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Which violin should I test? Are you interested in ordering a Cecilio violin?
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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
May 24, 2011 - 9:55 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
Forum Posts: 16356

I received the following email from a Marketing Manager at Cecilio Musical Instruments. Seems to me that he is making a great offer that can help everyone. Also they appear to be proud of there instruments. What is your opinion? Which violins should I test? I love being able to give away fiddles to my members. Cool

This time it won't cost me much either.

______________________________

 

Hello Pierre Holstein,

Thank you for your interest and review of the Cecilio Ebony Fitted Violin in Metallic Black.  Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Roger Johnson and I am the Marketing Manager for Cecilio Musical Instruments.  You seem to have connected with our mission and message of quality and value rather easily, and for that we are excited.  We feel the raffling off of the Cecilio Violin to one of your visitors is a nice touch and hope it is helping create the increase in traffic to your site that you were seeking.  Would you be interested in doing more reviews?  In exchange for permission to use your reviews of KK Music Store &/or Cecilio Musical Instruments on our sites, we would like to offer to send you more instruments for you to review and raffle (or use as you see fit).  What would you like to explore next?  We look forward to your thoughts.

Thanks again,

Roger Johnson

Marketing Manager

Cecilio Musical Instruments

 

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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LoopyLoonyLuna

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May 24, 2011 - 10:05 pm
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Maybe one of the electric violins? I'm curious about those.

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
May 24, 2011 - 10:50 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
Forum Posts: 16356

Not a bad idea LoopyLoonyLuna! More thoughts anyone?

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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Daniel
Dipolog City, Philippines

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May 25, 2011 - 3:38 am
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I second Luna there, and also, I think it has excellent marketing traffic both ways, Adsense, SkypeLessons, and gigs on your side, advertisement and reviews from a virtuoso with years of experience for them. 

 

Also the free items would help loads also to the site maintenance.

Short-term Goal:

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
May 25, 2011 - 3:40 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
Forum Posts: 16356

Right, win win situation. Plus some lucky person will win the violin. I will let them know that I don't plan on building up the violin if I don't like it. It has to be an honest review for me to do it. I would feel terrible if someone wasted their hard earned cash on a piece of junk. Seems like they have confidence in their equipment though.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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LoopyLoonyLuna

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May 25, 2011 - 5:15 pm
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I'm seriously considering purchasing a classical guitar from KK Music through ebay (hint-buying through their ebay store seems to cost $10 less). At $65 there isn't much risk, and if I don't like it I'm sure my 8 yr. old will. If I do buy one I'll post a review for the edification of others.

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Pikachu
Pallet Town

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May 25, 2011 - 5:56 pm
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From a consumer point of view, I'd like to see reviews of violins in each price bracket. The violins are priced from under $80 to almost $600, but besides the materials and fittings, what makes them different? Does the $400 one sound significantly better or is the $300 difference from the $80 one more of a splurge and cosmetic thing? Does the one pieced back make a difference? What are the trade-offs between them?

 

Since it's hard to try out violins when ordering on the internet, it be cool to have a baseline comparisons across the different price brackets, especially since you'd be playing each one and would have first hand experience.

 

Even the difference between the basic violin and the next one up would be good. I'd like to get the pretty dark brown violin, but money is a bit tight. If the differences aren't that big or are only for looks, I'd like to know. : D

 

Here's what I mean by price brackets...

This one is $79 (uncolored, in case that makes a difference in the quality)

http://www.kkmusicstore.com/me.....-p-83.html

 

This is $199

http://www.kkmusicstore.com/me.....p-273.html

 

This one is $399

http://www.kkmusicstore.com/ce.....t-p-6.html

 

This one is $499

http://www.kkmusicstore.com/ce.....p-311.html

 

 

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
May 25, 2011 - 6:28 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
Forum Posts: 16356

Of course what you say Pikachu, makes perfect sense. Your first two examples are Mendini violins, however Cecilio is the company making me the offer. I suppose I could test the high-end Cecilio fiddles to see if they are worth spending that much extra money.

They have Cecilio, CVN-100 through 700 with prices from $89.99 to $499.99

They also sell electric violins in which a couple of members are interested in buying.

I wish that I could get the store to send me all there instruments and test them one by one. I would love to do that.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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LoopyLoonyLuna

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May 25, 2011 - 8:34 pm
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If the reviews are positive they may offer to send you more models. Two of the major issues with these violins is the lack of positive feedback and a stigma against cheap, Asian made instruments. Having a professional violinist pronounce them suitable instruments would be a big boost. 

Of course this all hinges on the instrument being playable and good beginner instruments. A lemon would really be a disappointment. I bet there will be extra quality control going into the instrument(s) they send you.

