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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Good value with very easy and inexpensive fix Jul 02, 2007
I own several violins including one of Palatino VN-300. I also played 3 other VN-300.
This violin sounds its bests the way it comes out of the box with only 2 small inexpensive changes: 1- better rosin, 2- a small rubber mute on the bridge.
Good rosin and the small rubber mute should be around $5 for both.
About other upgrades:
Do not waste time and money with strings, bridge, tailpiece, sound post, professional tuning, bows,... My experience is that Palatino found the best match and it comes with it. (Do not believe the other guys saying that upgrades works, they do not)
About Expensive Violins:
Violins are all hand made (even the cheapest one) and none sound the same. Some very expensive instruments sound bad and some budget ones sound decent. The price of a violin is not based on the sound, it is based on its brand (maker), country of origin, looks, and materials. Sound quality is not part of the equation. But in general the better made instruments do sound better. Anyway, in my experience the Palatino sounds as good or better than a bad sounding super expensive instrument. Just think about it, there are many over $1000 violins that sound worst than the palatino!
6 of 7 found the following review helpful:
 Not bad but could be worse Dec 20, 2005
The only thing worse that buying this voilin here for this price is to pay twice as much for this same violin at a "Music" store....be careful....this is a good deal for what you get and its not much.
37 of 39 found the following review helpful:
 Don't Buy this VSO meant to rate it at zero stars but can't Aug 27, 2005
In violin circles we talk about violins and VSO's. A VSO is a violin shaped object. The reputation that Palatinos have among violinists I know, particularly teachers who have new students coming tothem with these VSOs,is as pure junk and well shaped firewood. There are other inexpensive brands that will give you more violin for the money like the Cremonas, but the Palitinos are pretty crummy.
I know what it is like to be poor and not to be able to afford a decent instrument. I know that from having struggled to learn the guitar on 15 buck stellas back in the 1960s. However, if you can possibly wait and save up two or three hundred dollars, you can get a decent enough student violin to be worth it. You will see the difference. For a new person, often the difference might be having an instrument that discourages a beginner from playing and having an instrument that will get the fun of playing the fiddle or violin to be a permanent part of your life.
Unless you know about violins, don't buy one on the Net buy yourself. Find a violin teacher, or someone from the many online groups for beginning violinists. I highly recommend Yahoo's Beginning Adult Violinist group which has thousands of members all over the US and beyond. They can give you advice, go with you to a store, or help you make an online purchase. They can even recommend a violin seller in your area who has a proven reputation or is a member of the group. This how I got a really great deal on a violin worth twice the money I paid for it, found a luthier who wouldn't mind my calling up with dumb questions, fixed my violin for nothing, and has become a friend.
I don't recommend most music stores that are generally stores where they know about guitars and keyboards and have a few violins lying around and know NOTHING or worse only enough to try to get you to buy whatever piece of junk they have. Violin only stores can be good, but they often cater to serious professionals who must have instruments that cost thousands.
Some of the misunderstandings people here talk about show what I mean. It isn't the question of Chinese violins. Almost all inexpensive violins available in this country are manufactured in China, although some are also made in Eastern European countries like Bulgaria.
Chinese luthiers are making some of the finest violins in the world today. Some Chinese luthiers have even set up violin making schools in the US because American luthiers want to learn from them. The question is a cheap Chinese violin under 100 bucks just isn't going to be very much since it just takes a certain amount of effort to build a violin. It is just like the idea that German cars are considered the best, but a 500 dollar German car is probably as much of a lemeon as a chinese violin under 100 bucks.
Even a 10,000 dollar violin that will be a life-joy for a serious player should not be expected to arrive in tune from shipment. In fact, it would be irresponsible for any shipper to send a violin already tuned in full tension. The instrument should be tuned only enough that the sound-post will stay in place. Most string musicians, even less sensitive instruments like guitars or banjos, know that even when they are taking an instrument on a trip themselves, let alone shipping one, to untune the instrument.
There is nothing wrong with a violin whose strings are not in tune. It simply needs to be tuned. Moreover, the normal variations of travel temperature and jostling will set them out of tune. THIS IS GOING TO BE ESPECIALLY TRUE FOR A CHEAP VIOLIN WITH CHEAP POORLY FITTED PEGS LIKE A PALITINO!
Setup, is very crucial for a violin's sound even for an inexpensive violin. Setup involves the placement of the bridge, what size bridge and how the sound post is properly place under the bridge, something that is hard to do as it requires precision. Finding a luthier who will set up a violin for you, and perhaps put decent strings on it, can make a big difference in buying a violin at any price. For someone buying an inexpensive violin it is something relatively inexpensive that can help the sound.
Likewise, the bow is often as important to your sound as your fiddle itself. Moreover, someone with little cash can more easily move up from the 10 or 20 buck bow that comes with these cheap fiddles to a 100 buck bow, than they can move up from a 300 dollar fiddle (most things that cost less are VS0s) to a 800 or 1000 buck fiddle. To me it was shocking how much my playing improved when I went up to a 90 buck bow! Moreover, it is also easier to move up from a 90 byuck bow to a 300 buck bow, than it is to move from a 800 buck violin to a 5k violin.
Finally, buying fiddles on ebay is even more of a turkey shoot than buying one online without advice. There are plenty of vsos up on EBay and plenty of people who are selling cheap violin sets like these as used violins for even more money.
I will repeat what I said before. Don't buy a violin simply from an Internet Ad. Find a violin teacher, or someone from the many online groups for beginning violinists--I recommend Yahoo's Beginning Adult Violinist group which has thousands of members all over the US and beyond--who can give you advice, go with you to a store or help you make an online purchase.
One more positive thing to say is that learning the violin is not as hard as many people imagine it. I started playing the violin at 55. I don't have a lot of time as I work two jobs, have a lot of involvement, and play the guitar and the banjo and have to practice them a lot. Still, once you past the first stage when the violin sounds really awful (my violinist friends said it helped that I am single) you can play the violin enough that it is fun.
Yes, violins are fun!
8 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Worked well for me! Dec 26, 2004
When I got the violin the strings were out of tune, so I went to a music store and had them put on new strings which they tuned for me right then and there. Be sure to use plenty of rosin on the bow hairs because they're new.
I also got the ABCs of Violin book #1 and its CD. These materials plus the violin worked well for me.
Great way to begin playing the violin! My lifelong dream....
14 of 18 found the following review helpful:
This Violin Makes My Stomach Hurt Nov 26, 2004
This violin sounds so horrible! There's a reason why they call this a student violin. That's because even the greatest violinist would sound like a student with this. No matter how good you are, you will sound terrible. This violin produces a horribly flat sound. It is tough to tell whether you are in tune or not (Because it always sounds bad). While it is cheap, it is definitely very bad for a student. It will discourage them (Sounds horrible), teaches bad tune (Difficult to compare to other's tune), and requires frequent tuning.
It may be more expensive, but please just rent a decent violin. You will save a lot of trouble. Also, many stores offer a discount when you rent from them. That will come in handy if you become a serious player and require a great violin.
Save yourself some trouble, time, and money by renting a decent violin.
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