Maitland M.
Better than even more expensive violins. Highly recommended!
There is a lot to like about this violin package. I highly recommend it to anyone, really. Not only great for beginners, but it’s also just fine for anyone. I am a working musician (well, until all gigs got canceled…), and I can already see this becoming my “daily driver.”It is too easy for a thief to steal your expensive violin; so it really gives peace of mind, to know that if the thief strikes, you are only out $90! Even so, this violin sounds good enough that you can use this for a gig, and you don’t need to risk taking an expensive instrument out to a bar or club where it could be damaged or stolen.FINISH:I’ll start with the finish. I love the finish on this violin. Eastar has adopted a thin matte finish (in contrast to the thick , shiney plasticky finish which is found on most violins of this price range. This finish will allow the wood of the instrument to breathe naturally, and the tone of the instrument should increase with time just like any fine instrument.BRIDGES:I received 2 bridges with my violin, and both of them were perfectly cut to match the violin. This is an important point, because it is expensive to get a violin maker to cut a bridge for your violin, but unless the bridge is perfectly fitted, then you will never get a true tone from the instrument.My bridges were fitted with a slight slant to the feet. this is a new style of bridge fitting which will keep the bridge from warping over time, and it also increases the surface area of the bridge where it touches the top of the violin. This can give a fuller tone. I was impressed to see this.TONE:As for the tone of the violin, itself. It has a soft tone which ***doesn’t try to be a stradivarius***! In my opinion this is a feature. Too many cheap violins try to provide brilliant, loud projections as you would find with a fine, italian solo violin… but the end of the day, they are just loud.Instead, Eastar has done their own thing with this violin, and they are to be commended for that! This violin will blend well with other instruments, and it will also make it easy for the player to explore soft, subtle tones, but it will still play loud when you push it. It will be a great violin for playing in a chamber ensemble or for playing in a group masterclass with other students.Also I have to mention that harmonics ring true on this violin all the way up the fingerboard. Even the highest harmonics and false harmonics ring just as they should. This is unprecedented for a violin which only costs $90!STRINGS:The strings included on the violin are pretty darn good. Normally, strings on a cheap instrument are trash, but these are very serviceable. The tone is nice and even and the strings hold their pitch pretty well (i’ve only had the violin for 2 days, so i don’t know how long the strings will last). The midrange sounds good, as do the highs. (the E string is great!)I would like a little bit more oomph from the lows, but the tone is very balanced overall. I am used to playing with strings which are a bit thicker; so that is probably the reason I feel this way.Strings are one of the most noticeable upgrades for a violin. I have no doubt that some Thomastik Dominants would sound excellent on this violin. Maybe even try some gut strings or a hybrid gut/synthetic blend, if you are looking for a more unique tone.ROSIN:I actually LOVE the rosin that came with this violin. I was totally amazed when I applied it, and i got a good tone. I’ve been using Anton Breton rosin, recently, and the rosin that came with this violin is BETTER, i think. In fact, i would say that it is very similar to Pirastro Goldflex rosin in the tone that it produces.It is a high dust variety of rosin, though. So you will want to have a clean, dry, oil and lint free cloth, and take care to wipe the strings and the body of the violin after playing. Also, you may want to take care not to over-rosin the bow, because it would be easy to do with this rosin. (although you could probably make a cool looking dust cloud, while playing, if that’s yer thing! :D)Also, be careful not to expose the cake of rosin to high temperatures (over 80 degrees F) or direct sunlight. It has been my experience that light-colored rosin will quickly develop a scratchy tone if exposed to heat or light. You won’t be able to tell a difference by looking at the rosin, but your ears can tell. If this happens to your rosin, replace it immediately, and you will be much happier.TUNING PEGS:The tuning pegs seem to fit quite well, and they seem to grip without sticking right away. just be sure to push in while tightening or loosening them. I had no trouble tuning the violin with the pegs.FINE TUNERS:I have mixed feelings about the fine tuners. On the one hand, I love the range and travel, and love how big and easy to grip the tuning knobs are. I feel like they give you just the right amount of pitch adjustment for each turn.What i DON’T like about the fine tuners is the large metal feet on the underside. It would be easy to accidently over-loosen a fine tuner and damage the top of the instrument. Please be very careful about this. Also, if something were to strike the instrument from above, or if the bridge were to snap or fall over, the fine tuners will damage the top of the instrument.I will probably replace the fine tuning mechanism with one that is curvier on the bottom, and made of softer material.SHOULDER REST:I hate shoulder rests. i don’t use them, but this one looks pretty decent. I feel like it’s better to place the violin directly on your shoulder; so that you can directly feel the vibration of the violin.CHIN REST:The chin rest is very nice and very comfortable. Just like shoulder rests, i actually prefer not to use a chin rest so that i can feel the vibrations directly while playing. But i will probably leave this one on until it falls off, and then i probably won’t bother putting it back on. (but i’m weird)TUNER:The tuner that came with this is very simple, clip on tuner. I learned how to tune a violin by ear (and all violinists need this skill), but it can be nice to have a tuner, especially for initial tuning, or if the violin goes way out of tune, or if you are in a loud bar, etc…This is a Donner branded tuner. (Donner and Eastar are like sister companies). It works great for tuning the violin. I have another, different Donner tuner, and it doesn’t work well for tuning a violin; so, i was glad this one worked just fine.When the string is on pitch, the entire screen lights up, so it is very easy to tell when you have the correct pitch… even if the lighting isn’t good where you are.2 things which could be improved about the tuner:1. it uses non-rechargeable battery (like the ones that go in a key-FOB for your car). It would be better if it had a rechargeable battery and a micro USB charging cable (my other Donner tuner has this)2. the pitch of ‘A’ is not adjustable from 