bfurman  I am having fun with it, it's aloveypiece and and challenging which is good. I did that with book 3, once I was near the end I went back to the first few, it was nice and relaxing to play things that I thought were challenging in the past but didn't look hard when I went back to them.  

Thanks @damfino!  Maybe she is jealous, i didn't think of that.

Thanks @billyg! Oh don't worry, i won't let other peoples negativity stop me.  I'll just keep going until i get better, until i get so good that i change her mind about my playing.

Happily it looks a lot like my estimated tax return is going to cover the purchase of a new violin, case AND bow!  So now i've got the hard task of choosing.  I've narrowed down my choices to two: (i know i want to use rosewood fittings)

The first is this beauty http://fiddlershop.com/instrum.....iolin.html

the other is this one http://fiddlershop.com/instrum.....model.html

In the fiddlerman videos and reviews they both sound so different, the kreisler is light and almost playful, it's tone sounds sweet.  The cannon is loud and not harsh but powerful; it also sounds soft, not as light and fruity as the kreisler but almost melancholy when it's played quieter.  I like both of them.  When i first looked at the kreisler i thought "that's my upgrade violin right there!", then fiddlerman added the cannon to his shop and something about it struck me.  

The violin i have now is shouty, that's the best way i can describe it; it has almost no quiet and soft, trying to play lightly results in screeches or not a great sound to be honest.  It doesn't sound loud in the videos but i always feel like it's yelling at me, i quite like that about it almost like it won't be quieted.  When i play with my teacher mines the one that overpowers the whole thing.  Sometimes not a good thing.  This is mostly a decision i have to make but with so much cash being spent on it i don't want to make the wrong choice for me.  

 Ugh, decisions decisions!  Luckily i have a little while to mull it over, i haven't put my tax return in yet and probably won't for a few weeks then i'll have to wait on the money coming back to me.  Although, once i know a definite amount my credit card will probably try to get me to but ahead of the cash return coming and then just pay off the card.  Credit cards are sneaky like that!

Jols said
@mischa91 thank you for sharing your video!  It saddens me to hear that such negative comments would come from your mom, but I am glad that you do not let that stop you from doing something that you love to do. Your cats enjoyed listening to you, they kept sneaking into the room while you were playing! Hopefully, your mom will too some day :).

Good luck with upgrading your violin!

Thanks!  I think my cats do like to listen to me practice, the little white one usually comes and sits by me when I play, probably so she can get scritches but maybe also to hear the music.  

Hopefuly the upgrade will happen in the next few weeks.  

Fiddlerman said
Our Amati copy is one of my favorite models. Unfortunately, we do run out of models and must wait. I can look into the availability for you and set a good one aside. We have 4 workshops that make instruments exclusively for us in China. Small workshops can only produce a certain amount of instruments but it's the way we like it. We've also had experience with bigger workshops that do everything in their power to keep up but the quality suffers greatly.

I heard a video you played and the sound is so rich, just lovely.  I was wondering if at some point you wouldn't mind doing a comparison video of the 3 i can't decide between?  I an looking at the gcv kreisler, gcv cannon and the amati.   Luckily i've got time to wait, i'm still waiting on my tax return, i sent it a month ago but it could be another month before the money comes along.

@damfino yes! the clicks really put me off.  I've tried counting with my foot but seem to either speed up or slow down, how annoying!!  I've waited since i was 18ish to get a lovely new violin, my first 1 was a sad pathetic skylark and i quite like the suzuki i have now, but a new one, a better quality one would be lovely and will be mine!

@billyg,  I played my skylark for 5 YEARS!!!  Paid 35 british pounds for it when i was 13 and just starting to learn.  I do still have it, after high school it lived in my parents attic while i was at uni, and my brothers friends got to it and messed it up, broke the tail piece, the SP is down and floating, the strings all snapped.  Mine is a 3/4 and when i decided to get back into the violin i figured anything was better than that thing.  It has sentimental value if no real value, i played in an orchestra on that piece of junk.  I can't fault the skylark for it's longevity though, i dropped mine several times, it skittered down a concrete road and still managed to survive (no matter how hard i tried to kill it)

Right now it's in my wardrobe, at some point i'll fix it up enough to hang on a wall as art and to remind me that everyone starts somewhere.  After 5 years on that and over a year on my suzuki i think i've earned that new violin.  

I understand about wanting to keep your first instrument, mine was a stupid little keyboard, very basic but i learned the notes on it.  I don't have it, have no idea what happened to it, but i'm glad my first violin made the journey across the pond with me, even if it's unplayable now.  

Naming an instrument is personal, i don't have any ideas for you sorry  My electric is Cas and my suzuki is Nicolo.  I hope when the new one comes along i'll be able to give it a nice strong name.