Question for violin people

[ksr5377]

Does it really make more sense to RENT a violin?

Two of our daughters just began violin lessons.  I have years of piano and flute experience, but nothing with strings.  We are renting violins through their violin instructor.  I was told by her as well as a few other people that renting them was the best option.  After getting everything set up though, I'm not wondering about that.  Growing up my family always bought used, basic instruments.  Is that not an option?  I realize that they are growing and the sizes will change, right now they're in a 1/4 and a 1/2.  I don't want them playing junk, but I feel there has to be something reasonable between that and a Stradivarius.  Also, we have 2 more children that will eventually begin music with a violin as well, so they will be used again.

[East Coast Sue]

Southwest strings dot com is a great place to buy used, quality violins. I made the mistake of renting, and my son's violin teacher gently reminded me that a quality, used violin is always a better choice since it maintains resale value. The quality difference was tremendous and I'm so glad that I bought used after our initial lease was up. The violin we purchased was equal to three months rental costs with insurance/damage coverage, and the sound was fantastic. It's been more than six months and we have not needed to deal with any repairs either.

[Kerileanne99]

We actually rent my dd's violin from an online company. We went to a shop locally to have her measured (although the online company was really great about help). They have several models to choose from, from the very basic student model to much better quality. Some of the reasons we went this route- they are a larger company so have a lot more leeway. It is cheaper than locally, ALL of the monthly rental cost would be applied toward the purchase of the rental violin OR any violin we opt to purchase. You can't beat that. We pay about $7 per month for additional insurance and a maintenance plan.

This is protection. She WILL grow and need a bigger violin, and will most likely need a better quality violin later. She is very young now (4), so by the time she is older and ready for a full size, her new, nicer violin will already be paid for:)

 

Also...it comes to your door. Any problems, bigger size? It gets picked up from your door and a new one arrives at your door.

Obviously, this might not be the best option for older, much more serious students. But it is perfect for us.

[chocolatechip]

We used a rent-to-own program that included trade-ins. That worked really well. We now own a cello and viola. It's less work than trying to locate a size-up instrument and disposing of the too-small one (unless you're planning on passing it down.) 

 

The other advantage to rent-to-own at a shop is that the student can try multiple instruments when it's time for a new one with no hassle.

 

After a certain amount of trade-ins only a certain percentage of the rent went towards the purchase price. But it was still a really good deal.

[musicianmom]

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Edited May 23, 2022 by musicianmom

[catz]

It depends how committed you are and what kind of programs you have locally to rent or buy.  We buy our instruments for our dd.  We have a wonderful local violin shop that offers us something like 80% of the paid value of a violin on a trade in and they always have a pretty good selection of instruments in various sizes.  Renting a nice quality instrument isn't cheap and the sound difference in violins can be huge!  I think it has definitely been better for us to buy and trade up.  My dd has a beautiful French 1/2 size right now that sounds amazing.  She started in a 1/10 size, so this was our 4th trade up.  She's also used each of her instruments 18 mo - 2 years.  She's about 1 year into this instrument I think and I expect it will hold out until at least next summer.  When you're passing them down, it makes even more sense.  It does not take long to add up to the price of a decent smaller instrument while renting.

 

If you do have a local shop to support, I would do that.  It's so much easier to get service when you have a luthier close.

 

ETA - I'm still playing on the same violin I got when I was 12.  :)

[Space station]

We buy decent used violins from reputable dealers. They generally retain resale value. We are just about to move up to the 3/4. It is such a wonderful day when they move up a size - the sound always improves so much!

[Lieutenant Stranger]

We're renting for about $12 a month. While my child seems to be doing well, she #1 is not done growing and #2 hasn't committed herself enough to make it worth my investment. My husband wants to buy, but not yet. 

[Orthodox6]

Voting for Southwest Strings. Excellent prices and excellent customer service. When I changed to violin from a lifetime as a violist (following serious arm surgery) I bought a modestly-priced Romanian-made violin for (back then) only $550 ( that is in the "modest price" range) from Southwest, with which both professional teacher and I have been very pleased.

