[bkepler]

My violin advice for anyone new to the instrument is to do business with a violin shop. If you don’t have a local violin shop, go to Shar Music online. You can call them and they’ll give you great guidance because it’s what they do. As others have mentioned, there’s a lot of great stuff to be had in the sub $1k range. Search this section as I, and others, have written pretty extensively about beginning violins (I’m still enjoying my Glasser Carbon Composite fiddle). A couple of points I’ll reiterate here are, don’t skimp on the bow. Really. Plan to spend at least $80 on a decent bow. Also, don’t get sticker shock when it comes time for strings. Even fiddling, you’ll want a decent string. A very popular fiddle string is the D’Addario Helicore, which typically runs somewhere around $30 a set. My wood violin plays well with the D’Addario Zyex strings at about $35 a set. A couple of decent beginner strings are Thomastik Alphayue strings and D’Addario Ascenté strings, usually right below $20 a set. Do yourself a favor and skip Red Labels, Preludes, or anything else like that.
Pro Tip: Shar Music occasionally sells off their rental fleet at steep discounts.