What does a beginner need?

My 9 yo daughter is starting violin this week with Boulder Suzuki
Strings. she'll use a loaner for the first couple weeks until I
decide what to buy or rent. In some ways, I'm of the school of
thought that says the child needs to continue to play a musical
instrument since I have never met anyone who regrets it. Her teacher,
though, suggests renting since kids do quit, or damage the
instruments.
I know very little about violins, having played the flute myself, so I
read up a little here on what you all said makes for a good
instrument. I looked on ebay at those "cheap ebay" violins people
have suggested I avoid- there certainly are some inexpenisve violins
out there sold by Mendini and Great-tunes but they claim they have
"your" criteria (but make me suspicious since the "buy it now" is $50
but they say retail is $400) , and the ones that ViolinsLover.COM
Store sells look pretty decent, according to the criteria set out
here, but then < http://www.opentip.com/musical_instruments.html >
looks pretty good too...
then I also think of the first flute I owned- not a very good one and
I didnt' play it well, but that had more to do with the fact that I
was a slacker as a kid- I played it well enough, considering, but oh,
did I appreciate my good quality flute when I got it. My daughter
will outgrow this violin and if I can save half the cost of renting in
the year or so she has it, well, it isn't a bad deal, I suppose.
so- will I hate something I get off ebay? I'll certainly understand
if no one wants to talk about their cheap deal from there online, so
feel free to mail me about it. :-)
Erica

I would talk to the folks at www.musiciansfriend.com and see what they suggest. The staff out there are friendly and they should be able to get you to someone that plays the violin and knows the important points to look for in one. We got ours for a good price and it seems to be a good starter (though we are both still learning about them).

I hope this helps.

Hello. Admittedly I am a late starter at violin always having been a pianist. I actually, more for the fun of it, actually ordered an e-bay violin from a seller called Hsuannan. When it arrived, I was surprised with it beauty and its tone ... People who just listen to me immediately also commented on its roundness of sound, mellowness and depth compared with my first violin. The violin I got from them is a Stradivarius type as opposed to Guarnerius style, as is my first violin. Hsuannan have US representation as well as Shangai and Taiwan. Check out their website at www.woodnote-music.com. I would go for a priced violin for beginner from Hsuannan, rather than an action for US$1, as this may be a blem violin. I am in South Africa and have found their correspondence and customer attention as well as shipping to be efficient and fast and detailed. I put perlon strings on the violin which just deepened the already mellow round sound and made it darker. I love it, but offcourse good student steel strings would probably brighten it up. I would imagine it will remain quite an excellent sound, and your daughter will like playing as well as looking at these violins.

hello generaly speaking most violin shops have have a percentage of your rental fees going to the purchase of a violin later. so while you will save money in the short run, your best bet is to rent a violin from a reputable store.

Hello ,

I am a beginner violinist and had bought a dorreli violin suggested by a nice website called www.violinwizard.com. My teacher liked it very much .I also tried another violin from from a maker named strunal which is listed in the site( which was much more superior, but i did not want to expend that much. If you have a budget of 250$ i would certainly recommend that.)
Here is the link for that site .http://violinwizard.com/violin_buying.html

Cheers
John