The fiddle reviews database is here to help educate people before they purchase an instrument. Of course, this is not meant to be a substitute for playing the instrument yourself!
215 reviews in the archive.
Where Purchased: Amazon.com
Year Purchased: 2017
Price Paid: 89.95 ($US)
The original strings are steel and shrieking, so I upgraded the strings to D'Addario Prelude and now the whole thing sounds about right. Not excellent, but OK.
Sound Rating: 5
Strings were loose and bridge was not attached, but the bridge's legs match the violin top surface perfectly. The bridge is too high, maybe for classical music playing? But for a novice student like me, the local luthier advised to lower the bridge and reshape it and I took his advice. After the bridge has been lowered and reshaped, the sound comes out with better clarity and melody!
Setup Rating: 4
Not extradionary shiny nor flashy, it has a rather matte darker brown tone of varnish. Its varnish is a quite thick (but evenly coated) layer; very typical of Chinese violins I've seen.
Appearance Rating: 5
This violin looks sturdy but bulkier than European made violins. It is also heavier (in weight) so it is harder to hold on your shoulder. It weights 485 grams, whereas a typical violin should be less than 450 grams. I speculate that it is made a viola and then got strings like a violin? The strings, the pegs, etc. look OK.
Reliability Rating: 5
Not sure anything about warranty! Nothing written document about warranty is found with the violin. I've not contacted nor attempted to contact the manufacture as they are a Hong Kong company and there is not much of contact info available. Hopefully, I will never have to contact them in the future either!
Customer Service: 3
The fittings, fingerboard, etc. seem to be real ebony wood and made to the proper violin shape of a copy of Strad model 1721. The bridge, however, is too high and in generic shape. The bow is unusable because it is stiff, unbalanced, and literally very heavy (a wobble of 72 grams!). It original steel strings sound shrieking to the ears!
Components Rating: 3
Price is so-so for this kind of Chinese violin in the U.S student market today (2017), and it is made of fairly quality wood components with proper shape and OK craftsmanship. It looks classic, but not too flashy. It sounds bright and has plenty of sound projection power. Still, to make it play better, I had to invest some additional money for upgrading it to a better quality set of strings, for having the bridge reshaped, and for buying a higher quality bow. After all these additional investment of money and effort, it sounds OK! Would I buy it again? Probably not. Too heavy!
Overall Rating: 5
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