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I have 2 violins. One was made in China, I take it with me to practice when im away from home, with my job that's almost the only time I have to practice. When I'm home I play a Maggini copy, it's about a 1/2 inch longer and a little wider than a standard violin. It's my favorite one of the two to play. It's older combined with the larger size gives it a deeper sound. I have new Dominant strings coming for it next week. Can't wait to see how it sounds after I put them on.
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Cool, hopefully, and probably, it will sound better. Personally I like to use a steel A and E but the Dominant G and D always work great for me.
At one point I was looking for a great Italian instrument in the hundreds of thousands of dollars price range, the orchestra I played in payed for those expensive instrument mortgages, and was surprised by how many of those were set up with Dominant. They are tried and proven strings.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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I have an old violin. It has really nice wood on the back and sides and it's shiny. I really like that about it but I want an electric violin, too. I also think it's time to get a new bow- mine is black at the bottom and it's missing a piece.
So far I'm satisfied with my $180 CVN 500 
$100,000 ~ $300,000? Maybe when i win a super huge jackpot
How much would a copy of the following violins cost these day, approximately?
- The Bertolotti Gasparo da Salò family, active 1530–1615 in Salò and Brescia
- Giovanni Paolo Maggini, active 1600–1630 in Brescia
- The Amati family, active 1500–1740 in Cremona, Italy
- The Guarneri family, active 1626–1744 in Cremona
- The Stradivari family, active 1644–1737 in Cremona
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Copies are not expensive. Most of the cheap violins are Stradivarius copies. They basically copy the shapes. So I am quite certain that your $180 CVN has the same shape as the Strad.
However, these are bad copies as apposed to those made completely by hand from blocks of wood to finish by skilled luthiers. So to answer your question, new copies of these instruments can cost between $50 and $30,000 depending on the name of the Luthier and old copies can cost up in the hundreds of thousands depending on the name as well. There were great Italian masters that copied these fiddles in all the decades.
Happy to hear that you are happy with your CVN-500, I wasn't sure that you were.
Have you contacted KK music store about switching to a 1/4 size yet for your daughter?
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Honorary advisor
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I am thinking of upgrading. As hard as I try, I can't get consistently good tone from the D string. There is one sweet spot close to the bridge where it sounds half way decent. If the bow strays just a little bit toward the fingerboard, it whistles and squeaks. And forget about playing softly on D. What do you think about the Nagano Suzuki student violins? I just want something with steady, even, musical sound. The $100 violin I have showed me exactly what I wanted to see. Yes, I want to play the violin. That is the reason I bought it. I am pretty sure I am not to blame for all of the unusual sounds emanating from my instrument. I can take the blame for most of them...lol. I am going to take my time and shop around, actually hold and play the instrument if possible.
Dave
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Good luck on finding the perfect instrument. Don't be in a hurry. Take your time and do it right.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Honorary advisor
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Well I wouldn't say perfect. I am sure you are still looking for the perfect instrument...lol
I am going to take my time and practice too!
Dave
Regular advisor
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Great idea David my Chinese fiddle has the same issue. My Maggini is so much better than the chinese fiddle. I have to play the chinese fiddle more than the other one so, when I get a chance to play the Maggini it's a treat. Good luck on your quest to find the fiddle that fits you.
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My parents bought me a Julian Britain "Da Capo" recently which is a good starter violin. I like it a lot but I can't say I have played on many violins to compare it to. I use to rent violins from my school but I do not care for them at all.
My grandfather from Italy has a really nice violin it is a Fein and Riva from Sardinia, Italy. It sounds and plays like a dream. He told me when I am older and I really get good, it's mine!
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That sounds like a plan. You get great and do his violin honor.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Fiddlerman, the KK told me to return it to Amazon.com, I will do that. I asked them what are the difference between MV500 and cvn 500, they said, "The difference between Mendini and Cecilio is Cecilio is better. Better in craftsmeship which produces a better sound quality. Mendini is a lower line of Cecilio and is made by Cecilio." so i will purchase a cvn 500 1/4 size for my daughter.
Paul, when you said your Chinese fiddle, did you mean your fiddle is made in China? it's a little confusing for me because a Chinese fiddle to me is a two-string instrument. Is your meggini a viola but uses violin strings?
I have only played on two violins -- the first one as I said I just played a tune on it and this cvn 500, so i don't even know how to compare. In addition, when the violin is under your ear, it really sounds different than what I have heard before. Maybe in the future when I hear enough I will be better able to compare.
Regular advisor
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pky,
Yes it was made in china I bought it second hand. Its an inexpensive low quality instrument. I travel in my car for my job, so when I get a chance to practice it's usually between appointments where ever I can find a place to stop. I take because I don't want to subject my other one to the temperature changes in the car.
