Thank you, Toni. Nice to meet you too.  

I do like to keep my mind alive and challenged. Having too many hobbies is a bit much to handle sometimes though. When I burn out on one project, it is then hard to choose which of the other ones to start working on next. I have many unfinished project waiting for me to get back to them.

And yes, I am glad, too, that I took up violin again. I had always wanted to get back into playing, I just figured the cost was out of my range. I did not know that the prices of student violins had come down so far until recently. I was holding my breath, hoping it would be playable, when I ordered the Cecilio CVN-500. I did not know just how good, or bad, it was going to be. I had not round FiddlerMan.com yet.

It turned out to be a better violin than I guessed it would be (although the varnish job was pure slop work). One can always hope for better, but it is a good starting point for me. I plan to invest in a better violin sometime within the next year or so... after I buy a viola. An instrument without an E strings sound ideal to me. The E string is my least favorite. It is a bit harsh to my ears.

MACJR

Thank you for the two new welcomes.  

In reply to BillyG, In some ways, I have already surpassed my 12-year-old self. I was still reading easy sheet music back then, with letters on the notes, and probably fingering numbers too. I believe my instructor was starting to wean me off the easy sheet music, but I had not graduated to full note reading yet before we moved.

Now I am ready regular sheet music. I still need to speed up note recognition of notes above and below the staff (of first position), but it is coming easier, and faster, for me now that I have had a few months of practice. I have not started on second position note reading yet.

As for bowing, I may be getting close to as good as I was at 12. I just need to refine my bowing a bit more, but I am getting there. I am pretty sure that within the next three months I may be able to surpass the skill level I was at when I was 12, after a year plus of practice. I was not as dedicated to practice when I was 12, nor was my home environment all that conducive, or encouraging, for practicing the violin back then.

As for the viola, I have never even seen one in person, as far as I can remember. I am looking forward to trying one out. I plan to invest in a student instrument first, to see if the viola suits me. If it does, then I will go for abetter instrument later. I have thought about getting a second violin first, and then getting short scale viola strings for my spare violin, but decided against it. I will just save some cash and get a viola, that way, when I get a spare violin, it can be my backup, or practice violin.

In reply Mandy, yep, I think that is it. It is not so much listening to a tune with a lot of E action, it is playing on the E string that is a bit hard for my ears to take. In fact, I skipped most of the E string lessons because I just could not take that. Moved on to D and breathed a big sigh of relief!  

I do not mind crossing over to E, for a bit, but I sure do not like to linger there.

MACJR

Charles said
@MACJR Re the E string - consider swapping out the E (only) for a different brand. You're not the only person by a long shot who has issues with the E, and many brands have the E alone for sale (much cheaper than buying a whole set to try a brand out.)

There are several threads here on FM.com on the subject, and many more on the Internet as a whole. Hopefully, those will give you at least a rough idea of which kinds you might like to try.

The one thing I remember clearly from reading them was that a wound E string tends to sound a lot better than a bare steel wire. (More expensive, naturally.)  I'm using D'Aaddario Helicores and reasonably happy with them, so I haven't paid much attention to that issue for a couple of months. (Or as the old saying goes, I've slept since then... )  

Thanks, Charles.

I will look into a wound E string. There are a few I have been researching, but I have not picked one out yet. Helicores are on my list of strings to check out.

I am strongly considering getting a second violin before I get a viola, so I can do more testing, without having to test on my lesson violin.

Looking into a cheap black one, maybe. Good to look at, even if not the best sound.

However, I may go for a silent electric instead. Silent mode would allow me to practice more than once a day, without disturbing my neighbors, or that is the hope anyway.

MACJR

Fiddlerman said
One of the absolute best E strings I've tested is the Westminster E.  

Okay, found it at Fiddlershop.com. When I am ready to buy a few items I will add one of those as well.

I already have an account setup at Fiddlershop, separate from this forum account, with a few items on my wish list, but I have yet to make my first purchase from there. I do most of my shopping at Amazon, I like the free return shipping (especially since Amazon send out a lot of less than quality items) but I am willing to buy some stuff from Fiddlershop when the budget allows.

MACJR

I rarely return anything, even when it turns out to be junk. But there have been a few times when either the price was too high to let it slide, or I needed that item to be in working order, then I did return items.

Or I was not willing to settle for an item that was so poorly packaged that the contents was squeezed out of the bottle, and this was Amazons fault, not the product itself.

So far, I have not run into a situation where Amazon refused free return, but then, as I said, I have rarely had to return something.

I do suggest not buying hard drives from Amazon though, 2 out of 3 arrived dead.

MACJR