Any violin players out there?? My daughter (11) will be starting violin again this fall and I am thinking about purchasing instead of renting... Anybody have any brands they prefer or brands I should stay away from?? Any help or advice would be helpful. Thanks!! Cookie

I would call her band/orchestra instructor for information about the best type of instrument for your DD. That's what I did for both my kids. Neither plays the violing though.

My dd plays and one thing I know is that you buy by their size. We have a family full size one that my dd uses and she couldn't use it the first year because it was to big. You might be better waiting a year or so until she is a bit bigger.

When my DD played we had her measured at one of the instrument stores. We ended up buying her violin off of ebay once we found out her size. I know that renting around here was ridiculous it was pay $200 something dollars for a few months or every 3 months or something really stupid like that. We paid a one time fee with ebay and bought it for about $60 and then when she was done we ended up selling it at a garage sale for about $50.

When my son started trombone in 5th grade, we rented for a year and then we were able to get most of our rental money back by purchasing an excellent used trombone from the same music store. We really got a nice deal on a great trombone.

Talk to your child's music teacher. Who and what do they recommend? They know who to do business with and might even know of a private sale.

What will happpen if your child discovers that the violin is not something that they enjoy playing? Can you resell the violin easily?

We have a lot of money invested here in musical instruments. My son plays trombone, piano, drums and guitar. I spend a lot of money on lessons too, but he loves music.

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Donna