Just got a Fiddlerman Concert Violin. So here is my initial impression.

I've only touched 5 violins total in my life, this one is by far the best.

The first is a Mendini and I don't need to go into the quality of that.

The second is a Yamaha student violin. It was stiff, but the action on the fingerboard was much better. A little better sounding than the Mendini, but not much. I should mention that's the Mendini with Pro Arte strings.

The third and fourth are $450 and $550 dollar student violins. They had painted on perfling and they both sounded dead and lifeless.

That takes us to the concert. They weight is lighter than the first two, and about the same as the next two violins.

The varnish looks good. There are few imperfections, but they don't look bad. They give the violin character. The only better looking violin might have been the Yamaha. But it actually seemed kinda plastic, too perfect.

The scroll is a scroll. Call me when somebody puts a mermaid at the top of a violin, until then, I've never seen anything that thrills me. No color inside the the box that I can see.

The pegs worked perfectly. They took more force then I'm used to, but they didn't just go out of control when they got moving, and they held when they got to where I put them.

The neck was slightly narrower than any of the others, it made reaching across really easy, but I'll have to learn to be more careful with my fat fingers.

The finger boards is a good ebony. I don't have to press down hard to get a good sound, so the strings pop back up quickly. I can even get good sound with my pinky. The curve on the fingerboard is really good. I didn't realize before that the curve could make hitting all the strings easier, but, it was obvious once I tried the Concert Violin.

The bridge is made of a higher quality wood than any of the others. It has the little colored flecks I see in more expensive ones when I look online. I'm guessing that's due to a denser wood. I'm not sure.

The fine tuners turn smooth.

The whole instrument stays up on the air with much less effort than any of the other violins. I'm able to better use my left hand.

All in all, I'm very happy with this instrument.

Also, there was an extra set of Zyex strings in the case. I'm guessing that's the surprise Fiddlerman mentioned. Thanks a lot for them, I really appreciate it.