Hiya,

I'm thinking of taking up the violin and i was just wondering what everyone thought of the Stentor violins, ive had a look on the net and found this one http://www.thestringzone.co.uk/cart.php?ta...category_id=239
it looks quite good and relatively cheap, but im not sure if it would be any good or last me for very long.

Stentors are ok, very basic student instruments. You can get better for the money, though. Try Yitamusic (Ebay) or Gliga (contact Liz Ward who posts on this site as ElidaTrading).

Enjoy the fiddle !

Allan

I started out on that violin. It's a decent starter one that CAN take you to grade 4/5 though i got a new one for my grade 4.
It's a good starter one =] Though you'd want to change the strings at some point. The ones that come on it are practically barbed wire
Though i agree that you may be able to get more for your money. Stentors are good value for money but i've seen some better violins around and about for the same price.

I passed my grade 5 on a Stentor Student II which cost me £80

Oh yeah btw i just realised it's like £120 on that website.
From www.normans.co.uk you can get it for like £80 =]

yeah i've looked on normans and they seem a lot cheaper on there so will prob buy it from them

The Stentor 2 is an OK starter instrument but if you're at all serious about violin I strongly recommend saving up for something better; after all we fork out comparatively vast amounts for cars, computers and holidays so why not add a decent violin to the list? After all, as far as we know we only live once!

You dont mention what size violin you are after. If it is a 4/4 size one, Normans also sell the Conservatoire, which would be a far better instrument for not much more money, especially if you changed the strings to Dominants.

You can get Conservatoires in other sizes and I agree: it's a much better instrument than the Stentor 2, and for not that much more money.

But in their original form, Stentor were very high class instruments.

Firstly, a little history. The name Stentor comes from the Greek herald in the Trojan war, who (according to the Greek writer, Homer), had a voice as loud as fifty men.

The 19th century violin maker Nicolas Vuillaume (brother of Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, who replaced the backs of one or two broken Stradivari violins), won awards for the top class violins that he made and named Stentor 1.

It is rather a shame in modern times that a company has decided to mass produce cheap student instruments with the name Stentor.

Wow! I had no idea - you're right, it's a real shame...

Try a stentor conservatoire. A very good student violin. They retail £165-200. Ask at any music shop, they are a very popular choice and they will know all about them.

I reckon a stentor could take you to grade 7/8 before you wuld desire the use o a better quality violin.

Be carefully the G string peg slips badly on mine, I had to apply some peg paste to stop it.

Thank you everyone for your help, i think im going to go for the stentor conservatoire.

Sam.
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