Should I buy a cheap viola / violin from ebay?

I had always thought these instruments where hundreds of dollars. Then came ebay. Now I want one for under $100.


Which of these would be best or what should I look for in getting a viola that is not garbage....





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Should I buy a cheap viola / violin from ebay?
viola and violin are not the same one is slightly bigger
Reply:Yes you should. eBay usually has pretty good stuff. I'm not familiar with which one of those would be best but you can email the sellers to ask them about it.
Reply:No! Don't get one it will sound horrible. Go to yopur local music shop and ask to see what second hand ones they have. Mine is second hand but it very good but cost me only £100. I am not sure what this is in dollars. But buy one from a specialised shop.





EDIT: If you don't know this, a viola is slightly bigger than a violin and the violin produces a higher sound. If you don't know how to play any instrument at all, get a teacher. If you know how to play a different instrument you might be able to figure it out for yourself.
Reply:buy all of them
Reply:Hello,I bought a Rothenburg violin off Ebay. I got the tiger stripe maple(it's real maple). It's a really good looking violin. I got it for $60 plus shipping. Not a bad deal.


As it comes out of the box, it is setup for a child probably no older than about 12. If you're an old guy like me, you're going to have to work on it. For one thing, the strings are too close together as they drape over the nut. There was not enough space between the strings for my big fingers. I had to reposition the strings, putting more space between them. Not a hard thing to do, I just used a nail file to cut additional grooves in the nut moving the 2 outside strings closer to the outer edges of the neck, and then eyeballing and readjusting the center 2. I did the same thing where they cross the bridge.


Work on one string at a time, loosen it, make the groove on


the nut and bridge, then retighten. Note that the neck on this particular violin is a bit narrow. If that gives me any problems, I can always add "saddlebag" spacers to the sides of the neck to make it wider. You can pay a "luthier" to do this, or do it yourself. If you hire it done, then expect to drop about $75 bucks to get it done. Additionally, even though the tailpiece is advertised a being ebony, I really think it's plastic.


I'm sure most of the other cheap violins would need similar types of adjusting. But if you have to hire someone to do the adjusting for you, then that kind of defeats the purpose of buying a cheap violin in the first place.Otherwise, the violin seems to sound pretty good to me. Other things to keep in mind, tuning -- It takes about 2 weeks for the neck to "stiffen" so it stays in tune, and normal problems with slipping pegs.