<p>Vincent-
I fully agree what others have said, buying stuff over the internet is really problematic. Places like Shar Music and Johnson string instruments allow you to try the instrument, and if you don’t like it, return it. A lot of these places selling ‘hot bargains’ are selling cheap factory made instrument sets that could very well sound like crap. As others pointed out, don’t let the ‘handmade’ label fool you, there are no standards for that claim. Visions of a craftsman carefully prepping a violin a la stradiverius or the guy in “the red violin” come to mind, but that label can mean something as simple as varnishing a ‘white violin’ made in a factory in china, putting new pegs/chin rest,bridge on and setting it up, or as others have said, assembling parts made in a chinese factory, kind of like comparing a fine modeller building a ship from scratch to someone assembling a testors kit.</p>
<p>The key with string instruments (wind instruments are a bit different, based on my experience with clarinets, when you buy a buffet clarinet for example the difference in sound between two of the same model is negligible, which is not true of violins) is to try them out, with string instruments price does not necessarily foretell how well it will play. One of my son’s instruments was a violin made in Romania, that cost around 500 bucks, that had great sound and lasted him a while, until his playing outgrew it…a good violin shop will hear your budget (and I would agree, that generally a good student instrument would be in the 1000 dollar range or so, price again is not an indicator of sound necessarily) and will give you violins up to that price, and let you play them and decide which sounds better to you. Many times over the years my son ended up picking up a gem that actually was less then many of the other ones he didn’t like…and his current instrument was literally a gem found in the bowl of cereal, it was an old french violin that has incredible sound of violins that usually cost many times more then what we paid for it…</p>
<p>If you want to try a student instrument of the net, go with Shar or Johnson or any other place that allows you to return it…but I think your best bet is to find a local string stores (always better to try multiple ones, since you never know what they have) and try out instruments. Most music stores allow you to take instruments out on trial, and if you have found ‘the best’ at different shops in your price range, you can take them out on trial and compare them at home. </p>
<p>The other thing you may want to look at is bows. The bows that come with most ‘kits’ are pretty basic bows, and chances are if you are looking to move up with your violin you may want to look at bows beyond the basic bows that come in the kit (most such kits bows are 25 dollar specials…). If buying a new instrument you also might want to go to a slightly higher level bow, it can make a difference. A good bow is as important as a good instrument.</p>