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Hi everyone, my first post, sorry it's a negative one. Having bought a second hand violin on auction site, it was very very cheap, so took a punt.
I can see day light under most of the fingerboard and the hole fingerboard is canted to the E string, nut is also not level, looks like the neck wasn't planed level.
I intend to return for refund, I'm worried about the Stentor products, they seem to get glowing reviews. 
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Welcome to the forum @Longstride46 - sorry to hear about your purchase!
I'm not familiar with the Stentor range, other than yes, sure, I've heard them talked about and seem generally to be a reasonable beginner's outfit - in the sense of you-get-pretty-much-what-you-pay for.
I cannot believe what you are seeing there is representative of the original build by the company - if that was normal - they wouldn't sell any at all.
My own suspicion is that somewhere along the line (previous owner(s)) it has come to grief and suffered from a really, really poor home-made repair.
Return it !
And good luck with the next one !
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
Regulars
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I agree with Bill. It won't have come from the factory in that condition. Definitely looks like an amateur repair job.
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Thanks for replies, the more I look at it the more I agree this couldn't have left factory like this. The fingerboard projection is 23mm. I guess these entry level violins are best bought new and given a setup in the shop. Although how much reworking they would do must be very limited not to incur a premium
Oh well, at least I can blame my terrible beginners playing partly on the violin 
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Sorry for your trouble Longstride46. That in itself is not that big of a deal. Fingerboards are intentionally glued to be easy to remove if necessary. They are glued with hide glue and even come unglued when exposed to heat. As others have said, looks like a bad repair. Not enough pressure was made between the neck and fingerboard when they were gluing it back on. The fact that the fingerboard is leaning towards the E string is really not a terrible thing since the whole violin is designed to be lower on that side. Makes it easier to play as we bow on the right side.
That being said, I am not sticking up for Stentor products. We decided not to sell them because we saw too many problems that needed to be addressed.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Ah OK, the seller offered to do a partial refund, so ends up being £20, $26. Maybe I'll keep it it as a wall hanger.
I now have a hindersine Piacenza, sounds much better, not so bright, even with same strings Pro Arte. Also the finger positions don't have to shift towards the bridge to stay in tune as I play on higher strings.
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Hmm. glad to hear you at least got a partial refund.
Good luck with your new companion ! 
Heyyyy - out of interest - I notice you referred to the final cost as being quote "so ends up being £20, $26."
I see the pound-sign "£" - are you in the UK ????? We need MORE AND MORE UK SIDE members....
LOL - it could have been a typo of course... LOL
Let me know.... ( North of Scotland here )
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh -
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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I'm from the UK, sunny Norfolk. I must update my profile, bit lacking.
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COOL !!!! Another UK member !!!! 
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh -
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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Sounds like the seller was nice.
Glad to hear it. It might not be hard for you to get your money back on it later.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Very good seller, gave full refund, and I was able to keep as a free wall hanger.
My bad luck continued with the new violin, hindersine Piacenza.
The varnish is not cured, it's now covered in deep scratches, I think it's my finger nails, must have been full moon. I'm actually really careful with handling, but the varnish is very very soft and is not durable.
Chinrest was stuck, most of the varnish came off with it.
The set up is decent, apart from the pegs, don't really fit to far into the second hole, so they slip.
Its a shame, as it sounds so much better than the Stentor 2
This it's on its way back to the UK importer / distributor, the MD, CEO wants to inspect it.
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Longstride46 said
it was very very cheap,
If you buy very very cheap used violins, what more can you expect?
Good luck with the next violin.
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LOL @stet - and - feeling sad for @Longstride46 and the issues you are encountering.
My own most-recent fiddle purchase ( my 4th fiddle ! ) was off e-bay. All my others were purchased new ( well, one was a gift )
It cost all of 30 quid to me in the UK - around 48 dollars at the time of purchase ( exchange rates have slipped now )
As it happens, she is a 3/4 size fiddle. I normally play 4/4, but this seemed too good to miss - and I had been watching - and communicating - with sellers of other "possibles" for around 6 months before I decided on this one.
Here's a "blog/report" on the lady - https://fiddlerman.com/forum/f.....-purchase/
At £30 - well - I had maybe expected to take her apart for a "rebuild" - and to practice some luthier-ship on her - but - know what - she sounds so nice I can't bring myself to do it....
She ( Yabé ) although perfectly playable is not my "instrument of choice" - I'll generally play one of my other three - but - she does get at least a couple of hours exercise per week !
I wish you success in your quest to get "value for money" longstride... new kit should NOT be like that.
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh -
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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stet said
Longstride46 said
it was very very cheap,
If you buy very very cheap used violins, what more can you expect?
Good luck with the next violin.
Sorry, I should have said I obtained it very very cheaply due to lack of bidders in the auction. I didn't mean very very cheap in regards to quality, as I agree.. You expect trouble.
Honorary advisor
Regulars
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I think, even at $200 USD, it is still a gamble on what you will get for a violin.
The Cecilio CVN-500 I bought feels like a rather solid build, plays well, and sounds okay for a beginner instrument... but the varnish was a slop job. Still, it could have been worse, and the flame patters are really nice, better than the the flame patters I had seen on the demo models.
After I get a better violin, I may see about doing some work on my Cecilio, to see if I can remove that bad varnish job and add a better one... although it might be better, for that job, to have someone that is experienced at varnish work do it. I can't learn how to do it myself if I let someone else do the work for me though.
I like doing things myself. Quite often, I do a decent job at whatever I put some effort into doing.
MACJR
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