Beginning Fiddle- sources for purchase, advice

[geddins]

Hello all,
My stepdaughter (20) is looking to buy a fiddle. She's decided she can't live without learning, LOL. She's been playing guitar for about 3 years and while she's progressed nicely, she just wants to expand.

I have ZERO fiddle experience, and thought I'd ask here if anyone can point me to some good resources where I could help her find a good one to start on. She's going to be taking lessons from a guy local to her, but even some playing resources would be great. Any and all help/advice appreciated.

She'd prefer to start with a budget model (she's still a full-time college student who works full time) to make sure she's going to stay with it.

Thanks in advance.

Greg

[posternutbag]

First, when starting fiddle/violin, a teacher is invaluable, so you have a very good start. I cannot stress enough how important good instruction in the fundamentals, posture, left hand, bow hold, general bowing is.

With regard to an instrument, my advice is to rent for the first year. Your violin teacher will likely have a recommendation about where to rent, but if not, I have had good success with J.R. Judd in Pennsylvania.

www.jrjuddviolins.com


There are several reasons I recommend renting from a reputable string shop, and by reputable string shop, I mean a shop that specializes in string instruments, not a guitar shop with a lone fiddle hanging on the wall, and not a store that rents middle school band instruments.

1) When buying sight unseen, you can usually trust a quality string shop to have selected decent instruments and provided good setup. Both of these are critical.

Do not be seduced by $50 fiddles on ebay and amazon. Not all Chinese violins are of poor quality (Eastman and Shen make instruments ranging from solid beginner fiddles right up to very nice intermediate level instruments that would be suitable for high school orchestra), but a beginner will not be able to discern the fine details that differentiate a quality instrument from junk.

Setup, setup, setup. I can't stress this enough. A setup on a violin is far more comprehensive than on a guitar. It will involve planing the fingerboard, fitting tuning pegs to the peg box, setting the sound post, replacing the bridge, fitting and setting the bridge feet and carving the shape of the bridge so that it has enough curve to allow single notes but not so much that it prevents double stops.

2) Renting is actually, usually a pretty good deal because you can rent a nice instrument without a large initial outlay, and most, if not all of your rental money can be applied towards the purchase of an instrument down the line, once you are certain that violin is something you will stick with.


Do not skimp on a bow. Guitarists complain about a $35 Blue Chip pick.... Violin bows can cost as much as very nice Martin. A good beginner bow will cost at least $50 or so, and if you can step up to a nice bow Like a Eastman Cadenza ($120) or a even better a Coda Prodigy ($299) so much the better.

If I were putting together a kit for my child, I would go with:
Eastman model 305 ($999) with case and a Coda Prodigy bow ($299)

but for a lot less money, you could go with:
Eastman Model 200 with case and an Eastman Cadenza bow.

You will also need rosin and a shoulder rest (and a mute), but these can be bought a the store that sells middle school band instruments.

[geddins]

Thanks so much for that info...just what we needed! I'll have her check on the availability of rentals...but she's in a pretty small town, so I'd be surprised if that's an option for her. But I do like the idea!

I'll check out the link and do some digging. Again...thanks so much for that!

[georg]

There are some really inexpensive fiddles on ebay, and there is a fiddle bow that's up for bid for $6.89.

I bought a fiddle on ebay, and I'm happy with it. I don't have access to a teacher, so I'm learning through youtube and the ___Fiddle for Dummies___ book.

[georg]

For what it's worth, I got rid of the chin rest on the fiddle and the shoulder rest. I'm learning to play the fiddle like the masters did in the 1800s and 1900s. Check this out---> http://www.learningfiddle.com/old-time-fiddling/

And check out this ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kldKMwijNfw

[georg]

Lastly, my fiddle is a bona fide FIDDLE in that it has the traditional rattle snake rattle in it! I bought a rattle snake rattle in ebay. Gosh, it took a long time to stuff the rattle through one of the fiddle's f-holes. But I finally got it in. I couldn't fit all the rattle in though, but I got most of it in the fiddle. So, now I'm guaranteed to have good luck!

[geddins]

Thanks Georg, that's good stuff as well. She's definitely on a budget, and she's not sure she'll stick with it. I believe she's found someone relatively close who works at a store that sells some stringed instruments that is going to let her come up and take a look and feel on some fiddles.

PS...I love the rattle in the F-hole!

[posternutbag]

Originally Posted by geddins

Thanks so much for that info...just what we needed! I'll have her check on the availability of rentals...but she's in a pretty small town, so I'd be surprised if that's an option for her. But I do like the idea!

I'll check out the link and do some digging. Again...thanks so much for that!

I have rented from JR Judd twice (violin and cello) and made two purchases (violin and double bass) all via mail. In fact, I have never set foot in the shop.