I've been wanting a new violin, and so my mum said i can get one for christmas =] Though she has no idea which to get, and i don't know which to get yet either :S (Plenty of time to decide i know haha) I have a stentor 2 at the moment
My budget is probably around £300 - £350... (as i can pay money towards it too). I'm doing grade 4 at the moment but would like something that could last me up to grade 8.

Any reccommendations? =]

I was thinking maybe this one... http://www.normans.co.uk/Items/Item.aspx?SKU=1865of/a
Does anyone have this model, or tried one?

Thanks!

Have a look on www.elidatrading.co.uk.

They are excellent value for money and are really good violins. I own one myself
Sorry that I can't comment on your link, but I've only ever played on two violins...

(There! I got in first this time!)

At the risk for being boring, I agree with littlelady - you will get quite a lot of violin for your pounds at elidatrading.

(ps, if there is any chance your £350 could stretch to £400, and you are serious about your playing, the Gama viola I own is a really lovely instrument)

I'm sure I could stretch to £400, do you know where i might find one of these violins? I.e. is there a website i can find out about them, or something? =]

http://www.elidatrading.co.uk

If in doubt, ring Liz up. She will be able to guide you to something appropriate.

If you can stretch to 400, don't buy a stentor messina. Playing the gama will seem like driving a BMW compared to a low end Ford where the messina is compared. There honestly is no comparison at this level.

Contact Liz and ask her to send you an instrument to try, I promise you for such a small amount of money, you will be amazed.

Allan

(I used to own a bird's eye maple gama violin which in total I paid around 700 for and, when it came to upgrading time, I had to spend... well let's just say a good deal more than ten times that much to find anything that sounded considerably better)

gulp!!

I've never driven a BMW either

You should try out as many violins as possible! It's really fun.
I find that each violin is unique even though it's from the same brand. I've tried a Gliga gama (one of my tutors pupils got one and he let me try it out for fun) and it sounds very nice, deep and mellow, whereas my violin is bright and cheerful. I guess it depends on what kind of tone you're looking for. The people I speak to tend to prefer a sad sounding violin, but I prefer happy sounding ones but not too bright. I wonder what tone of violins professional violinists prefer.

Happy violin shopping!