Violin Reviews

Read reviews from violin players, teachers, and professional violinists about famous makes such as Yamaha, Suzuki, Classenti, Stentor and Antoni. Reviewing violins helps beginners to choose or confirm that thay have made the right choice. We welcome your violin reviews which you can submit here

Classenti Violin Reviews

Review from professional violin teacher Shamil Rashidov

Classenti Student Violin - web price £54.97

Good points:

- A beautiful, colourful tone. The sound is really quite good considering the price of the violin.

- The wood quality is absolutely perfect and very well varnished. A joy to look at!

- The Classenti violin will take you up to around grade 4 or 5. In other words a number of years of playing before you need to upgrade.

- The back side of the violin is made in two parts. Two parts is always better than one and two parts are not usually found on beginner’s violins.

- Well made black wood fingerboard. Will stand up to endless, rigorous playing.

- The tailpiece has adjusters on every string – this is a good thing (cheap quality violins don’t have adjusters). Individual string adjusters allow you to fine tune each string with ease and speed. It would normally cost between £17 and £22 to put tailpiece adjusters on a violin. The adjusters are excellent and easy to turn. Good quality metal has also been used – this is very important. As the violin gets used more and more, the adjusters can get very tight if cheap metal has been used.

- The chin rest is smooth and very good quality. It is important that the chin rest is not pointed, as it can dig into your chin causing discomfort and a permanent red mark.

- Comfortable neck for beginners – not pointed, so it will not show signs of wear.

- The tuning pegs are made from ebony and are very nice quality and easy to turn. This makes tuning the violin much quicker and struggle free.

- Well made nut.

Accessories

- Bow is dead straight (which is good) but slightly heavier than normal. The bow is average, but considering it comes free with the violin, it is excellent. (You will need to pay in excess of £30 for a reasonable bow these days). The nickel end of the bow and the leather work is fine. The horse hair is also OK.

- Case is a nice shape, compact, very accurate and strong. Most importantly it is very light which is ideal for young children that need to carry their violin to school and back.

Not so good points

Bridge needs to be improved. Replacing the existing bridge with a higher quality one will improve the sound.

Bridge holes are cut slightly too high.

Strings could be better. Higher quality strings improve the sound and resonance.

The heel is made from wood which is not ideal. Ebony is stronger and will stand up better to more advanced playing.

Comments:

"An absolutely great quality violin that is outstanding value for money. I would like to see slightly better quality strings and bridge but, I expect this would increase the violin’s price quite significantly. The sound is fine and it is a fabulous violin to own for any beginner or intermediate player." Shamil Rashidov.

View the Classenti student violin here

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Yamaha Violin Reviews

Review from professional violin teacher Shamil Rashidov

Yamaha V5 SA violin review - web price £299

Good points

-The bridge is well made but still can be improved.

-The case is very plush and has a nice zipper and felt inside. It is quite heavy to carry around though. A child might want to consider a lighter case.

-Good space between bridge holes and top of bridge.

-The back of the violin is made from two pieces. It looks very beautiful.

-The sound has good clarity, power and a nice warm, mellow sound.

-The heel is made from ebony which is very strong.

-The bow is accurately made with good quality workmanship. The top of the bow, however, should be a little more professionally done. The horse hair is OK.

Not so good points

-The fingerboard is pointed which is not good. The fingerboard will start to show signs of wear fairly quickly.

-The neck is painted – this is not good as it will start to show marks and signs of wear.

-The tailpiece is quite disappointing for a rather expensive violin. The metal adjusters are made from a cheap quality metal which becomes stiff over time. Children will find the adjusters difficult to turn after a while.

-Very cheap strings which is disappointing. A violin of this price should have much better quality strings. The sound is poor when you compare with the price you are paying, and adding higher quality violin strings wouldn’t increase the cost too drastically.

Bridge has been put on before the varnish has been allowed to dry. This causes a problem, because when you move the bridge you can clearly see two bare marks in the varnish. I expect that the size and speed of Yamaha’s production line doesn’t allow enough time for important things like this.

-The tailpiece is 2mm too far back (not a major issue).

-The strings are set slightly too high.

-The tuning pegs are too thin and not the best quality. Later on, the pegs will become stiff and prove a little difficult to turn.

-The fingerboard is not made from the best wood. Marks will begin to appear on the fingerboard after a short time.

Comments:

"The Yamaha is a good violin overall. What I find strange is that the attention seems to be more focused on the beautiful look of the violin rather than the quality of the materials used. The Yamaha violin could be a lot better if corners weren’t cut on the quality of the fingerboard, strings, pegs and tailpiece. For a web price of around £300, the Yamaha student violin is certainly not my first choice to recommend to my students." Shamil Rashidov.

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