1. The Maker
2. The Wood
3. The Varnish
4. The Size
5. The Price

1. The Maker: Where is the violin of your interest made and by whom? What is the reputation of that particular violin maker and for how long has he been in the violin business? Are there any buyer reviews available online? There are several forums, blogs, and review websites available on the Internet that should make your research very easy and bring out the truth about the violin maker you are interested in. If you choose to buy a violin online, extend your research and try to find out what the reputation of the online violin store is. Try to contact the store via phone, email or filling in a form that is available online and see what kind of response you get; try to see how fast, how friendly, how accurate, how knowledgeable, how useful the response you got was. All these elements of the online communication should give you clues about how your overall violin buying experience is going to be. I have recently tried to get an opinion on two violins from two different violin makers, and the response I got from a music store was this: “…the sound of a violin, as you know, is not standard. Each violin has its own tone and sound, and even the instruments made by the same maker, with wood from the same tree, can have a very different sound. Nothing compares with a violin made in a traditional European violin workshop. Europe has a great history and tradition in violin making and also has the best wood in the world. There is no accident that the most famous violins in history were made in Europe…”

2. The Wood: the wood used in violin making is of vital importance for the sound of the instrument. I would say with a high degree of confidence that the European wood is the best when it comes to instruments that need high quality resonance wood. Violins are traditionally made of flamed maple and resonance spruce. This is the traditional combination that most violin makers use. The top of the violin is made of resonance spruce. The back, the sides, and the neck of the violin are made of famed maple. The accessories (chin rest, tailpiece, pegs, and fingerboard) are made of ebony. The wood must be naturally dried up, in the open, to naturally achieve the perfect internal balance that will prevent the violin from cracking in the future. Wood is a material that changes its dimensions based on fluctuations in external temperature and humidity conditions. Here is an excerpt from an email I got from a reputable violin maker: “The wood we use at the construction of our violins has been dried up for several years, out in the open. It witnessed the succession of the four seasons several times and was exposed to direct weather, temperature, and humidity changes for a very long time. In hot summers the wood lost water and lowered its dimensions. In rainy autumn days, it absorbed water from the air and increased its dimensions. In cold winter days it froze, and preserved its dimensions, trying to find balance. After a few cycles of successive dimensional changes, the wood got to the point where it reached an internal balance, and all internal tensions at the molecular level disappeared. If there were any tensions in the wood that would cause cracks, those would have affected the wood in the manufacturing process, when the wood was severely “abused”. It almost never happens that a finished violin experiences cracks due to wood aging. Cracks can appear by exposing the instrument to sudden and extreme changes in temperature and humidity, but those changes should be really extreme to favor such an extreme response.”
3. The Varnish: String instruments in general, and violins in particular, can be finished with either nitro or oil varnish. My recommendation is to choose the violins finished with oil varnish. While the nitro varnish is sprayed on the violins, the oil varnish is applied manually, with a brush. The varnish is applied in several coats, regardless of the nature of the varnish. Before applying the next coat, the previous one has to dry completely. The difference between the oil varnish and the nitro varnish is that the nitro varnish dries up very quickly, and the next coat is applied within 10-20 minutes. The oil varnish takes longer to dry out, up to 24 hours, and after each coat, the varnished is leveled with a very fine sand paper, operation which ensures a homogenous distribution of the varnish and a perfect adherence of the varnish to the body of the violin. No air particles are allowed in the varnish applied on top of the violins, and the sanding phase ensures this. A violin can have 8-10 coats of oil varnish applied to it, but they all are extremely thin and light. The oil varnish has overall superior qualities. It has a better resistance and behavior in time. The oil varnish is very elastic and can take the dimensional changes of the wood very well. The nitro varnish, due to its limited elasticity, will crack if exposed to sudden changes in temperature and humidity. For example, if a violin finished with nitro varnish is stored in a room where the temperature is very high, the wood will dry out, which means it will loose water, and its dimensions will reduce. If a violin finished with oil varnish is stored in the same room, under the same temperature and humidity conditions, you will not notice anything. The oil varnish will follow the same pattern and will adjust its size accordingly. Unlike the oil varnish, the nitro varnish, due to its lack of elasticity, cannot lower or increase its dimensions, and it will simply crack.
4. The Size: Violin are made in several standard sizes that will accommodate violin players of different ages and arm lengths. In order to establish the correct violin size that you need, you need to extend your right arm and measure the length from your neck to the middle of your palm.
   Here is a chart that will help you determine the correct size, based on your measurement:

   Arm length	Recommended Violin Size
   23″ or more	4/4 (full size)
   22″	3/4
   20″	1/2
   18″	1/4
   16″	1/8
   15″	1/10
   14″	1/16

5. The Price: The price is not always a reflection of quality in the violins’ world, and I am sure all violin owners have come to this conclusion. Here is how the same violin store that I quoted above explains the pricing difference between the several violins they carry in their store: “The difference between the several violins in our store stays in the quality of the wood, the workmanship, and the set up. The price is a reflection of all factors, summed up. The better the wood, the workmanship, and the set up, the higher the sound quality, and the higher the price. We go progressively from $100 violins to $2,000 violins, to cover a very broad clientele, with different playing skills, sound quality needs, and budgets.”

