Well went to The Violin Shop in Nashville and purchased my first violin. Fred Carpenter himself helped me choose one. He actually played about 6 violins in my price range and I picked what I thought was the best sounding one and he agreed. It was a china model and the sound was awesome. He said said the one that I purchased was set up as the Nashville special and they are one of the top selling models. So for just under 600 dollars I walked out with everything. Violin, fiberglass bow, chin rest, shoulder rest, rosin, and inside the case violin humidifier. Now I have to find a teacher. In the meantime, I've found the notes for twinkle twinkle just playing around. Also learned most of 'The story of a soldier'. Of course I can't play them worth nothing. But I found the notes by picking first then applying the bow. I scared the cats and the dogs almost bit me.  Anyways I need to find some printable scales and I'm going to download Fiddlerman's fingerboard charts so I can learn the scales and find the notes by heart. Hopefully I can find a teacher real soon. I could use a lot of help on the basics. For now I love picking the notes to songs one at time. What a beautiful instrument.