Mendini by Cecilio 3/4 Violin Set For Beginners - Hand Carved Acoustic Violins Set - Fiddle Solidwood Kit with Hard Case, Two Bows, Tuner, Rosin, Shoulder Rest, Extra Strings, Lesson Book

This violin is fantastic for its cost. I will try to briefly touch on the important things. For background, this purchase was for my five year old son, who is just starting out. I am not a violinist, but have a lifelong history of playing various instruments and can play the violin a little bit. First, build quality. Like most production instruments, this violin is overbuilt. What that means is it is sturdy and can take a little bit of abuse. What that also means is it will not resonate as much as a high end or custom built instrument. For the target audience here, robust over sound projection is preferred. It is a beautiful instrument aesthetically with a good finish. Remember, kids drop things. A lot. These are for kids, so this build quality hits the target. Next, sound quality. It is loud and clear. Out of the box it has decent intonation. It projects a nice sound (when played correctly). An important thing to consider, it is a 1/4 size. ALL 1/4 size violins lack that full vibrant sound. I will not penalize it for being what it is and neither should you. As a comparison, my son started with a rental. MSRP on the rental was ten times the cost of this one. This one sounds better. The rental had very old, dull strings that needed replacement. Changing them probably would have helped tremendously, but that’s typical of how rentals come—beat up, abused and neglected. I feel like this instrument, being a 1/4 size, is aimed at the youth who would otherwise consider renting. This is better than renting. It’s paid for in about four months worth of a rental and sounds better than most rentals you will likely be issued. Finally, accessories. The case is nice. The bows are nice. The tuner is superb. It comes with extra strings, which I have not used, but I assume they are probably the same as what came installed, so likely perfectly adequate. The shoulder rest is complete trash. Don’t bother. File it in the trash can where it belongs along with the rosin that may not actually be rosin but resembles something more like plastic. It’s no big deal, pick up a good quality shoulder rest and rosin before you get started. The way I see it, for the price, those accessories were thrown in as a bonus anyway and the quality of the case, bows, and tuner are a great bonus. The instructional book looks good from thumbing through it, but we haven’t really gotten into it as my son has been playing the music issued to him by his teacher. I definitely recommend this violin. Just remember, 1/4 size violins sound like 1/4 size violins. We deal with them because our kids’ arms and hands are small. We take their limitations that result from that size decrease. If your kid shows any interest, this is a great way to start. My five year old has longer arms than most of his peers, so this is probably more for 6-8 year olds. Most 4-5 year olds probably fit a 1/8 size better, but do your research or have your child fitted to be sure. Hope this is helpful.

If you are a professional violinist, this violin is not for you. If you are a violin teacher with an elite mentality, then NO VIOLIN FOR YOU! To my semi-trained ear this is a good sounding instrument. There are several reviews on YouTube from actual violinists who say this is a great beginner violin. If you want to try out playing a violin without having to rent one, this is a great choice. I've never played the violin, but I do play other instruments and I can read music, so this isn't exactly starting at zero for me. However, I was able to rosin the heck out of the bow and get the violin tuned using the included tuner. I got some fairly nice sounds (again, to my ear) out of it. I can tell when a note is flat or sharp and it takes a bit of fiddling around (pun intended) with the pegs and fine-tuners to get this thing into tune. You tune one string and then that will throw another one out of tune, ad infinitum. But eventually I found that the best way to tune this is to turn all the fine tuners to the middle of the screw and then use the pegs to get close (within +/- 15 cycles) of the note you're tuning. Once you get that done with the pegs, then go back and use the fine-tuners to get it as close to the note as possible. You could also do it by ear if you have a nicely-tuned piano if you have the musical background for it. I don't have a piano, so I trusted the tuner. And the GDAE strings sounded close to the violin tutorial I found on YouTube, so I know the tuner works and is useful. Once I started playing I was able to get some clear and very resonant sounds from the violin, with the help of a nice tutorial on YouTube, I also discovered what too much rosin looks like. Like I said, I rosined the heck out of it and spent a fair amount of time wiping the fine rosin dust off of the violin. Then I loosened the bow very slightly and rubbed the back side of the bow lightly with my fingers until all of the small rosin clouds disappeared. So, I recommend starting off with maybe 10-15 swipes along the included new rosin then test and add more if necessary. Also, rosin dust will make you sneeze and leave you with sticky-fingers. I've always wanted to learn to play a stringed instrument, but never really looked into it seriously. I have several friends who play professionally and I learned from them that good violins (I mean really, really, really GOOD violins) can run into the 6 figure range, so I never pursued it seriously. For me it will likely be just a hobby, so for less than a C-note (pun intended) I can try out playing the violin. It may not be the best, but look at it this way: If I go to the store to pick up a gallon of milk and bring it back home, whether I drive there in a 1972 VW Bug or a brand new top-of-the-line Jaguar, the job gets done and the milk tastes the same either way. People may sneer at you for driving a "clunker", but that's their problem, not yours.

