On tone and technique:

* Good tone takes a lot of practice to develop. It requires a relaxed, flexible bow hand, and you may have to develop muscles you have not used for anything else.

* How you apply weight to the bow on the string is crucial. It's common for beginners to raise their elbow too high and press the bow into the string, which creates excess muscle tension in the shoulders and can result in a scratchy sound. Instead, the elbow should be in the same plane as the bow and string, or a bit lower if you need more weight on the string.

* Vibrato is not typically taught until you have good basic technique and consistently good intonation, because it requires a relaxed hand and because it can mask intonation problems. A lot of adult beginners want to rush into it because it's something the pros are obviously doing differently from them, but it's really not the secret to good tone as so many beginners believe. Music from the Baroque and Classical eras is performed with very little vibrato, with tone quality controlled almost entirely with the bow.

On equipment:

* First, a caveat: I have zero experience with Fiddlerman instruments or bows, because the last time I shopped for any instrument or bow was before Fiddlershop existed. So I can't speak to specifics about what you have, but I think most of the general ideas apply.

* In most cases, when you're in the student range, you can expect to get more benefit from upgrading the bow than from upgrading the instrument. That said, carbon fiber has been a real game-changer in terms of making decent bows more affordable. You can probably get something suitable for any conceivable amateur use for under $300.

* Note that your bow will be an ongoing expense, as it needs to be rehaired from time to time. If you're practicing regularly, a rehair will probably be needed about once a year (twice a year if you live somewhere with large seasonal variations in humidity), and depending on where you live it can cost anywhere from about $45 to $80. This assumes, of course, that it doesn't cost more to rehair your bow than to replace it. But if replacing the bow is the cheaper option, that says something about the materials used in the bow, and I would suggest that an upgrade is very worthwhile.

* About the fine tuners: many players prefer not to have fine tuners if possible, because they increase the weight of the tailpiece which affects the sound. However, because virtually all violin E strings and viola A strings are steel, which is not as stretchy as synthetic or gut strings, they cannot be tuned precisely without fine tuners.

* I personally prefer traditional pegs over geared pegs because, when well-fitted, they can be tuned faster than geared pegs (less motion required). It is also easier to replace strings with traditional pegs. However, geared pegs are a clear upgrade over poorly-fitted or low-quality traditional pegs that stick or slip, and are also much easier to use if you are still training your ears.

* Viola size is highly personal. Most violists try to go for the largest size that they can play comfortably (comfortably is the key word here), and that depends on a number of factors such as arm length, hand size, and body shape. Also, there are a variety of viola shapes that affect playability and tone. Although larger violas tend to sound deeper and project more, it is only a tendency; craftsmanship matters just as much. It isn't too hard to find excellent violas down to about 15". I play a 15.75" viola and, though smaller than average, it easily projects over an orchestra. In fact, many professional violists start their careers on 16.5" or larger violas and downsize to the 15.5"-16" range as they get older.

* Unfortunately, the only way to find the right strings for your viola is trial and error. Because no two pieces of wood are the same, no two violas are the same, even if they are the same model. I see that the Fiddlerman Concert viola commonly ships with Prelude strings; although those are relatively warm for steel strings, all steel strings are brighter than average. If you're trying to find the strings that work best, I would recommend starting with a neutral string near the middle of the spectrum (either Dominant or Tonica). With each routine string change, think about how you might want to change the tone -- you can refer to string charts that are found on several websites -- and after a few string changes you'll probably have settled on something that works well for you. I don't really believe in spending a lot of extra money testing a lot of different strings at once, because routine string changes will get you there soon enough. (Besides, it takes time to break in new strings, so testing a lot of strings at once is very time-consuming.)

@Irv and @Gordon Shumway , the vast majority of viola A strings are steel. I believe there are a few synthetic A strings on the market, but all of the popular string sets have steel A strings, and all of the commonly substituted A strings are steel as well. Thus a fine tuner is almost always necessary.