight of the bow. I purchased a carbon fiber bow to go with my more expensive violin that I am trading for a mellow dark tone violin. It is too light for me. Probably after I get lessons and get bow control, the lighter carbon will be nice. Right now, the bow with this violin is simply fantastic. The case: the case is great, but there is one issue, that I just let slide by. There is a slot for two bows. One of the slots is unuseable in my case. The black clip turns to hold the bow in bow in place on one was broken when I got my violin. The top of the clip was lying in the case beside the violin. Thought I could snap it back in, but it was not just unsnapped, it was broken. That is not a deal breaker for me. It does not change my rating or feeling about this violin. It is still worth more than I paid for, in my opinion. Bottom line, if you are a beginner or just want to see if you can actually hold and bow a violin, buy this violin. It is well worth the money and with the string upgrades and getting the shoulder rest and chin rest that fits you, using better rosin, you will have an inexpensive violin (not cheap - there is a difference) that will actually get you quite far into your violin learning. It has a great sound, although hollow due to the wood, and projects great with that string upgrade (that is key). The bow is perfect!