The other one is a Maggini violin copy. The original Maggini's where made standard size and are very rare. Most of the copies where made about 3/8 to a 1/2 longer.
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David Burns said:
I am thinking of upgrading. As hard as I try, I can't get consistently good tone from the D string. There is one sweet spot close to the bridge where it sounds half way decent. If the bow strays just a little bit toward the fingerboard, it whistles and squeaks. And forget about playing softly on D. What do you think about the Nagano Suzuki student violins? I just want something with steady, even, musical sound. The $100 violin I have showed me exactly what I wanted to see. Yes, I want to play the violin. That is the reason I bought it. I am pretty sure I am not to blame for all of the unusual sounds emanating from my instrument. I can take the blame for most of them...lol. I am going to take my time and shop around, actually hold and play the instrument if possible.
Dave
That is the same problem with mine except my trouble is the A string. Why is this??? I can make it sound somewhat decent, but it certainly is not easy. It takes extreme focus. I tried someone elses violin once and it was no problem so it leaves me thinking something is wrong with mine. I do not know much about my violin. A friend picked it up at a flea market and it is actually thier violin, I just use it! If you look in the F-hole it has the beatuiful signature of the luthier and the year and month- 11, 1925.
Overall I like this violin and feel it has a mysterious history. But I would like to get that A string working better!
Any ideas??? 
SanSkritA
SanSkritA
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David Burns said:
I am thinking of upgrading. As hard as I try, I can't get consistently good tone from the D string. There is one sweet spot close to the bridge where it sounds half way decent. If the bow strays just a little bit toward the fingerboard, it whistles and squeaks. And forget about playing softly on D. What do you think about the Nagano Suzuki student violins? I just want something with steady, even, musical sound. The $100 violin I have showed me exactly what I wanted to see. Yes, I want to play the violin. That is the reason I bought it. I am pretty sure I am not to blame for all of the unusual sounds emanating from my instrument. I can take the blame for most of them...lol. I am going to take my time and shop around, actually hold and play the instrument if possible.
Dave
That is the same problem with mine except my trouble is the A string. Why is this??? I can make it sound somewhat decent, but it certainly is not easy. It takes extreme focus. I tried someone elses violin once and it was no problem so it leaves me thinking something is wrong with mine. I do not know much about my violin. A friend picked it up at a flea market and it is actually thier violin, I just use it! If you look in the F-hole it has the beatuiful signature of the luthier and the year and month- 11, 1925.
Overall I like this violin and feel it has a mysterious history. But I would like to get that A string working better!
Any ideas???
SanSkritA
SanSkritA
You might try difference weight strings, maybe "light".
"A" can be a common problem. Some companies, like Pirastro, may include a tiny white rubber donut which goes on the bridge and acts as a damper for the "A". Your other mechanical possibility is to use a tourte mute on the "A". Does not mute much but can make a big difference in sound.
Then too there is the eternal sound post setting but I neither encourage or discourage a trip to the luthier. (I personally would rather go to a Dentist.)
For what it is worth. I have never had a set of strings where I really liked the "D" and the "A" but I have learned to adjust sounding points which helps a little.
It is also possible that you might be happier with a completely different set of strings but that can be costly.
Do you know that you can buy one string at a time? You don't have to buy a set.
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There are so many reasons for this to happen. Oliver's suggestion is a good one and easy as well. Experiment with the different tensions available for the strings you use. Light, medium and hard.
Sound-posts and placement, can affect the violin enormously and the wood in the bridge as well. Some say that a violin with tight year rings should have soft wood and the ones with wider softer year rings should have tight rings on the bridge. The feet should fit PERFECTLY on the belly of the violin and too much wood in the bridge is not good. Too little will not be strong enough and the bridge will eventually warp from all the pressure. The list goes on and on. If you have a good luthier in the area just show it to him or her for an opinion without making any hasty decisions to spend a lot of money.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Honorary advisor
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Well, I went and did it. I bought a new violin. Well new to me, it is 3 years old. I bought it from Manchester Music. The people who worked on my other violin. I was able to hold, inspect, play, and listen to the different violins being displayed. I gave them a price range and they showed me several, including one way out of my price range. The prices were not visible and they just wanted to see if I would like that one. It looked like it had been in a war! But the sound was beautiful. It was about $8000 more than I wanted to spend...lol.
I bought a Helmke. It sounds sooooo much better than my other one. Even my son told me he could hear the difference and he wasn't even really paying attention!
It came with all steel strings and it sounded very nice, I had to put those Dominants on it. Very mellow and warm, I love it! I left the E with the string that came with it, it sounded very nice. I will make a video tomorrow with me butchering something. With any luck you may be able to identify what I am playing...lol
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