My 9 years old kid start to take the music class in school, and he pick violin as the instrument, I realize that it is much a difference of the price even for student, the local music store sell the violin for at least $180, but the big store like Target only sell it for $99, what is the difference between their product, besides the basic service I can get from the local music store, what is the value add I can get from their product. What is the pro and con for them.
Please give me your experience or suggestions, thanks.
Frankly, any violin you get for less than $250 is going to be a piece of junk, not to mention any violin is going to be hard to re-sell when he grows out of it in a few years – chances are he’s not ready for the full size yet. I suggest renting a violin – you can rent a better one than you can buy, it’s a lot cheaper, and if he sticks with it you can get him a good one in a few years when he’s ready for a full-size.
‘Cheap’ violins (which both of these almost certainly are) have poor sound, poor set up, and have trouble staying in tune, all of which will just lead to frustrate your son.