Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This instrument is a real steal for the price. I received it at the promised time, which was great. Keep in mind to this review that I'm a beginning player, just with an ear and eye for detail. Now to the actual instrument: Violin: - Sounds alright, doesn't sound extremely bright or dark. Doesn't sound extremely shrill and piercing(in a bad way) like some student instruments I've heard. -Pegs were not fit to the peg box, I had to push them in quite a bit just to get them to stay when I first tuned it. I didn't put rosin dust or peg drops on them. -Scroll was sloppily carved, very messy and rough. Won't affect the sound quality, though. -Pegs, fingerboard, and chinrest seem to be real ebony, I even filed an extremely tiny corner of both the the fingerboard and chinrest to confirm it(barely filed anything though, it's basically unnoticeable). -Bridge seems slightly thicker than most I've seen. -Looks great. -The tailpiece allows use of ball or loop end strings. -Soundpost isn't properly fitted, it's too long Bows: -They both worked fine, but were slightly different Bow #1: -Had a darker varnish than the other, which I liked -Had a slightly sweeter tone than that other -Heavier than the other -Screw was easier to turn -Slightly warped, but hardly noticeable Bow #2: -Had a more even, velvet tone than the other -Completely straight -Screw is a bit difficult to turn, but still able to the turned -Ever so slightly lighter than the other Rosin: -Since I've heard and read many reviews saying that the rosin is terrible, I just bought Pirastro Goldflex and didn't use the one that came with the violin. -Came cracked with the box dusty, much dustier than shown in the picture Tuner: -Haven't used it yet, I've been using my old universal tuner -No don't do 420 blaze it, it's 440 tune it, you silly person Shoulder rest: -Extremely small and uncomfortable -Cushion is so stiff, not even really a cushion -Just get a better shoulder rest. A Wolf or Everest would be so much better to use than this thing. Case: -Will protect the instrument just fine, not sure if they always have the same color inside, but the one I received has such a pretty, dark teal. Strings: -Sound okay when open, but very muted when fingering. I replaced them with a set of D'addario Preludes, they sound so much fuller, warmer, and project better. -Extra bridge might come in handy someday, as of now I just keep it in my case. All in all, a great product, especially for the price. If you can't afford a better instrument, this is an amazing violin to get. It's really meeting my needs for my first violin. I haven't asked a professional or teacher about their thoughts yet, but it seems a lot better than some instruments I've seen my friends in orchestra playing on. I'm extremely satisfied with this purchase. A few recommendations, only for comfort and instrument care: -Get a better shoulder rest -Put new strings on it, a cheap set of D'addario Prelude strings should do, Dominants would be even better if you have the budget. Infeld Reds sound great on it but the g sounds a bit unclear after a few months of use on them. -Get an instrument cleaning cloth, you'll need to clean your instrument and strings of rosin dust after each play session to prevent it from sticking to the strings and varnish. I highly recommend this to the beginner violinist on a budget. Great purchase, satisfied! Edit: (7 months later) I have tried this violin with several strings, qnd the E string seems to sound great no matter what. A tone qualities gold plated E strings seem to really suit it. It sounds fine with vibrato, but the G string sounds quite muffled in higher positions. I took the fine tuners off of the G,D, and A strings which made me really notice that the pegs arent properly fit to the pegbox. It's nothing too major though and can probably be fixed with peg compound, which I will be trying soon(I'll post my results when I try it). The D and A strings sound about average for a student violin in higher positions, nothing special. Still a great instrument for the price: perfectly responsive, decent tone except for the E string, because that string sounds very sweet, brilliant, and has the perfect amount of ring nearly no matter what. I am no longer using the bow that came with it, which did improve literally everything that involves the bow. The instrument seems to be warming up ever so slightly, which I am elated about. Edit(11 months later) -Peg Compound fixed most peg issues, I removed the fine tuners on g, d, and a and It takes me about 10-15 seconds to tune it when it isnt perfect. - I've gotten a teacher, and she said that I have, "a really nice violin." She doesn't know I bought it from amazon, but she has heard it being played and has played it a bit and said that it sounds very good. It's still very responsive, and a better set of strings really brings out it's good qualities. I have a set of Infeld Reds on it right now, and the only bad thing is the lack of clarity on the g string. That may just be because of my strings being near due a change. -I'm using a different bow and rosin, and the quality makes it much easier to play. -in 3 months(It's currently the end of October 2016, my audition is in late January 2017) I'm going to audition for a performing arts high school and major in orchestra using this violin. Once that happens I'll post another edit if any of the feedback I get is relevant to the product.