Not all student violins are created equal. Some violins are terrible quality and no matter how hard the student works, the instrument will not make a good sound. A common name in the industry for this is a VSO or Violin Shaped Object. Even a professional violinist will find it difficult to make a VSO sound good. 

I always recommend that the student buy or rent a higher quality instrument. The instrument may not be real expensive but it is made with quality materials that make the instrument sound good.

You might think that getting a higher quality instrument also means that you are going to be spending a lot more money but this isn't always the case. There are a lot of good quality instruments on the market for under $200.00.

Students get into trouble when they purchase the cheapest thing they can find on Amazon without doing any research.

Violins are very detail and custom-oriented. If one piece or part is off, in the wrong spot, or cut the wrong way, no matter how hard you work at playing you will never be able to play the violin well. With most violins having well over 92 different parts a lot can go wrong in a very short period of time.

The body of the Instrument

All student grade instruments are made from the same wood materials that your average piece of furniture would be made from-plywood. The violin is cut from the plywood and then a plastic or vinyl cover goes over the top to give it the wood look. For cheap instruments, this wood is extremely thin and with constant wear and tear from playing, eventually, the violin falls apart. The higher quality student grade instruments are made with a thicker wood giving it a better sound and overall quality that will last for years and years to come. In case you are wondering, a fine quality instrument is carved by hand from one solid piece of wood.

A good quality fingerboard will be made from ebony and will be hand cut so that it is perfectly fitting to the instrument and the students’ hand. This is really important as most students spend a significant amount of time and energy playing on the fingerboard. Poor quality fingerboards are not hand cut, don't always match the violin, and may not be made from ebony.

Tuning 

Tuning and the ability of the violin to stay in tune is a very important part of the instrument. Violins are very sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity. The ability to keep the violin in tune is very important.

Violin Pegs

 Violin pegs have to be hand cut in order to fit into the violin correctly. Many VSO’s have pegs that were not custom cut and fitted to the instrument so you end up with an instrument that goes out of tune a lot. Look for pegs that fit through the holes, and are carefully aligned with the peg box. 

   Pegs that properly fit and are customized for the scroll box.

Pegs that do not fit in the scroll box correctly.

Mechanical Pegs 

Another option is to get a set of mechanical pegs. These look like a normal violin peg but they have a mechanical twister that keeps the pegs in place for much longer and will help the violin stay in tune for a longer time period as well. 

Fine Tuner

The next thing to consider is the quality of the fine tuners. A fine tuner is at the base of the violin and helps in making small adjustments when tuning. A good quality fine tuner will be able to tighten and loosen with ease without causing damage to the instrument; the poor quality tuners often get stuck and can be twisted so far down they cause damage to the instrument.