Another problem that seems to preoccupy a lot those who are in the market for a violin is whether they should buy a violin that has a one piece back or one that has a two piece back. Well, there is no right answer for this concern. In my opinion, it is exclusively a matter of personal preference. The one piece back violins are very much appreciated for their visual impact. Also, they are rarer, which is another factor that matters in some people’s eyes. From a playability and performance point of view, there is no difference between the one piece back and the two piece back violins. The one piece back violins are usually priced higher, but not because they deliver a better performance; just because they are more difficult to find.

Speaking of sound, many people want to know what makes a violin sound good. Well, there are a few elements that contribute to the sound of a violin: the wood, the workmanship, the finishing style, and the set up.
The price is not always a reflection of quality in the violins’ world, and I am sure all violin owners have come to this conclusion. The price of a violin should be a reflection of all factors listed above. A higher priced violin should mean a better wood, better workmanship, better finishing style, and better set up, and in the end, a better sound.

By better wood I mean, first of all, a wood with superior resonance properties. The resonance properties of the wood are detected from a very early stage, immediately after the tree is cut down in the forest. Another factor that influences the quality of the wood is the drying up period and technique. The wood used for the higher quality models is dried up naturally, in open air, for a very long time (up to 10 years). This means that the water evaporates very slowly, which prevents the wood from experiencing internal cracks at the molecular level. The wood used for the less expensive instruments is dried up using accelerated methods, which are more aggressive. Again, all this happens at the molecular level, which is not visible with an open eye, but has a great impact on the long term performance of the violins.

The workmanship is also very important. The skill level, the attention to detail, the talent and the dedication of the maker will be reflected in the end product. Almost all violins are hand made, and, consequently, like anything that is human made, they are subject to imperfection. This is why the workmanship is critical.

The finishing style is important, too. This includes the type of varnish, the number of layers, and the technique used. I will discuss this, in more detail, in a future blog posting.

The set up refers to the quality of the accessories that are used (tailpiece, fingerboard, bridge, pegs, sound post, and chinrest) and the work itself (calculating the right string projection on the bridge). You will hear more from me about this in another posting.

Other people want to know whether all instruments that belong to a certain size have the same dimensions, regardless of what violin store they are bought from. It is possible that you will see small variations from a violin to another; these instruments are hand made and they are subject to “imperfections.” I put the word “imperfections” in quotes, because the small size variations are actually not considered imperfections. All dimensions are within an acceptable tolerance range, and they are a matter of millimeters, which do not impact the performance of the instruments in any way. My recommendation is not to pay attention to the dimensions of a violin. If your violin belongs to a standard size (let’s say 4/4) and you feel comfortable playing it, that is all you need to know.

Visiting an online violin shop is a convenient task that can be performed from the comfort of our own house, in a friendly and familiar environment, and without the pressure of the persuasion power that a skilful sales person, who tries to sell us the most expensive violin in the store, lays on us. The violin comparison process has also become much easier, as the next violin shop is only one click away. We do not only get to see other violins, but also learn about the reputation of a certain violin maker, read the reviews that other online shoppers left for a particular violin store, compare the features of several violins that come from varied sources, and get an idea about which instrument would best fit our personal style and budget. The Internet helps us make a more informed buying decision and it can lead to either buying a violin online or, if we need to have a personal confrontation with the instrument before making a final decision, visiting a certain violin shop.

In many cases, the Internet is used for information purposes only, and the buyers prefer to visit the various violin shops in their area to validate the information that was made available to them online. In this case, the violin comparison process will involve a physical examination of the instruments and a real evaluation of their sound performance. This is probably the best way to approach when buying a violin, but it is not always possible. In some cases, there are time and distance constraints that might keep us from following this path. Our busy schedules might prevent us from spending hours and hours of driving to and from the nearest violin store in our area and in this case the Internet seems like the only way to go.

The financial benefits of buying a violin online constitute a factor that is worth being taken in consideration when deciding where to buy a violin. The concept of “competition” in the online violin shops market has a different dimension compared with the same concept applied to the conditions of a traditional market; the competition in the virtual market works very positively in the buyers’ favor. The Internet is a buyers’ market, where the success or failure of a violin store can easily be influenced by the level of satisfaction, or respectively dissatisfaction, that the buyers experience. “Word of mouth” has become something that can very easily be transmitted to a very broad audience through the Internet. The speed at which the information circulates online is much faster than in any other advertising media and the target audience is theoretically unlimited.

The fact that a competitor’s violin store is available to the buyers at the touch of a mouse click makes things not at all easy for the online sellers; the fierce competition forces the sellers to refine all the facets of their business, which includes the pricing. People are no longer willing to make a price compromise and accept to pay more just because they are tired of driving to the next store that might offer a better price. The violin comparison from a pricing perspective has become a very easy task and allows us to make very good, financially advantageous choices.