 

The intro-level violin kits are very good value for the price. With my daughter, we worked up from the 1/10 size until she grew into full sized instrument. There is good local resale value for these instruments, in part, because they sound like real instruments. There are some inexpensive violins out there which would be better used as kindling!

 

Rent-to-own is like rent-to-own a television: over-priced and lesser quality. The programs I have seen are all-or- nothing. If you stop before completely paying for the instrument, you own nothing and have tossed the money.

 

Also agreeing with the advantages of a good luthier nearby. (although they vary in quality. i hurt my prized viola by entrusting repair work to a luthier whom I had grown up with. Major "oops".)

[ksr5377]

Thanks everyone.  I'll give it a few months to make sure they don't despise it all and then I think I'll be heading to the local violin shop that has been given raving reviews. I probably should have just gone there first to educate myself anyways.   Maybe if we were paying $12 to rent it wouldn't seem so wasteful, but we're paying $24/month per violin. 

[Closeacademy]

We bought a nice violin from the local music store for about $150.  I've had to replace 1 string when it broke but otherwise it has been a nice little violin.  It wasn't the most expensive in the shop but it also wasn't the cheapest.  

[BlsdMama]

We rented from Shar, two violins and a cello. You own them after a period of rental. We enjoyed our customer service experience but I admit I know very little about violins. ;)

[skimomma]

My dd is a pretty serious player and we do still rent.  She is currently on a 3/4 but started on a 1/32 so we have been at this for some time.  We started renting from her teacher but switched to a violin shop out of Chicago when dd got experienced enough to need a better violin.  In your case, I would consider buying since you know each size will likely be used by 4 of your dc.  In that case the pros of renting do not outweigh to cons of buying.  In our case, with only one violin player, the hassle of trying to find a good quality instrument for each size then trying to sell it was not worth the savings.  In addition, dd is at the point now where she is picky about the type of sound the instrument makes for the types of music she most frequently performs.  We went through four 3/4 violins before we found one that she (and her teacher ad her band) was happy with.  And I cannot count how many bow rehairings we have been through.  The advantage to renting is that all those changes, repairs, and shipping were free.

[wendy not in HI]

My parents bought violins for my sisters and I when we were growing up, and my children have been able to use them.  My son is using my old half size and my daughter has our old 3/4 size.  But my son is nearly ready for a 3/4 and my daughter is not ready to move to full size, so I think we will rent a 3/4 violin from Shar.  

 

If I were you, I'd buy a half size and rent the 1/4 size.  Then buy the 3/4 when you need it.  You can sell the 1/2 size when you are done with it, or save it for down the road.  

 

Have fun on your violin adventure!

 

 

[StephanieZ]

We bought all of our violins and I am soooo glad we did. We ended up getting 3 kids' use out of each of the smaller sizes, so maybe 5-6 years of playing on each, and at least 2 girls' use on the largest sizes. Even at 20/mo, that'd be 240yr, so at least $1000 worth of use on each . . . and they are ALL still in great shape to resell. One of these days I'll sell them. But, they are so dang cute . . . Even if I never sell them, we got full use with no rental hassles all for less expense than renting would have been. (Want to buy mine? LOL) 

 

We took good care of them, but we never had major repairs. Maybe $20 a couple times for a missing or broken bridge. One broken bow replaced. That's it. Only other costs is new strings a couple times a year (40/set) and every few years either re-hairing a bow ($40ish) or just buying a new bow if it was a really cheap one.

 

Our instruments were without exception among the nicest "fractional" violin we ever heard. Always among the very nicest at the events/etc the kids went to (even in a wealthy urban center). They were generally Deutsche ones once the kids got big enough. I think we paid around $800-$1500 per "set up"  (bow and case included), so we got our money's worth, and we could resell them if I were organized enough. 

 

When we were buying our little violins in the 2000's, the only really good ones were the German made ones. Now, however, there are some really decent little violins made in China. Shar Music had some great little violins a few years ago, but I am not sure if they still carry them. They also had/have a nice program through which you could order 3 violins (and up to 5 bows) to try, then return the ones (all or most) that you don't want. Very affordable -- pretty much shipping cost only. Great deal. We bought our oldest a decent full size and bow that way about 5 years ago.