440 Hz. (my other Donner tuner also has this feature).It is fun to experiment with alternate tunings, and you can’t do that with this tuner. Also, some orchestral music may sometimes be written with alternate tunings specified.And of course, any good flat-earther or dirty hippie will tell you that mother Gaia cries in agony any time an musical instrument is tuned to anything other than A == 432 Hz.I’m just sayin.THE BOW:Eastar has adopted a very interesting design with the bow, which i have never seen before. The end of the bow (where you hold it) is octagonal which provides a nice grip, but the rest of the bow is round in shape. i’ve never seen this. Also, the frog of the bow is BEAUTIFUL.the bow is nice and balanced in weight, and it should be sufficient for most playing styles.I like to keep a Shar Fusion bow in my case, also (for when i want something a bit bouncier).EASTAR:As i mentioned before, Eastar and Donner seem to be the same (or at least sister) companies. In fact, that’s how i found out about this violin. I was looking for a violin, and i was familiar with instruments and other equipment made by Donner, and I have constantly been amazed by the quality and pricepoint of Donner equipment.Eastar has been producing violins for a while, but they just recently began shipping them to the US. I asked them to notify me when they began shipping violins to the US, and they did. I was very curious to see how well they compared to both Donner equipment and other cheap violins.The violin can be a tricky instrument to ship overseas and have it arrive in playable condition. It seems that these violins are being produced in ShenZhen, China, and then Eastar has contracted or setup a facility in Kentucky, USA, to setup and ship the violins to the customer.So far they are doing a great job!COMPARED TO MODERN INEXPENSIVE CHINESE VIOLINS:I have a Mendini violin, which cost twice as much, and I have owned Cremona violins that were 2 to 3 times more expensive, and this one is easily better than all of those.COMPARED TO OTHER VIOLINS:Every other violin I have owned was at least 100 years old; so, it is very difficult to directly compare an old instrument and a new instrument. I feel like this violin is roughly comparable to the Sears-Roebuck “Jacobus Stainer” style violins which were produced in the late 1800s in factories in Austria/Germany. Those violins were inexpensive when produced, and today they will fetch a price anywhere from $300 to $2000 depending on the specific model, and how well it has been maintained, modified, or upgraded.This violin sounds different from those (as i mentioned, Eastar has adopted a unique style rather than just attempting to copy Stradivarius or Stainer), but it’s basically the modern equivalent of those. This is a great way to spend $90!I will post pictures and videos soon!
Shannon Lo
Beautiful violin for a great price! Buy this one!
My arm is killing me but wow! I was so anxious to get this violin this morning! And it was NOT a disappointment! I haven’t been able to put it down!It’s been roughly fifteen years since I’ve played and I just had an itch to pick it up again. I didn’t want to spend a fortune in case I didn’t find the time to play regularly.I initially thought I would go with this violin when searching the first time on amazon. However, I chose to look around and read many many reviews on all the cheaper priced violins. After waiting and reviewing for several weeks, I came to the conclusion that for the price, this one seemed to have the best reviews and be of higher quality than others in the same price range.And my first instinct was right! 🙂 This beautiful violin and setup is a wonderful deal!The violin came well packaged. The finish on the violin is beautiful, just as pictured! The bridge was NOT on it when I opened it. Strings were loose but having read all the reviews I was expecting this. I knew where to place the bridge and then I did as people suggested and started by slowly tightening the middle two strings, then the outer two, to avoid the bridge shifting.I pushed the pegs in as I tightened and I did not have any major slippage with them, they all held fine. I played around with tuning it, knowing since the strings are new it probably will take a bit to get it right, but when I came back to it after lunch, I gave it another go at tuning, and got all the strings sounding correct. Let me say the tuner was a plus as I have one for my guitar, but the one included has a setting just for violin. I’m also happy about the shoulder rest. I used to have a really nice one and will probably order a better one eventually but just for getting started the one included is an awesome bonus!The rosin I roughed up, and after about twenty to thirty passes had the bow nicely rosined and ready to go. I do plan to order a nicer bow but for the money this one is great, in perfect condition and plays nicely, though I’m years out of practice so someone more experienced might know more about the balance of it.I plan to get better quality strings to put on the violin in the near future but for now I’m happy with the ones included and think the violin sounds great!!!! (There are extra strings and an extra bridge in the nice and well padded violin case)I have only one tiny minor complaint and that is that it can be hard to keep the bow from hitting the G string when attempting to play the D string. I did notice some comments about that in the reviews but the longer I played today the better I got at keeping that to a minimum so I’m not sure if it’s the violin or just my rusty playing skills.The inlayed spots on the neck of the violin made finding the correct finger positions SO easy, though I noticed after about twenty minutes of playing that my ear could tell when my fingers weren’t in the proper position. But for a complete beginner, this is extremely helpful and again cuts out the need for extra purchases.This violin gets a ten out of ten from me!IF YOU ARE NEW to playing violin, please remember it takes time to break an instrument in. The strings have to stretch some and so you may struggle with the tuning process or have to retune often. If you have patience and are willing to learn about your instrument then you should buy this one with confidence!From all appearances, it’s a well made, handsome instrument and I am so excited that it arrived as quickly as it did!Gotta go… it’s calling me! 😉 Happy fiddlin’!!Edit: Have had this beautiful instrument for a week and was so impressed that it has stayed in tune after that just those multiple adjustments on day of arrival. Every time I get it out to play I may have to give the fine tuners a slight turn but despite days of playing, none of the legs have slipped and it’s stayed in tune. I’m still very pleased and so thankful I purchased this violin. Will update if anything changes but as of right now I have no complaints. … except maybe the bow but I’m hoping to update it soon!
