Hello everyone!

I am new here, and lost! I played violin in school, 4th grade til high school. Fell in with a bad crowd and sold my violin to buy drugs. Not a good trade, kind of a trade deficit! That was 35 years ago. The other day I picked up a violin for the first time in that many years. I remembered "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and the feeling that resonated through me was electric. I had to have a violin. I went on Amazon and looked at violins. I did not want to spend an arm and a leg. I saw the Cecilio brand, looked at several models and settled for the blue ebony fitted one. After the purchase, I searched $100 violin and found Fiddlerman's video review of the black Cecilio $100 violin. It seems I made a somewhat good buy. My violin just got here this afternoon, when I got home from work, I unpacked it. I was and still am a little disappointed in the paint job. There are a few places where there is no blue paint, just white primer, mainly in the "f" holes. There is also one spot on the "waist" of the body. The strings were installed at the factory and were loose, a good sign. I began by checking the placement of the bridge, it was too far forward. I moved it back, lining it up with the center notches in the "f" holes. I tried to keep it canted back just a bit as I put some tension on the "A" string and the "G" string. Getting this thing in tune was somewhat of a b****! I guess it could have been worse, the body did not creak or moan or crack and I did not break any strings. These strings must stretch very much! I got "A" and "E" in tune, just a bit high. I got "D" and "G" pretty close but low. I applied rosin to the bow and played scales on "A" and "E" with pretty heavy bow pressure, I figured I would stretch these babies out. After five mins the two strings were way low, I tuned "D" and "G" to just a bit high and tightened the other two strings just a bit. I twisted the pegs back and forth while pushing in on them before trying to tune. While tuning I also put a lot of pressure in on the pegs. I have not had any trouble with them slipping. It took about an hour and a half for the strings to stop stretching and it will now hold tune. To my abused hearing this thing sounds pretty good, I just wish I could remember how to read music! I cannot believe I used to read this stuff! I am looking at symbols and notations and I have no clue what I am looking at! I just wanted to say thank you to Fiddlerman for putting up this site and taking the time to teach...to give to others the joy of music!

Thank you Fiddlerman!

Dave