MrYikes said
It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to get pegs turning well in their holes.  The violin he purchased is a decent quality violin and the pegs worked very well when it was new.  It has been sitting in a closet for x number of years without being touched.  The pegs need some exercise.  Throwing money at a new hobby is fun, but that's how his violin ended up in the closet in the first place.

  

It really depends. That may be true if the instrument has been sitting for a relatively short time (say, up to two or three years). But the longer it has been sitting without turning the pegs, the higher the likelihood that the pegs need to be replaced or refitted because they have deformed -- and that would most likely cost more than it did to buy the violin in the first place. Also, the pegs themselves may have been poorly fitted. If common DIY solutions like peg compound don't solve the problem, and it doesn't resolve itself after a week or two of playing, then refitting may be needed.

Also note that, because violins are made with natural materials, two violins of the exact same brand and model may be vastly different in quality. This is especially true of factory violins, which are made to a pattern that ignores the natural variations in wood.

In my view, the minimum basic checklist for a beginner violin outfit is:

* Pegs and fine tuners work properly and do not slip or stick

* Bridge feet are flush against top plate when bridge is in proper location

* Strings are not too high above fingerboard

* No warping in fingerboard, bridge, or bow

* Bow hair has even tension and can be tightened without the bow going straight or pulling to one side

Defects in any of the above make a violin difficult to play and can easily cost over $100 to fix. They are really not worth tolerating if you can afford to buy something that functions better. Note that none of the list is about tone, and most reputable shops offer at least some inexpensive instruments that satisfy all the basic requirements.

I'm not saying that it's necessary to throw money at it in order to learn -- I just think it's a mistake to dismiss problems with basic functionality that someone has reported actually having.

Did I ever suggest that anyone has to spend that much? Please re-read. Two of the violins that OP is considering are in the $300-400 range. I wrote out a basic checklist that one should expect even in a cheap violin, mostly things a beginner can inspect for without necessarily being able to play, and that you can find for under $200 if you shop carefully.

I'm not the one who's telling someone that he's wrong to have made plans to upgrade.

I'm also not the one who's insisting, sight unseen, that someone should continue to fight a problem that may well be (often is) an actual defect and not easily fixable. Note that I qualified my statement with an "if" -- if the pegs are still causing problems after trying the usual solutions, and giving them time to get moving again, why continue to fight them?

You do probably have much more experience with less expensive violins, as I've only ever owned one violin. But I've played some; I've tested old student violins that a surprising number of my friends have recovered from long years in storage (so I've seen some truly horrible pegs), and I've been the more experienced player going to shops with two people who were buying their first violins.

I actually think we agree more than we disagree -- I'm in total agreement with you that beginners can't buy good tone. And I think the OP got a pretty good bargain at $100 for a decent student violin whose only real problem seems to be bad pegs. I mostly wanted to point out that there are indeed good reasons for a beginner to want to upgrade very quickly, not so much for tone but for playability issues that may frustrate a new learner and may be expensive to fix.