I have bought three of these now. One at first to practice amature luthier concepts. I was impressed so much that I bought two more for my children to play. You will need Ardsly Peg Drops for this violin. I recommend beginners will need a violin pitch pipe and a Mugig clip on tunner and use both. It's good practice to point strings away from yourself and others when tightening, especially beginners. Beginners should also get Essential Elements For Strings Violin Book 1 and the Mel Bay Violin Wall Chart.

First and foremost consistency is going to be an issue. One is a dark finish, like the MV300 model while the other two are lighter as pictured. Of the lighter finish pair, one came with cheap crummy rosin in a Carmex style container while the other two came with higher quality light rosin on a proper rosin applicator container. The finish on the darker one was not fully applied and some less noticable spots were left bare of color or finish like the scroll and f-holes.

You must set up the violin yourself, except one of the three violins came setup already. There are slightly notched marked areas in the f-holes that you can imagine a line going through, this is where you will place the bridge keeping in mind it must be seated flat and is not reversable. On two violins the bridge was marked clearly with small notches where the strings are to rest. One bridge was not marked at all and this would be a deal breaker for anyone without access to another bridge to use as a template to mark where strings go. I used a sharpie and a bridge from one of the other two violins and made black dots where the strings should go.

The strings are decent student quality strings. I've had none that have broken while playing or tuning.

For the money this is a great product and comparable to the "begginer" violins they sell at our local music store. While I prefer to shop local, the music store is asking 8 times as much for a similar product. I know they would go down to half price with haggling but still too much when I have gotten three violins for a small fraction of their asking price.

The sound is very good for an amateur player like myself, again I was more interested in working on one being an amateur woodworker and furniture maker. My children enjoy that they can make quality sound by following the directions in the book and videos online.

My 8 years old son decided to play violin in his school's orchestra. However, I don't want to pay an arm and leg for his trial. After I read lots of review from Amazon, I decide give this less expensive violin a try. I am glad I did. I got everything I need in the box:) At the first several days, I have to tune it almost everyday. It was expected with the new strings as others mentioned. Then, it is able to stay in tune without any problem. Its sounds pretty good. As a freshman, I actually did not feel any big difference with his friend's more expensive rental violin. Both my son and me are very happy for purchase.

This is an awesome violin set for beginners. I am just learning and so I did not want to dish out a bunch of money in case I ended up not liking the violin. This set comes with the violin, a bow, a hard case, a shoulder rest, rosin, an extra bridge, and an extra set of strings. The extra set of strings is a godsend because while trying to tune it I ended up snapping one. I would even recommend buying another set just in case you snap your backups too. Another recommendation would be either buying some peg drops or rubbing some rosin on the pegs because they slip very often if not. This makes it very hard to keep a tune. One downside of the case is that it does not stay open and has to be held open. Lastly, this kit does not come with an instruction book so that is something to buy. I like the book, "Essential Elements for Strings." All in all, a great violin for beginners and would definitely recommend.

I was a little leary of the quality of the violin when I ordered it, but I am very pleased with it. I took it to the violin teacher to have it tuned and she remarked on how good it sounded and how well it was made and could not believe the cost. I was looking at $300 for a used one in a shop here at home, but decided to go this route. It came with a good sturdy case, a chin rest, extra set of strings, rosin, extra bridge, a bow and a violin my granddaughter fell in love with when she saw it. Would highly recommend.

I got it for my 4.5 year old who was very interested in my violin. It works great as a way to keep him from messing with my violin.
I got it set up in 15 minutes with no problems. Tuning the first time was difficult, as expected. Rosining a new bow with new rosin takes a long time, of course. The tuners at the bottom are difficult to turn.
It sounds like a violin in my hands. It doesn't sound great but neither do I. As a first violin for my child it is good enough. He will be ready for a bigger violin before he is ready for a better one.
If you know how to tune a stringed instrument, rosin a bow and your expectations of sound quality aren't too high, then it is definitely worth the price.