Best Violin for Beginners: Top Picks and In-Depth Reviews

Entering the world of music is one of the best things an individual can do for the sake of their personal development. However, it's hard to choose an instrument that you'll enjoy. After all, in this day and age, there are so many great things to choose from. You'll find great instruments all over the place, as well as great online courses and any other related resources. But in this guide, we've decided to help out those who have just decided to start playing the violin.

Of course, just with any other instrument or any music-related piece of gear, you'll immediately be bombarded with a bunch of options on the market today. Interestingly enough, this abundance can make it really difficult to pick the violin that will suit you the most, and that will fit your budget. But you don't need to worry, as we've done some research of our own in order to save you time and energy you'd spend on finding a good instrument. After some consideration, we've come up with a list of the best violin for beginners that you can find today. Here's our pick below.

Best Violin for Beginners Reviews

Best for the Price: Stentor 1400 Violin

Over the years, Stentor made some pretty interesting violins, especially in the beginner tier. A great example comes with their Stentor 1400 model, which we find to be very suitable for beginners, no matter the genre they're trying to get into.

Now, this particular violin comes in a few different sizes. Anything from a full-size instrument, down to the ultra-small 1/64 for the youngest beginners. The best part is that it's made out of solid tonewoods, which is pretty great at this price point. The top of the body is spruce, while the back and the sides come are made of maple. We also have a maple neck, fitted with an ebonished straight-grained fingerboard. The instrument is all rounded up with a fine-looking mid-brown varnish, giving this instrument a very stylish look.

The tailpiece is made from composite materials, which is interesting for such a violin. On the tailpiece, we have integral adjusters, which do a pretty great job of fine-tuning and keeping things stable. As for tuning pegs, these are made of pau rosa, which is also pretty great to see on an instrument of this price level. The same material is used for its chin rest.

The Stentor 1500 violin also comes with an appropriate bow. It's kind of a basic one, but it's still pretty great for beginners. It has an ebony frog as well as an actual horsehair.

Overall, this is not a fancy instrument. But for the price, it's pretty amazing what you get with it. It's also a very light instrument, which makes it great for all the beginners.

Best Violin Starter Pack: Cecilio CVN-300 Violin

Cecilio makes a lot of interesting violins for many different price levels and skill levels. A violin that caught our attention is Cecilio's CVN-300. Now, this is a simple one, but that's exactly what makes it so amazing and useful for beginner players.

Firstly, there are a few different sizes, anything from a 1/2-size up to a regular violin. This is pretty important if you're looking for a consistent beginner instrument for different age levels. Once again, we have the standard combination for the body, featuring a spruce top and maple back and sides. Its neck is also made out of maple, making it a pretty great instrument with a bright tone.

The instrument is done with classical music in mind, which can also be seen with its design. The finish features antique varnish that gives it a very stylish vibe.

But what we really loved about it is that it comes with a very useful starter pack for beginners. You get two Brazilwood bows with great-quality Mongolian horsehair fitted on them. There's also a rosin cake included, quality shoulder rest, and even an extra bridge. It also comes with an electrical tuner and a nice violin book for beginners. It's definitely worth it.

Best Overall: Bunnel Pupil Violin

When starting out on the violin, there are so many options to choose from. There's another violin that comes with a starter pack that caught our attention, mostly due to a slightly higher quality than you'd expect from a beginner violin. The piece in question is made by Bunnel and it's their Pupil Violin model. Knowing they specialize in violins for all sorts of different music styles, it's not a surprise to see one of their instruments on a list like this one. In addition, many have praised the company for their customer service. Any questions or issues you might have with their violins, you'll be able to solve it all pretty quickly.

First off, these violins are assembled in the USA, so the quality is guaranteed. And it's somewhat exciting to have such an instrument at this price level. All of these violins are handcrafted. We have solid spruce tops with maple sides and backs. All of it is then finalized with satin oil on top, giving this instrument a nice stylish glow and an overall lively look.

The instrument comes with a bundle that includes a case, Giuliani bow, an extra Portland set of strings, and a nice violin care kit. There's also an instructional book and the instrument comes with a 45-day money-back guarantee. If you're a beginner, you can't go wrong with this one.

Best In the Mid-Range Price Level: Antonio Giuliani Etude Violin

If you're looking for something in a slightly higher price range, we have some pretty great Antoniu Giuliani violins to check out. Well, we're not including some really high-end instruments, but it's still a great mid-price range violin. After all, the company is pretty popular for their quality violins, so this one is not an exception at all.

Coming with a body that's made of spruce and maple, we also have a maple neck with a great ebony fingerboard. Taking a closer look at it, it's pretty obvious that the instrument was crafted with a lot of care in mind. The addition of an oil finish makes it not only a great-looking instrument but also a very durable one. You won't need to worry about any long-term damages from moisture or the lack of moisture. It's packed with a quality composite tailpiece with fitted professional-grade fine tuners.

