Hi, I posted a couple of weeks ago about taking my violin to be appraised by a luthier, Briefly I have taken up the violin again after 20yrs, I was at grade 8 back then, decided I wanted to play again so bought a cheap old (1900 ish) german violin and the luthier reccomended I have it re set up at a cost in excess of £200. I had my first lesson last week and my teacher thought my violin was ok but did need new strings, chin rest, pegs and bridge and a new bow and reccomended taking it elsewhere as they thought the price was hefty??? So tomorrow Im off to the shop and they have reccomended over the telephone re setting up my violin (quoted £150 if I need pegs) and said to try this first before trading it in which I feel is genuine of them as I have said Im prepaired to trade it for something better if need be.
I am going to try a couple anyway, what should I be looking out for and what do you reckon I would have to pay for a violin good enough to take me further. I seem to be stuck on an old violin, why I dont know, is there any new ones worth a look. I need a new bow too, is it just feel or should I wait until my violin is set up before choosing one. The bows I have are chronic! The shop said I can borrow a violin as they need mine for a week.
Thanks for any replies.

That's immensely generous of them

Very few luthiers would do that, unless they were giving the instrument a major overhaul and had to keep it for couple of months+

Ive never had any work done to a violin before but I thought it was pretty good of them too
I suppose we will have to see what happens tomorrow.

Well done for taking up the violin again! You should try out as many violins as possible and get you teachers opinion on it before you buy a new one. Most shops will let you take out a violins/bows for a couple of weeks trial.

Good luck.

I would wait till the violin is set up as well as poss before buying a bow. It is not just a question of feel -- they can sound different too.

Thanks for your replies, I took my violin and the luthier thought it was a good buy, he said it would benefit from a new set up, so is putting new strings, pegs, bridge and chin rest on and is going to clean it up. He said it wouldnt be more than £140 which I am pleased with. He said he will take it in part exchange for another at any time should I decide I want a better one without me losing any money that I have spent but advised me to try it first, set up properly as he says it will sound much much better. I dont think he could have been any fairer. He said I was to wait until it is ready to buy a bow. I never realised how one bow suits one violin whereas another may not! He leant me a Stentor Messini??? and when I tried it I hated it, mainly the sound. Saying that Im finding it so easy to play and have now got used to its sound. It does help that it is set up properly as the luthier said my violin had a 3/4 size bridge on it. I had mentioned when I bought it that the strings seemed very close together .
So thanks everyone for your advice, I cant wait to pick it up now.