My partner asked me what the differences were between a beginner violin and an advanced violin. We happened to be at my parents house where I have all the violins my brother and I graduated into and out of, so I rounded a couple of them up and laid them side-by-side and prepared to do some in-depth technical 'splainin.

But when I opened my mouth all that came out was, "the most important thing is to graduate from a violin with plain round black pegs to a violin with decorative brown or tan pegs with a scalloped shape, nobbies at the ends, and a bit of lathe work on the spindles...and some black trim on the tail-piece..that's real classy and stuff."