First let me state, it is a great value for the money. I like the sound balance lack of severe wolf tones. It is a good instrument for the money. I would say it is the equal of about a 300-500 dollar instrument in a music store. Now what I don't like, the shoulder rest won't stagy in place and I have trouble keeping it in place. The pegs needed rosin or beg drops to be able to tune it. This happened on my much more expensive instrument difference in humidity and wood shrinkage in ware house and transportation often just an aggravation. I don't like the rosin though it should be hard but I felt that it was a bit to hard, this is personal taste I just felt it was way too hard and lightly scrapped it with a pen knife. Some great things in the kit a great case, two nice easy to adjust and good hair. My complaints none are serious just a heads up that you might want to replace some items which you do with every instrument kit. Oh the tuner a block style is great and if you set it up on the stand with the music it will help with intonation and very quickly learn to place your fingers for a perfect note Over all I love this kit I bought it to take to places it might be knocked around but it will be in my regular rotation of violins.

I bought a 4/4 sized one and wow! I am really impressed. What an awesome entry/student level violin. For the money, it is well worth it. Cecilio customer service was great. One of the bows was broken on arrival and I sent them an email with a pic of the broken bow. With no questions asked, they sent me a brand new one. Five stars for excellent customer service and five stars for a great product (for the money). I am teaching myself how to play and this comes with everything a student need - violin, bows, rosin, shoulder rest, chin rest (pre-installed), extra set of string (two total - one already installed and one extra set), two bridges (one already installed and one extra), metronome/tuner, case with cloth cover inside, and a beginner's book. The violin itself is really well built, nothing was broken (besides that one bow) when I opened it. The pre-installed fine tuners on the tail piece makes it easy to make minor adjustments to get your strings in tune. The pegs stay in place very well and is very secure (it's been a little more than a week and the violin is still in tune). The sound post inside the violin did not come lose. The tail piece was pre-installed with the strings and bridge. I had to move the pre-installed bridge a little, so for a complete beginner, this might be a little hard to set up. It's always good to get a teacher or someone who has had some experience with violins to help ya set it up properly. (I had help with youtube videos, lol. Plus, I play lots of instruments, so I know a thing or two on set ups and whatnot.) Anyhow, for the money, this is a really good entry/student level violin. The customer service was top notch!

My MV400 has a really nice sound. It's my first violin so I can't compare, but I bet a violin that cost 10 times as much would only sound 5% better in my novice hands. I thought it might be too yellow, it is not. There are some cosmetic imperfections (black spots, some smearing of the pin striping on the edges, and a minor wood "soft" spot) in the finish, but my impression is that it was made to be a better instrument and got moved to a "less expensive" edition because of the imperfections. The result being a great sounding violin with some minor cosmetic issues. I could not/would not expect more for the price and it is a sweet starter violin. The case is really nice. One of the bows is really nice. While I'm sure there are better I'm not sure what more you could want from a bow. The second bow I am tinkering with (I have many guitars and am no stranger to instrument tinkering) but it seems to be made of good materials and just needs some fine tuning in order to adjust the tension smoothly/easily. I like the shoulder rest and will add a picture of my positioning of it. My research indicates that placement and usage of a shoulder rest is a personal preference. I only show a picture of my mounting for the guidance of other novices out there. Mess around with it and do what feels right to you. The fine tuners work well and the tuning pegs hold their position. I had to press the "E" in a bit to get it to hold, but that is just set up work and all the pegs are holding their tune. Speaking of which, the set-up was superb. The bridge was set and all strings were only 2 or 3 half steps (flat, or short of) off pitch. Being my first violin it was nice to be able to tune it and play it fairly quickly. Just some set-up notes: It took me forever to rosin the first bow...score it with an emery board first. Some on-line advice was not to touch the hairs on the bow, which makes sense. Oils from your skin would be counter productive. Something else I did was spit on the rosin. I'm sure someone will come back at me negatively about that, but the second bow rosined up in 30 seconds and 10 swipes, while the first took about 10 minutes and 500 swipes or more. My rosin was whole and unbroken. I like the lesson book so far...for technical issues, I go to YouTube. I won't comment on the tuner, I already have several and will keep that one boxed in case I ever need it. So, I will give the MV400 5 stars with one caveat - for the price. If you are curious, that is a ukulele String Swing mounted to my music stand. The shoulder rest keeps the violin from banging into the music stand, and putting the bow on the mounting screw keeps the bow from banging on the voilin. Sweet.