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
May 25, 2011 - 9:13 pm
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I thought about that. They may hand pick the one that comes to me.  I also realize that if I rate the fiddles high they will be more apt to send me more. I simply refuse to do that though. If they are good, I will be happy to promote them but otherwise they can forget it.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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Pikachu
Pallet Town

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May 25, 2011 - 9:31 pm
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When I looked I could only find a few bits of old (a 5 years back old) feedback for both brands. Most of the detailed feedback for the violins boils down to "Violin Shaped Object that costs more to fix-up than the original price" or "Junk/toy quality and tinny. The bridge/bow/other part was warped/crooked/broken on arrival" While most of the good feedback is prefaced with "I've never played violin before, but" or simply a one liner about how awesome it is. 

 

v__v When I was searching, I came across a bunch of people that said the ebay violins (both brands dominate ebay) were money sinks and it would be better to just save the extra time and money that would go towards fixing a VSO for a "real" violin. Even some of the people I met in person when I was looking for lessons said the same thing, but they didn't have any recent examples. With advancements in technology, the ebay violins of a few years ago may well have been junk, but the new ones might put them to shame. 

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LoopyLoonyLuna

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May 25, 2011 - 10:36 pm
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Fiddlerman said:

I thought about that. They may hand pick the one that comes to me.  I also realize that if I rate the fiddles high they will be more apt to send me more. I simply refuse to do that though. If they are good, I will be happy to promote them but otherwise they can forget it.

No, you absolutely have to be honest about your reviews. I thought you first review was great because it was balanced. Good value for the money, playable, but not a fine instrument.

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
June 1, 2011 - 7:23 pm
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Good news everyone,

Cecilio will be sending me an electric violin and several violins in the different series to make comparisons for the price differences and what difference they may have.

This also means that I will have, seems like, three or more fiddles to raffle off to you guys :-) Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

Hope that they are good. They appear to have confidence in their product.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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rotex13
Philippines

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June 2, 2011 - 3:43 am
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Fiddlerman said:

Good news everyone,

Cecilio will be sending me an electric violin and several violins in the different series to make comparisons for the price differences and what difference they may have.

This also means that I will have, seems like, three or more fiddles to raffle off to you guys :-) Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

Hope that they are good. They appear to have confidence in their product.

That's the greatest news that I heard today! can't wait for the raffle, Good luck to all of us guys!

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Pikachu
Pallet Town

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June 2, 2011 - 6:48 am
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That's awesome! XD Are they sending them all at once, or are you going to receive just one at a time. I imagine sending them all at the same time would save on shipping, but the boxes would be a bit overwhelming.

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
June 2, 2011 - 7:53 am
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Sounds like they are sending them together. I already thought about that with the boxes and the instruments as well. Means that I will probably have my own two fiddles plus at least 3 more. Need a bigger house :-)

I agree Rotex, I would be jumping up and down from joy if it was one of you guys that won. I don't want to be unfair though.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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LoopyLoonyLuna

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June 2, 2011 - 12:03 pm
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Great news! I'm incredibly curious to see how they pan out. I would also be thrilled to win any of them for my teen daughter. She's trying to learn as many instruments as possible, and I want to enable her to do so (at least to the extent I can afford). 

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
June 2, 2011 - 6:34 pm
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Well, everyones chances are certainly higher now. I received this email today.
I may auction one of them off in order to raise money for postage. Sending 7 fiddles could be costly especially if I have to send one or more to the Philippines.
____________________________________________________

Here are links for a sneak peak on what’s on their way to you:

http://www.kkmusicstore.com/ce.....377.html 

http://www.kkmusicstore.com/ce.....t-p-2.html

http://www.kkmusicstore.com/ce.....t-p-3.html

http://www.kkmusicstore.com/ce.....t-p-5.html

http://www.kkmusicstore.com/me.....p-273.html

http://www.kkmusicstore.com/ce.....t-p-6.html

http://www.kkmusicstore.com/ce.....p-311.html

 

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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Pikachu
Pallet Town

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June 2, 2011 - 8:45 pm
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Mendini FLAMED 1 Piece Back with Ebony Fittings = love! <3333

 

You could always have the winners pay for some or all of their postage. Or maybe have everyone who wins chip in a set amount that goes towards all of the shipping, so no one person would be footing a large shipping bill. 

 

>__> I know the cheap shipping from China to the US was like $50 when I ordered clothing, so I would think that the weight of a packaged violin would be in that ball park for that half of the world.

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Pikachu
Pallet Town

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June 2, 2011 - 8:45 pm
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Mendini FLAMED 1 Piece Back with Ebony Fittings = love! <3333

 

You could always have the winners pay for some or all of their postage. Or maybe have everyone who wins chip in a set amount that goes towards all of the shipping, so no one person would be footing a large shipping bill. 

 

>__> I know the cheap shipping from China to the US was like $50 when I ordered clothing, so I would think that the weight of a packaged violin would be in that ball park for that half of the world.

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