Customer Reviews

Cecilio CVN-100 4/4 (Full Size) Rosewood Fitted Solid Wood Violin + Hard Case, Bow, Rosin & Extra Set of Strings & Bridge

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Of course it is obviously manufactured.

Cons: The back is made of 4 combined pieces instead of traditional 2 pieces, the bridge is a little soft, the fine tuners don't feel too study, and there is knot in the wood of the neck for mine.

Pros: One of the best beginner instruments around. Not only was it already strung with the bridge attached, they even sent us spare strings (which we ended up needing) and an extra bridge with the package. Many experienced violin players have looked at it and said that it was a fine new instrument. No cut backs, no plastic. The entire violin is wood and a slight bit of metal. It resonates like a violin should and everything is fine and dandy.

I'd give it a 4.5, but I'll round down to 4 stars because if you really tried you could probably find a decent used violin for less. (and with violins, if they are treated well, they get BETTER with age)

When it arrived, the violin had bits of sawdust all over it (and in the case), but it didn't take long to brush off. I found that the rosin cake was partly broken and crumbled, but there was a big enough chunk left that I was able to rosin the bow.

The bridge was pretty easy to attach. At first I wasn't sure why it was asymmetrical, but it turns out that the slightly higher side goes under the G and D strings (according to a website I looked at), and the feet should line up with the middles of the f-shaped holes in the violin. You don't really need to cut notches in it; just place it under the strings and then tighten them up over it. Make sure not to tighten them too far beyond their assigned notes or they might break. Keep the strings evenly spaced and look at a picture of a violin for reference if neccessary.

As for the pitch pipe, two of the notes were noticably off key, but I was able to find a wav file of what the violin notes were supposed to sound like after a quick internet search. I thought I would have to return the violin after I found that two of the pegs were too loose and one was completely loose, but I found that pushing the pegs inward into the violin tightened them up. At first the violin didn't sound great, but all I had to do was add more rosin to the bow.

I don't know what an advanced violinist would say, but as a beginner, I think this violin looks and sounds excellent considering the price.

The Cecilio CVN-100 is a nice looking violin for the price.
Sounds nice after there is enough Rosin on the bow. Great for a young student but if you are planning on entertaining a few people it would be wise to opt for one you may have to pay a little more for.

The only thing I was disappointed with is the quality of the Pegs (they seem to slip alot not allowing the strings to be held tight enough to hold the bridge in place). This is surprising especially for the supposed List Price of $249.95. Other than that it is pretty good.

Upon opening the case, this violin, bought for our son, does not feel like a toy. We soon discovered, however, that the tuning pegs are extremely poorly designed and manufactured. They fail to maintain tuning for any longer than half a minute. The peg and hole system is so loose and imprecise that we could actually see the pegs unspinning all by themselves as the strings were tightened--even after trying repeatedly to push the pegs further into the holes. Another major noticeable flaw is the impossibility of playing any decent, clean violin sound, no matter how much rosin we passed on the bow, which was properly tightened (my wife is a former violin player and attested to this). With tuning pegs that seem to belong to a cheap toy and do not maintain any tuning whatsoever and with a bow that only produced scratchy sound instead of clean musical notes, we believe this product needs to improve such flaws prior to being offered in the market.

I bought this violin several months ago. I wanted to give it a very good testing before posting a review. Not knowing anything about the violin, or whether I would even enjoy it, I didn't want to spend a lot of money. Having been playing for about 5 months, now, I have learned quite a bit and enjoy playing very much. I don't know how this compares to other beginner violins, because I have not tried to play any others, but I think this sounds great for my play level. I figure I can learn the basics and then transition to something a little more expensive if I decide to stick with it (which I almost certainly will).