At the same time, the instrument is available with a bundle. A clip-on tuner, Giuliani bow made of Brazilwood and Mongolian horsehair, lightweight case, Portland Gold shoulder rest, a care kit, and even a copy of Suzuki Book 1. This is all that you'd need as a beginner violinist.

Best Budget Option: Crescent Full-Size Student Violin

Violins are usually known as not-so-cheap instruments. While we're mentioning mostly affordable stuff here, those who are really keen on becoming professional or semi-professional violinists need to look for price ranges way past the $1,000 mark. But if you're just starting out and you're working with a limited budget, there are still some cheap violins that are worth checking out. For this list, we're bringing an ultra-cheap violin that caught our attention. It's a simple Crescent violin, the company's Student Violin model.

Interestingly enough, it comes in a few different color options. It's not something that's essential but still makes it a fun little instrument for this price level. We have a spruce top, maple back and sides, with an overall decent look of the instrument.

The instrument also comes with a nice bundle package. There's even a nice hard case, a nice rosin cake, a clip-on tuner, and spare strings. It also comes with a detached bridge, which can be a bit of a hassle to put on by yourself. However, the reason behind this decision is to keep the instrument safe from damage in transport.

In the end, you need to bear in mind that this is a super cheap instrument. It's far from the best one, and the overall build quality is not up to par with other instruments that we mentioned here. However, it's definitely worth the price. And it's so cheap that you can buy two!

Best in the More Expensive Category: Cremona SV-500 Violin

Lastly, we've decided to feature one great violin that's a bit more expensive than others that we mentioned. It's still in the mid-level price range knowing that violins can get expensive. However, it's still a bit high of a price for beginner instruments. The violin in question is Ceremona's SV-500.

It takes no more than a glance to realize that it's a quality instrument. But being at this quality level, it's mostly recommended for those who are really serious about learning how to play the violin. In fact, this instrument can keep you satisfied even way past your beginner level. Even some advanced players have praised it for its tone and overall quality.

It features a body made of selected maple and spruce, as well as a nice ebony fingerboard. The composite tailpiece has some pretty nice fine tuners, and the bridge definitely lets this instrument shine. It also comes with a case and a bow. However, it's recommended to have a better bow for such a violin. Either way, SV-500 is a violin worth checking out if you're really keen on becoming a great violinist.

How to Choose The Best Violin for Beginners

Going out there to choose the best violin for beginners might not be that easy. But there are a few things to look into before you do.

Price

One of the first things you'll have on mind is the set budget. Of course, the more you pay for it, the higher the chances are for a quality instrument. But at the beginner level, you usually won't notice many differences between these violins. It's just important that it works well and stays in tune. On the other hand, an ultra-cheap violin, like the Crescent Student Violin, can't ever be as good as other average-priced violins for beginners.

After all, how much does a violin cost is a bit of a complicated question. But as a beginner, you should probably keep the price level a bit lower.

Build Quality

The violin as we know it today is an old instrument. This means that the building has been perfected, even in the lower price range. But at the same time, there are some nuances to look into if you're buying a new instrument. Firstly, you need to see whether the top, the sides, and the back are assembled well. At the same time, the neck and the fingerboard shouldn't be warped, as this can impact both the performance quality and the tone.

Almost all of the beginner violins come with some lower-quality tailpieces, so it's important to also check on the fine tuners and how well they work. Tuning pegs can also sometimes be an issue. However, don't ever be discouraged by a violin that doesn't immediately get that stable tuning. It takes some time for strings to stretch, about a week or two.

Tone

Lastly, the kind of tone the violin produces is one of the most important factors. You'll first need to know what genre or group of genres are you interested in. You don't often see the same violins used for country and classical violins. We're talking about a very delicate instrument that's crafted with a specific tone in mind. For this, it would be a good idea to ask someone who's an experienced violinist and ask them about the best violins for each genre.

SV-500 that we mentioned, for instance, is usually recommended for classical music. You can use it for other stuff as well, but you probably won't get as good results. Other instruments on the list might be more versatile in this regard.

Conclusion

In the end, you need to know the violin is a very specific instrument that needs to be handled with care. This means that you really need to be into it if you want to become good at it. It takes a lot of practice for even some of the basic stuff, especially since this is a fretless instrument.

Any of these instruments that we mentioned above can come in handy for beginners. However, we'd mention two that really stood out to us. Firstly, there's the magnificent SV-500 that's a more refined violin compared to others on the list. And then there's also the Bunnel Pupil Violin that's pretty versatile and overall the best choice at the beginner level.

Other than that, all you're left with now is to go out there and practice. No matter what violin you have, that's the most important thing if you want to be good at it.