I am currently studying for my Grade 8 violin and my teacher has told me that I have outgrown my current violin.

It was bought as a present by my husband as he wanted me to play again (as id not played for 9 years) so I dont want to offend him when I tell him I need an upgrade. (Ive only had it 2 years)

Advice on suitable violins and on how to tell the other half I need to spend money is greatly welcomed!!

HI Well the first thing I thought of when I read your message was when is your Gr8 exam? You wouldn't want to be changing instrument if you're doing the exam in the next few months.

Im aiming to take it sometime next year so have plenty of time to get the feel of a new violin.

I guess you just have to tell him, "honey, I hate to break it to you, but my teacher says......" Hee hee. You could still play BOTH violins even if you have a new one. Especially if it's his favourite tune

Annab - visit www.elidatrading.co.uk and follow the link to Gliga stringed instruments - it's a really good write up. The Gama is more than good enough for grade 8. The Maestro is even better. These instruments are gorgeous - if you don't believe me and you live near Chester you can have a go on mine!

any one has any idea about is it possible to do a grade 8 on a china made violin? skylark is the brand, costs about US 70 i think, coz i convert it to US dollar, bought 6 yrs ago, constantly playing.

If you managed to pass grade 7 on a skylark I'm not surprised you're so happy - you must have more talent than the man who won the tour de france on a chopper.

Grade seven is pushing a Skylark to the limit and beyond, that's for sure! Of course there are better Chinese instruments available too.

I did Grade 8 on a Poller viola (Romanian), Strings, bridge and bow were all changed though.

Liz

Right now there is a used Gliga Maestro on ebay that has had a professional setup done by Ealing strings. We sold it in the first place but it is not economic for us to take it back because of the way VAT works. I doubt if it is possible to get anything anywhere near as good as this at the present price of £400: new, we sell these at £825 and that is without any extra work, we sell the Gama 2 at £400 without any extra work (and we hardly ever get them returned) and this one includes a hard case as well. It has to be a super bargain for someone.

Gliga maestro


Liz

sorry liz - couldn't resist it - but if anyone else wants it I won't keep bidding up

You can only play one at once you know )

Liz

I'm either going have to move to a bigger house or stop buying your instruments!

In defence of my greed:

( i ) I'm only making an opening bid for this - if anyone else wants it I will gracefully bow out

( ii ) In 9 years my son will be big enough for a Maestro and he's not getting mine! (although that was the excuse I gave myself when I first bought it). If I have to fork out £2000 then I will be kicking myself.

( iii ) £400 - come on!

I know, it's ridiculously low. I can't imagine why there isn't a flurry of bids on it.

Liz

Don't worry Liz - I've bought & sold quite a lot on eBay (as I believe you have as well) and watched a lot of violin auctions....won one once, but then the seller had an attack of conscience and admitted that they'd told a few porkies in the ad & we withdrew by mutual consent! We stay away from violins now - too risky on the whole unless you can actually get to hold it first.

In my experience the more desirable items tend to have a lot of bids in the last half hour and even the last minute - which is great if you have broadband, not so good if you only have dial-up and have to wait 20 seconds for the screen to refresh, in which time someone else has outbid you! My husband has won two fender jazz basses (fretted & fretless, both mint condition) by jumping in with bids in the dying seconds.

Some of the items I've sold have doubled in price in the last minute or so. I'd be very surprised indeed if this violin doesn't leap up at the end.

I'll watch it with interest!

Jane

There's no 'set' violin that would be good for a grade 8 - you need to look around dealers/shops etc. - really I'd have thought your teacher could have given you better advice. Just play alot and choose the one which you like best - I suppose for a decent instrument you'd be looking to pay around 400+, but you could get a bargain and it can depend on alot of things.

If you're buying an old instrument, get a pro to check it out before you buy it

Dave

looks like you were right folkie - good luck to whoever ends up with it, cos I'm out of it. To whoever gets it, in the words of Cilla Black "will you come back next week and tell us about it?"

Bad luck Zoda - I'll be very interested to see what it goes for - it's in my "Watch" list.

By the way, fyi, I'm not the "Folkie" that's registered on eBay - my eBay username is something completely different (although still related to folk music). I'm folkie on quite a few other forums though.....

Well - £511 - someone's got a good deal! Three bids within the last minute though - I bet a few people were getting a bit tense!

I can't be too glum because it's nice to think of somebody else getting hold of such a lovely instrument - they seem to be largely unknown in UK - a sneaky post on the teacher's forum about them didn't even solicit a "get orrf my land" response.