The violin came with everything promised (case, extra set of strings, rosin, pitch pipe, etc.) but I don't use most of it. The case is nice and does what it's supposed to. The rosin, just like many other reviewers, was broken into little bits when it arrived. Plan on spending an additional $4 at a local music store to get a good rosin. The extra set of strings came in very handy because the very first thing I did while trying to tune it up was break a string. The pitch pipe is a nice feature but I decided to download a program that lets you tune while playing into the microphone on the PC. Finding sheet music online is difficult.

Then only problem I have is with the bow. Again, I don't know much about violins, but about half the bow strings, when tightened, are really tight while the other half are still somewhat slack. The "frog" also rotates a tiny bit. This doesn't affect play much but it is definitely noticeable. Still, for this price, minor imperfections can be tolerated. The cheapest violin at my local music store is around $300. I can deal with an inconsistent bow for the $230 savings.

The other reviews are very helpful in getting the violin set up. Things like sanding the rosing before applying it and pushing the tuning knobs in while tightening the strings work great. Read the other reviews or even search for violin setup tips for the initial setup of the violin. After doing the research it only took me about 30 minutes to get it to start making playable sounds.

Overall, this has been my favorite purchase of 2007. It has provided me with many hours of entertainment and I anticipate many more.

My son and I are taking lessons, and I thought it would be wise to have A backup violin just in case. After all lessons aren't cheap, and if you have to replace a broken string, well that takes time. The set up right out of the box is easy if you know what your doing. bridge feet need to be sanded, tuning pegs need fitting, end button too. Sound post is glued, so good luck making the adjustment there. All in all once set up sounds great and gets the job done. I am very happy with this violin.

As a person who has never so much as held a violin before, its hard to compare this one to others. However, when it arrived in the mail, I can't think of what would could have been different to make me more pleased. The extra strings came in really handy - they are really easy to break when they are new. One of the fine tuners doesn't work, which is a bit of an inconvenience, but it doesn't stop me from tuning it correctly, though it is harder - to keep the pegs in place you might need to get something called peg drops. My teacher, who is more of a trumpet player than a violin player, highly approves of it. It makes a pretty decent sound. All I wanted out of it was a cheap beginer insturment to get started on without feeling bad if it broke, or if I quit playing, but I got a bit more than that. Eventually, I plan on upgrading, but that won't happen till I get pretty good, which is a ways away; im in no hurry to replace this, it will do me good for a long time to come.

Purchased as a gift for Christmas, this violin looked exactly as pictured and described on the web site. It arrived within one week as predicted and in good shape. It appears to be high enough quality for the money paid and came with everything needed for a beginner to get started. I especially liked how this one came with a bit of a hard case to protect the instrument. The wood is a nice color and finish. I would recommend it.

I bought my new violin on 12/29/2006, I received on 01/03/2007, with one day off new year day, that fast then I expected. the violin delivery in very good condition, expect G & D strings lose and can not find production document, I think everything is "OK", the bow and violin coombine very good sound, compaired with my old one bought on 1983 with $250 , You will feel you are luck to find one. (the bow is very good)

I reccomend this product to anyone interested, but not so sure yet in playing the violin. I started taking lessons about a month ago and thought it would be nice to own my own violin. So I ordered it and MWAH a beautiful violin.

It has a nice color and holds it tune well for a new violin. Of course the rosin is not of a great quality, but as my violin teacher called it, this is a 'screaming deal' for the price. The acessories came in handy (especially the extra strings) and I find that the violin makes a strong steady sound.

For people that say that this product is bad, I strongly disagree with them, shipping was fast (2 days) and the bridge was easy to install. The shoulder rest really helps too!

Anyone that would like a decent quality violin without spending over 100 dollars, click the 'Add To Cart' button, this is certainly my favorite buy so far this year.

Now don't expect this to work like a 700 dollar up violin though, you don't get realy ebony, and the pegs do slip at times the hairs are synthetic (most are these days(but with enough rosin it works just fine)) and sometimes when it isn't set up right, it does produce a scratchy sound. But this is the best violin for a beginner, best deal online.