Ages ago, somebody asked about places to buy violins. Yesterday at Tokyo's Stringed Instruments Fair, we met Per Ovesen, a Danish guy who makes violins in Singapore, and has a business selling and repairing violins, violas, and cellos (and bows of course).

He had several of his own instruments there, and Viohazard had the chance to play two of them. Viohazard is of course no expert, but he thought they had good balance, and one had a particularly clear and brilliant top to balance the pleasing lower register...that is, as far as Viohazard could tell in the cacaphony of the hall, with his moderate skills!

It would be great to know of other stringed instrument resources for people in Malaysia and Singapore.

FOR SINGAPORE:

I have come across two stores that sell classical string instruments, including guitars, violins, violas, cellos and so on. I am not string player, so I don't know about quality, but both stores look pretty credible.

Maestro Guitars at Esplanade Singapore
http://www.maestroguitars.com/
Handcrafted instruments, salespeople commended for good knowledge of the available instruments.
Looks like a very classy, professional shop that those who don't play wouldn't want to enter for fun.
Now and then, you would see a master crafting the body of a violin in the window of his workshop.

Music Essentials at Meridien Shopping Centre, Concorde Hotel
http://www.musicessentials.net/
One of the best places for music books in Singapore, which some of you might still find inadequate.
Not as classy, but the salespersons are rather friendly, especially when it comes to selling string instruments.
I think some of them are players too. There are violins hanging overhead in the store.

Of course there is Yamaha as well, but I get the impression that Yamaha salespeople don't really know their products. There are young newbies who only recommend based on budgets.

If you want some cool electric/electronic instruments and mixers etc, you might want to check this out:

CityMusic at Peace Centre
http://www.citymusic.com.sg/
Located in a really old building, this store is rather popular among those who work with electric guitars, keyboards and drums. I don't really know what kind of stuff it sells, but I managed to get my Zoom H2 sound recorder and KDM-2 metronome there.

For Singapore too:

1) Sabo Istvan at http://le-diapason.com/page/1/. He's, apparently, the best guy around for stringed instruments. Most SSO musicians go to him, from what I've heard. He did repairs for my violin a few years back and it really did wonders. Reasonable prices too.

2) Tong Ming Xi at http://www.ambercraftviolins.com/aboutluthier.html. Pretty good stuff too. I got my bow from him, and he's rather well-known too. His range isn't as wide as Sabo's, but he's got some gems with him.

Hope this helps.