I was pleased with the quality and features of this 3/4 size student violin. One of the tuning pegs was broken off with the handle end inside the case. The shipping carton and violin case were not damaged, which tells me the tuning peg must have been broken before it was packaged and shipped. I emailed the customer service address provided in the literature in the case and received an automated reply. I Included a picture and details and that it was a Christmas gift for my granddaughter. It's been a full week and I've not heard anything else. Fortunately, I ordered replacement pegs online and they arrived in time.

I was always curious to know the quality of these violins in relation to this brand and I finally decided to buy a Mendini MV400 violin, I can say that I have been pleasantly surprised to see that it is really good. I was able to analyze its appearance and finishes (some details in its varnish) good wood on its top, back and sides, good fillet inlays, good fretboard, chin rest and pegs, I really don't like the tailpiece with the four built-in micro tuners , comes with a very light hard case or case, comes with a Cecilio brand chromatic tuner, a Cecilio lesson book (in English), an extra set of Cecilio strings, the bridge has a height at its highest part in relation to the neck of 5 mm G string and a height of 3 mm in relation to the E string neck comes with an extra bridge, an adjustable soft foam padded armrest (I don't like it), two horsehair bows (I analyzed them… one has a weight of 65 grams and the other a weight of 65.7 grams, they are within the weight limits (55 grams. - 65 grams. normal conditions) for violin bows, bring the rosin (resin or rosin) brand Cecilio. I was testing the violin as it is as it comes and I can say that it is good for people who want to start studying the violin, it also has a very affordable price for everything it comes with. The violin arrived in perfect conditions in Caracas - Venezuela. Conclusions: the violin is very good for starting to study and learn this type of instrument, it has a clear tone, it projects well, the violin is slightly heavier than German or Italian-made instruments (of course, these European instruments are of a different category). In particular I changed the strings to get a better sound and I am playing with another type of bow. I am really giving this instrument five stars since I understand that it is for beginners, so I recommend it for the whole community.

I always wanted to learn how to play the violin so I thought I'd buy one during COVID and my sister offered to teach me. She teaches high school band. I bought this starter kit because it seemed like it had decent reviews and had a great price. I NEVER touched the violin until I arrived the following month to my sisters. Upon preparing everything, the chords were rather loose. My sister went to tune it and the tuning keys couldnt stay in position. Upon minimally attempted to tune the keys further, the board supporting the chords snapped out. Both bow hairs were EXTREMELY coarse and brittle! One bow already had snapped fibers of hair without me even using it. Due to all the defective pieces of the kit, I wasnt even able to play even one note upon recieving it! I missed my return date by ONE day and now I am stuck with a defective violin set! Spend the extra money and find one that is built well! My sister said she had never seen anything so poorly constructed so I know it wasn't my inexperience that manifested these defects!

I wanted a good violin at an affordable price for a beginner. Even though the shipping was delayed, it was nicely packed and was not damaged. Received all the accessories with two bows. It has a shiny finish. E string broke within few days. I replaced the A and E strings. However, Violin has a good sound. My violin teacher said the sound quality is good and it is a good violin for beginner/intermediate students.. The price was around 17000 when I ordered it in June 2024, now it has increased.

Very Good low price violin with all required accessories, But i discovered that the sound booster is missing 😔. I tried to search for a local music shop to buy one and get it fixed but no luck till now.

Great affordable violin for beginner!

Ceci est un article de décoration et c'est tout ... Je lai brisé en essayant de l'ajuster et il na jamais produit un sond .Jai pourtant suivi les étape du livret .Bonne chance si vous l'acheter.

An affordable musical instrument 🎸 for intermediate or advance learners. Good purchase so far for initial performance