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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cecilio CVN-200 Violin is great for the money, March 4, 2007
I recently purchased this violin and love it! Both my local music store, and my new teacher looked it over and thought I got a great deal. Being a beginner, I really have no idea if it truly sounds good or not. But, my teacher (who has been playing violin half his life) said it really does have nice sound! So, I would recommend it as a good beginner's violin.
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40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
After four weeks of playing, EXCELLENT beginning violin, January 27, 2008
This will be a moderately comprehensive review of Cecilio CVN-200 violin
First of all my knowledge of violins is limited but I'm learning everyday. I do have a music background playing trumpet in school and piano at home with some compositions on the side. I've always wanted to learn violin and finally decided to try. 100 bucks for a violin, does it even work?
I received this instrument four weeks ago and am extremely happy with it.
The outfit for this is great for the price. You get everything you need to start playing and more, ie. TWO bows, TWO sets of strings, an extra bridge, a case, a shoulder rest, a simple tuner, and a cake of rosin.
All of these are essential for playing the violin and you get them all. Also, the bow and strings are very delicate parts so having two in case one breaks is a huge plus for a newbie. The violin itself also comes with four micro tuners (at the bottom end of the strings) rather than just one on the e string that even some 500 dollar outfits are lacking. This is an excellent value for this price.
Now, none of this stuff is of the highest quality, far from it. The bows were slightly twisted, the rosin is barely usable (but is), the bridge is asymmetrical (by design not defect), the case pocket zipper sometimes fails, the pegs do slip, and the micro-tuner hooks need readjusting. However, all of this, though unthinkable for an intermediate player and up, are more than manageable for a beginning player.
So how does it sound? Well, the last violin i touched was over ten years ago and I have no others to compare with. Having said that, it plays quite well, at least it produces a sound akin to other violins I've heard. My understanding is that violins at this price are normally considered junk and unplayable. This one has quite a DECENT SOUND. Some of the other reviewers mentioned that even his/her teacher was impressed with its sound.
In fact, it plays well enough that I absolutely positively love practicing on this violin. Since receiving this little thing I have not missed a single day of practice and on average spend one and a half to two hours each day on it! Something I never thought I would do.
Having said all of that, the one thing holding this back are the included strings. The strings take precision bowing to respond at its full potential (which isn't high).
As a beginner, one tends to bow wobbly and bouncy-like which causes the bow to slide up and down the strings. The strings respond by losing resonance and whistling or shrieking. Cleaning the strings of rosin helps, and so does re-rosining the bow. As I said all the shortcomings of the product are manageable. However, once I got better at bowing I realized the strings were holding me back which is a good thing rather than replacing the entire violin.
I just recently put in an order for a set of Thomastik Dominant strings (35 USD). I read that even with a 300 dollar student violin, you should replace the included strings with much better ones (usually Dominant set is recommended). I consider this upgrading the violin to meet my own growth as a violin student rather than a shortcoming of the original purchase.
Again, I absolutely love playing on this violin. For such a small investment you get so much, everything you need to learn and develop your skill... until you outgrow it.
I am already looking at intermediate violins between $750-1100 since I now know I want to stick with it.
This violin is perfect for someone who wants to try out the violin but not yet committed, at least not enough to spend $300-500 on a typical student violin.
Considering price, 5 STARS for an excellent violin.
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54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For the price, it's great!, December 16, 2006
I bought this violin and a CVN-100 1/10 size for my four year old son. He loves the CVN-100, and I love the CVN-200. Please remember that most instruments need a "breaking in" period. Get some peg drops and that will help with the tuning pegs.
The thing that I like about this violin is it's tone. A nice beautiful sound. I'm sure that upgrading the strings would also boost it's tone, but for right now, I'm happy. The thing that is nice about this violin, aside from the great price, and tone, is the fact that I don't have to worry about my four year old son breaking a $500+ violin. Because I've been able to be so relaxed, my son has taken full responsibility for his violin. He treats it carefully, wipes it down, and really takes pride in what he has learned in his lessons. It's been a wonderful, low stress way of introducing music, and instilling self-confidence in my little boy. Thanks Cecilio.
Know that if you get this violin, you need to learn how to install the bridge, you may want to order some peg drops, and you need to let it "break in". You'll love it, I do.
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